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UNIT – II

Classes and Objects:

What is a class in Java ?

A class is a group of objects and common properties.

A class in Java can contain:

o Fields
o Methods
o Constructors
o Blocks
o Nested class and interface

Syntax to declare a class:

class <class_name>{
field;
method;
}

What is an object in Java ?

An entity that has state and behavior is known as an object e.g., chair, bike, marker, pen,
table, car, etc.

An object has three characteristics:

o State: represents the data (value) of an object.

o Behavior: represents the behavior (functionality) of an object such as deposit, withdraw,
etc.
o Identity: An object identity is typically implemented via a unique ID. The value of the
ID is not visible to the external user. However, it is used internally by the JVM to identify
each object uniquely.

What is Constructor ?

a constructor is a block of codes similar to the method. It is called when an instance of

the class is created. At the time of calling constructor .

It is a special type of method which is used to initialize the object.

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Every time an object is created using the new() keyword, at least one constructor is called.

Rules for creating Java constructor

There are two rules defined for the constructor.

1. Constructor name must be the same as its class name

2. A Constructor must have no explicit return type
3. A Java constructor cannot be abstract, static, final, and synchronized

Types of Java constructor

There are two types of constructors in Java:

1. Default constructor (no-arg constructor)

2. Parameterized constructor

Java Default Constructor

A constructor is called "Default Constructor" when it doesn't have any parameter.

Ex:

//Java Program to create and call a default constructor

class Bike1{
//creating a default constructor
Bike1(){System.out.println("Bike is created");}
//main method
public static void main(String args[]){
//calling a default constructor
Bike1 b=new Bike1();
}
}
The default constructor is used to provide the default values to the object like 0, null, etc., depending
on the type.

Example of default constructor that displays the default values

//Let us see another example of default constructor

//which displays the default values
class Student3{
int id;
String name;
//method to display the value of id and name
void display(){System.out.println(id+" "+name);}
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public static void main(String args[]){

//creating objects
Student3 s1=new Student3();
Student3 s2=new Student3();
//displaying values of the object
s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}

Java Parameterized Constructor

A constructor which has a specific number of parameters is called a parameterized constructor.

The parameterized constructor is used to provide different values to objects.

Example of parameterized constructor

//Java Program to demonstrate the use of the parameterized constructor.

class Student4{
int id;
String name;
//creating a parameterized constructor
Student4(int i,String n){
id = i;
name = n;
}
//method to display the values
void display(){System.out.println(id+" "+name);}

public static void main(String args[]){

//creating objects and passing values
Student4 s1 = new Student4(111,"Karan");
Student4 s2 = new Student4(222,"Aryan");
//calling method to display the values of object
s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}

Constructor Overloading in Java :

Constructor overloading in Java is a technique of having more than one constructor with different
parameter lists. They are arranged in a way that each constructor performs a different task.
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Example of Constructor Overloading

//Java program to overload constructors

class Student5{
int id;
String name;
int age;
//creating two arg constructor
Student5(int i,String n){
id = i;
name = n;
}
//creating three arg constructor
Student5(int i,String n,int a){
id = i;
name = n;
age=a;
}
void display(){System.out.println(id+" "+name+" "+age);}

public static void main(String args[]){

Student5 s1 = new Student5(111,"Karan");
Student5 s2 = new Student5(222,"Aryan",25);
s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}

Difference between constructor and method in Java

There are many differences between constructors and methods. They are given below.

Java Constructor Java Method

A constructor is used to initialize the state of an A method is used to expose the

object. behavior of an object.

A constructor must not have a return type. A method must have a return type.

The constructor is invoked implicitly. The method is invoked explicitly.

The Java compiler provides a default constructor if The method is not provided by the
you don't have any constructor in a class. compiler in any case.
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The constructor name must be same as the class name. The method name may or may not
be same as the class name.

Java Copy Constructor

There is no copy constructor in Java. However, we can copy the values from one object to
another like copy constructor in C++.

There are many ways to copy the values of one object into another in Java. They are:

o By constructor
o By assigning the values of one object into another
o By clone() method of Object class

Ex:

/Java program to initialize the values from one object to another object.
class Student6{
int id;
String name;
//constructor to initialize integer and string
Student6(int i,String n){
id = i;
name = n;
}
//constructor to initialize another object
Student6(Student6 s){
id = s.id;
name =s.name;
}
void display(){System.out.println(id+" "+name);}

public static void main(String args[]){

Student6 s1 = new Student6(111,"Karan");
Student6 s2 = new Student6(s1);
s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}
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Copying values without constructor

We can copy the values of one object into another by assigning the objects values to another
object. In this case, there is no need to create the constructor.

class Student7{
int id;
String name;
Student7(int i,String n){
id = i;
name = n;
}
Student7(){}
void display(){System.out.println(id+" "+name);}

public static void main(String args[]){

Student7 s1 = new Student7(111,"Karan");
Student7 s2 = new Student7();
s2.id=s1.id;
s2.name=s1.name;
s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}

Does constructor return any value?

Yes, it is the current class instance (You cannot use return type yet it returns a value).

What is the purpose of Constructor class?

Java provides a Constructor class which can be used to get the internal information of a
constructor in the class. It is found in the java.lang.reflect package.

this keyword in Java

There can be a lot of usage of Java this keyword.

this is a reference variable that refers to the current object.

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1) this: to refer current class instance variable

The this keyword can be used to refer current class instance variable. If there is ambiguity
between the instance variables and parameters, this keyword resolves the problem of ambiguity.

Understanding the problem without this keyword

Let's understand the problem if we don't use this keyword by the example given below:

class Student{
int rollno;
String name;
float fee;
Student(int rollno,String name,float fee){
rollno=rollno;
name=name;
fee=fee;
}
void display(){System.out.println(rollno+" "+name+" "+fee);}
}
class TestThis1{
public static void main(String args[]){
Student s1=new Student(111,"ankit",5000f);
Student s2=new Student(112,"sumit",6000f);
s1.display();
s2.display();
}}

2) this: to invoke current class method

You may invoke the method of the current class by using the this keyword. If you don't use the
this keyword, compiler automatically adds this keyword while invoking the method. Let's see the
example
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class A{
void m(){System.out.println("hello m");}
void n(){
System.out.println("hello n");
//m();//same as this.m()
this.m();
}
}
class TestThis4{
public static void main(String args[]){
A a=new A();
a.n();
}}

3) this() : to invoke current class constructor

The this() constructor call can be used to invoke the current class constructor. It is used to reuse
the constructor. In other words, it is used for constructor chaining.

Calling default constructor from parameterized constructor:

class A{
A(){System.out.println("hello a");}
A(int x){
this();
System.out.println(x);
}
}
class TestThis5{
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public static void main(String args[]){

A a=new A(10);
}}

4) this: to pass as an argument in the method

The this keyword can also be passed as an argument in the method. It is mainly used in the event
handling. Let's see the example:

class S2{
void m(S2 obj){
System.out.println("method is invoked");
}
void p(){
m(this);
}
public static void main(String args[]){
S2 s1 = new S2();
s1.p();
}
}

5) this: to pass as argument in the constructor call

We can pass the this keyword in the constructor also. It is useful if we have to use one object in
multiple classes. Let's see the example:

class B{
A4 obj;
B(A4 obj){
this.obj=obj;
}
void display(){
System.out.println(obj.data);//using data member of A4 class
}
}

class A4{
int data=10;
A4(){
B b=new B(this);
b.display();
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}
public static void main(String args[]){
A4 a=new A4();
}
}

6) this keyword can be used to return current class instance

We can return this keyword as an statement from the method. In such case, return type of the
method must be the class type (non-primitive). Let's see the example:

class A{
A getA(){
return this;
}
void msg(){System.out.println("Hello java");}
}
class Test1{
public static void main(String args[]){
new A().getA().msg();
}
}

What is a method in Java?

A method is a block of code or collection of statements or a set of code grouped together to

perform a certain task or operation.

Method Declaration

The method declaration provides information about method attributes, such as visibility, return-
type, name, and arguments. It has six components that are known as method header, as we have
shown in the following figure.
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Method Signature: Every method has a method signature. It is a part of the method declaration.
It includes the method name and parameter list.

Access Specifier: Access specifier or modifier is the access type of the method. It specifies the
visibility of the method. Java provides four types of access specifier:

o Public: The method is accessible by all classes when we use public specifier in our
application.
o Private: When we use a private access specifier, the method is accessible only in the
classes in which it is defined.
o Protected: When we use protected access specifier, the method is accessible within the
same package or subclasses in a different package.
o Default: When we do not use any access specifier in the method declaration, Java uses
default access specifier by default. It is visible only from the same package only.

Return Type: Return type is a data type that the method returns. It may have a primitive data
type, object, collection, void, etc. If the method does not return anything, we use void keyword.

Method Name: It is a unique name that is used to define the name of a method. It must be
corresponding to the functionality of the method. Suppose, if we are creating a method for
subtraction of two numbers, the method name must be subtraction(). A method is invoked by its
name.

Parameter List: It is the list of parameters separated by a comma and enclosed in the pair of
parentheses. It contains the data type and variable name. If the method has no parameter, left the
parentheses blank.
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Method Body: It is a part of the method declaration. It contains all the actions to be performed.
It is enclosed within the pair of curly braces.

Naming a Method

While defining a method, remember that the method name must be a verb and start with
a lowercase letter. If the method name has more than two words, the first name must be a verb
followed by adjective or noun. In the multi-word method name, the first letter of each word must
be in uppercase except the first word. For example:

Single-word method name: sum(), area()

Multi-word method name: areaOfCircle(), stringComparision()

It is also possible that a method has the same name as another method name in the same class, it
is known as method overloading.

Types of Method

There are two types of methods in Java:

o Predefined Method
o User-defined Method

Predefined Method

In Java, predefined methods are the method that is already defined in the Java class libraries is
known as predefined methods. It is also known as the standard library method or built-in
method. We can directly use these methods just by calling them in the program at any point.
Some pre-defined methods are length(), equals(), compareTo(), sqrt(), etc. When we call any
of the predefined methods in our program, a series of codes related to the corresponding method
runs in the background that is already stored in the library.

Each and every predefined method is defined inside a class. Such as print() method is
defined in the java.io.PrintStream class.

EX:

public class Demo

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// using the max() method of Math class
System.out.print("The maximum number is: " + Math.max(9,7));
}
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User-defined Method
The method written by the user or programmer is known as a user-defined method. These methods
are modified according to the requirement.

import java.util.Scanner;
public class EvenOdd
{
public static void main (String args[])
{
//creating Scanner class object
Scanner scan=new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter the number: ");
//reading value from user
int num=scan.nextInt();
//method calling
findEvenOdd(num);
}
//user defined method
public static void findEvenOdd(int num)
{
//method body
if(num%2==0)
System.out.println(num+" is even");
else
System.out.println(num+" is odd");
}
}