Chapter 1 :

Packaging, Compiling, and Interpreting
Java Code

1

Session Objectives

• Understanding Packages
• Understanding Package-Derived Classes
• Compiling and Interpreting Java Code
• Q&A Self Test

2

Exam Objective 5.1 Describe the purpose of packages in the Java
language, and recognize the proper use of import and package
statements.

• Packaging is a common approach used to organize
related classes and interfaces.
• Most reusable code is packaged.
• Packages are thought of as containers for classes, but
actually they define where classes will be located in the
hierarchical directory structure.
• Packaging your classes also promotes code reuse,
maintainability, and the objectoriented principle of
encapsulation and modularity.

3

The package Statement

• Package statements are optional.
• Package statements are limited to one per source file.
• Standard coding convention for package statements reverses the
domain name of the organization or group creating the package.
For example, the owners of the domain name scjaexam.com may
use : com.scjaexam.utilities.
• Package names equate to directory structures. The package name
com.scjaexam.utils would equate to the directory
com/scjaexam/utils.
•
4

Source Files
• All Java source files must end with the.java extension.
• A source file may contain an unlimited number of non-public class
definitions.
• Three top-level elements known as compilation units may appear in a
file.
1.Package declaration
2.Import statements
3.Class, interface, and enum definitions
• Use only alphanumeric characters in package names.
• You must be careful that each component of your package name
hierarchy is a legitimate directory name on all platforms.
• Sometimes you might use classes with the same name in two
different packages, such as the Date classes in the packages java.util
And java.sql
Ben Abdallah Helmi Architect en
5
J2EE

4. If all three top-level elements occur in a source file, they
must appear in which order?
A. Imports, package declarations, classes/interfaces/enums
B. Classes/interfaces/enums, imports, package declarations
C. Package declaration must come first; order for imports
and class/interfaces/enum definitionsis not significant
D. Package declaration, imports, class/interface/enum
definitions.
E. Imports must come first; order for package declarations
and class/interface/enum definitionsis not significant
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J2EE

4. D. Package declaration must come first, followed by
imports, followed by class/interface/enum definitions.

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package and import Statements
• To place a source file into a package, use the package statement
at the beginning of that file.
• You may use zero or one package statements per source file.
• To import classes from other packages into your source file, use
the import statement.
• The java.lang package that houses the core language classes is
imported by default.
9

• The package names beginning with java.* and javax.* are
reserved for use by JavaSoft, the business unit of Sun
Microsystems that is responsible for Java technologies.
• Package names should be lowercase. Individual words
within the package name should be separated by
underscores.

10

Importing
Java’s static import facility, which was introduced in rev 5.0, allows you to import static data and
methods, as well as classes. In other words, you may refer to static data and methods in external
classes without using full names.
For example, the java.awt.Color class contains static data members names RED, GREEN, BLUE, and
so on. Suppose you want to set myColor to GREEN. Without static imports, you have to do the
following:
import java.awt.Color;
…
myColor = Color.GREEN;
import static java.awt.Color.GREEN;
…
myColor = GREEN;
Note that the import keyword is followed by static. This tells the compiler to import the name of a static
element of a class, rather than a class name.
Ben Abdallah Helmi Architect en J2EE
12

Static importing gives you access to static methods as well
as static data. Suppose class measure.Scales has a
method called poundsToMicrograms() that looks like
this:
public static float poundsToMicrograms(float pounds) {
return pounds * KGS_PER_LB * 1.0e6f;
}
Any source file can import this method as follows:
import static measure.Scales.poundsToMicrograms();
A source file that performs this import may invoke the
method as (for example)
float ugs = poundsToMicrograms(lbs);
This is a bit more convenient than
float ugs = Scales.poundsToMicrograms(lbs);
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J2EE

As with ordinary imports, static imports have only a slight
compile-time cost and zero runtime cost. Many
programmers are unclear on this point, perhaps because
the word “import” feels like such an active verb; it seems
as if surely the class loader or some other mechanism
must be hard at work. Remember that importing does
nothing more than bring a name into the local
namespace. So importing and static importing are quite
inexpensive.

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J2EE

11. Suppose a source file contains a large number of
import statements. How do the imports affect the time
required to compile the source file?
A. Compilation takes no additional time.
B. Compilation takes slightly more time.
C. Compilation takes significantly more time.

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J2EE

12. Suppose a source file contains a large number of
import statements and one class definition.
How do the imports affect the time required to load the
class?
A. Class loading takes no additional time.
B. Class loading takes slightly more time.
C. Class loading takes significantly more time.

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J2EE

12. A.. Importing is strictly a compile-time function. It
has no effect on class loading or on any other runtime function.

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J2EE

13. Which of the following are legal import statements?
A. import java.util.Vector;
B. static import java.util.Vector.*;
C. import static java.util.Vector.*;
D. import java.util.Vector static;

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13. A, C. The import keyword may optionally be
followed by the static keyword.

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J2EE

14. Which of the following may be statically imported?
(Choose all that apply.)
A. Package names
B. Static method names
C. Static field names
D. Method-local variable names

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J2EE

14. B, C. You may statically import method and field
names.

21
J2EE

Class Paths
When the Java compiler or the Virtual Machine needs a
classfile, it searches all the locations listed in its classpath.
The classpath is formed by merging the CLASSPATH
environment variable and any locations specified in -classpath
or -cp command line arguments. The members of a classpath
may be directories or jar files.

Let’s take an example. Suppose the compiler is looking for class
sgsware.sphinx.Domain. The package structure
sgsware.sphinx requires that the Domain.class file must be in
a directory called sphinx, which must be in a directory called
sgsware. So the compiler checks each classpath member to
see if it contains sgswaresphinxDomain.class.
On Windows platforms, directories and jar files in a classpath
are separated by a semicolon (“;”). On UNIX platforms the
separator is a colon (“:”).
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J2EE

15. What happens when you try to compile and run the
following code?
public class Q15 {
static String s;
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(“>>” + s + “<<”);
}
}
A. The code does not compile
B. The code compiles, and prints out >><<
C. The code compiles, and prints out >>null<<
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15. C. The code compiles without error. At static
initialization time, s is initialized to null (and not to a
reference to an empty string, as suggested by C).

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J2EE

Understanding Package-Derived Classes
• Exam Objective 5.3 Describe the purpose and types of
classes for the following Java packages: java.awt,
javax.swing, java.io, java.net, java.util.

25

These include packages for Java
utilities, basic input/output, networking,
AWT and Swing.
•
•
•
•
•

Java Utilities API
Java Basic Input/Output API
Java Networking API
Java Abstract Window Toolkit API
Java Swing API

26

Java Basic Input/Output API

29

Reader and Writer class hierarchy

32

Various classes of the Networking API

33

Java Abstract Window Toolkit API

34

Java Swing API
• The Java Swing API is contained in the package
javax.swing. This API provides functionality for creating
lightweight (pure-Java) containers and components.
• The Swing API superseded the AWT API. Many of the
new classes were simply prefaced with the addition of “J”
in contrast to the legacy AWT component equivalent.

35

• Be familiar with the package prefixes java and javax.
The prefix java is commonly used for the core
packages.
• The prefix javax is commonly used for packages
comprised of Java standard extensions. Take special
notice of the prefix usage in the AWT and Swing APIs:
java.awt and javax.swing.

39

Compiling and Interpreting Java Code
• Exam Objective 5.2 Demonstrate the proper use of the “javac”
command (including the command-line options:
-d and –classpath ) and demonstrate the proper use of the
“java” command (including the command-line options:
-classpath, -D and –version ).

41

Compiling with javac

• javac [options] [source files]
• javac -help
• javac -classpath com:. -g Foo.java
Bar.java
• Whenever you specify multiple options
and/or files they should be separated by
spaces.
42

Compiling with -d
• By default, the compiler puts a .class file in the same
directory as the .java source file
> This is fine for very small projects

• The -d option lets you tell the compiler in which directory
to put the .class file(s) it generates (d is for destination)
myProject
|
|--source
||
| |-- MyClass.java
|
|-- classes
|
|--

cd myProject
javac -d classes source/MyClass.java

43

• The last thing about -d that you'll need to know for the
exam is that if the destination directory you specify
doesn't exist, you'll get a compiler error.
• If, in the previous example, the classes directory did NOT
exist, the compiler would say something like:
• java:5: error while writing MyClass:
classes/MyClass.class (No such file or directory)

45

Launching Applications with java
• In Chapter 5 we talked about the assertion mechanism
and when you might use flags such as -ea or -da when
launching an application.

• java [options] class [args]
java -DmyProp=myValue MyClass x 1
• Sparing the details for later, this command can be read as "Create a system property called
myProp and set its value to myValue. Then launch the file named MyClass.
• class and send it two String arguments whose values are x and 1."

46

Using System Properties

If this file is compiled and invoked
as follows:
import java.util.*;
java -DcmdProp=cmdVal TestProps
public class TestProps {
public static void main(String[] args) { You'll get something like this:
...
Properties p =
os.name=Mac OS X
System.getProperties();
myProp=myValue
p.setProperty("myProp", "myValue");
...
p.list(System.out);
java.specification.vendor=Sun Microsystems Inc.
}
user.language=en
java.version=1.5.0_02
}
...
cmdProp=cmdVal
...

47

• When using the -D option, if your value contains white
space the entire value should be placed in quotes like
this:
• java -DcmdProp="cmdVal take 2" TestProps

48

Handling Command-Line Arguments
public class CmdArgs {
compiled and then invoked as follows
public static void main(String[]
java CmdArgs x 1
args) {
the output will be
int x = 0;
0 element = x
for(String s : args)
1 element = 1
System.out.println(x++ + "
element = " + s);
}
} The following are all legal declarations for main():
static public void main(String[] args)
public static void main(String... x)
static public void main(String bang_a_gong[])
49

Searching for Other Classes
Both java and javac use the same basic search algorithm:
1. They both have the same list of places (directories) they
search, to look for classes.
2. They both search through this list of directories in the same
order.
3. As soon as they find the class they're looking for, they stop
searching for that class. In the case that their search lists
contain two or more files with the same name, the first file
found will be the file that is used.
4. The first place they look is in the directories that contain the
classes that come standard with J2SE.
50

5. The second place they look is in the directories defined by
classpaths.
6. Classpaths should be thought of as "class search paths." They
are lists of directories in which classes might be found.
7. There are two places where classpaths can be declared:
> A classpath can be declared as an operating system environment

variable. The classpath declared here is used by default, whenever java
or javac are invoked.

> A classpath can be declared as a command-line option for either java or

javac. Classpaths declared as command-line options override the
classpath declared as an environment variable, but they persist only for
the length of the invocation.
51

Declaring and Using Classpaths
• -classpath /com/foo/acct:/com/foo
• specifies two directories in which classes can be found:
/com/foo/acct and /com/foo
• the java and javac commands don't search the current
directory by default. You must tell them to search there.

:

.

• -classpath /com/foo/acct /com/foo:

52

It's also important to remember that
classpaths are searched from left to right.

•-classpath /com:/foo:.
•is not the same as
•-classpath .:/foo:/com
• Finally, the java command allows you to abbreviate classpath with -cp
53

Packages and Searching
import com.wickedlysmart.Utils;
class TestClass {
void doStuff() {
Utils u = new Utils(); // simple name
u.doX("arg1", "arg2");
com.wickedlysmart.Date d =
new com.wickedlysmart.Date(); // full name
d.getMonth("Oct");
}
}

54

• On Windows systems, classpath directories are delimited
with backward slashes, and paths are delimited with
semicolons:
-classpath .;dir_aclasses_a;dir_bclasses_b
• On POSIX-based systems, classpath directories are
delimited with forward slashes and paths are delimited
with colons:
• -classpath .:/dir_a/classes_a/:/dir_b/classes_b/
Again, the period represents the present (or current)
working directory.
55

Interpreting Your Bytecode with the -D
Option
• java -D<name>=<value> class

56

Retrieving the Version of the Interpreter
with the -version Option

57

• Check out the other JDK utilities at your disposal.
You can find them in the bin directory of your JDK.
JConsole in particular is a valuable GUI-based tool
that is used to monitor and manage Java
applications.
• Among the many features, JConsole allows for
viewing memory and thread usages. JConsole was
released with J2SE 5.0.

58

Compiling and Interpreting Java Code
• The Java compiler is invoked with the javac[.exe] command.

• The .exe extension is optional on Microsoft Windows machines and is not
present on UNIX-like systems.
• The compiler’s -d command-line option defines where compiled class files
should be placed.
• The compiler’s -d command-line option will include the package location if
the class has been declared with a package statement.
• The compiler’s -classpath command-line option defines directory paths in
search of classes.
• The Java interpreter is invoked with the java[.exe] command.

• The interpreter’s -classpath switch defines directory paths to use at runtime.
• The interpreter’s -D command-line option allows for the setting of system
property values.
• The interpreter’s syntax for the -D command-line option is -Dproperty=value.
• The interpreter’s -version command-line option is used to return the version
of the JVM and exit.
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