Techniques of Java Programming: Java Basics

Manuel Oriol
April 18, 2006

1 Introduction
Java is the Object-Oriented language of choice for most developers. It is a
type-safe, Object-Oriented, multiplatform programming lanuguage Its main ad-
vertisement has been for years: ”compile once, run everywhere”. This is true for
programs that are meant to run on multiple platforms. Nevertheless, multiple
versions of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and of the Standard Development
Kit (SDK) do not guarantee that anymore. This is the price to pay for wide
acceptance.
In this course, we intend to give an overview of the language to computer
scientists that are already proficient in at least one object-oriented language.
Thus we will go through the language and its general mechanisms at a fast pace
in the first few lessons and then we will present more advanced features.
Readers not only get a basic understanding, that allows them to build Java
programs, but also get a deeper understanding of the language internal mecha-
nisms. These mechanisms will be illustrated through experiments that flirt with
research. This tutorial explains the language developed in Java 2 version 5.0 as
it is the current release. If we consider any other specific version at any point,
it will be clearly stated in the text.

2 Java Development
2.1 Big Picture
Developing in Java implies understanding a set of basic principles. Figure 1
shows the main steps and tools that are commonly used during Java development
and compilation.
The source code of Java programs is composed of files that have the .java
extension. Java being class-based, each file contains at least one class that has
the same name as the file (without the extension).
The Application Programming Interface (API) documentation can be ex-
tracted automatically from the Java source code by using the javadoc com-
mand. The generated documentation consists of a website in HTML.
The compilation of Java source code, using the javac command, generates
one file per class of the source code. Each of these files begins by the name
of the file where the class was defined and has the extension .class. The
content of such class files is byte code: an intermediate representation that
resembles assembly code and is understood by any Java execution platform.

1
  
     

"               
   

 
     
     

  

    

  

  

  
  

 

  
        

    
   

 !
       
 

 

Figure 1: The Java infrastructure.

Such execution platforms are called Java Virtual Machines (JVM) and are most
often called java.

2.2 Java Environment Variables

As with any environment that contains programs, these programs must be in-
cluded in the PATH variable. In Java, the structure of the Java installation
contains a bin directory that contains all the programs.
Another environment variable of importance in Java is the CLASSPATH vari-
able that stores places from which classes can be retrieved. Schematically, if
one wants to use a class that is located in a directory, the path to that directory
must be in the CLASSPATH to compile or to execute the program. Command-
line options can also participate to the actual value of the CLASSPATH when
needed to have a finer-grained control on the program as described in the next
subsections.

2.3 Java Compiler

Table 1: Java Compiler main options

javac
-g Generate all debugging information
(to be used with a debugger)
-nowarn No warnings
-verbose Output messages while compiling to show
the effected operations
-classpath path, Adds the path to the CLASSPATH value
-cp path for this execution
-d path Generated classes will be put to path
-version Gives the current version
-help Print help
-X Print non-standard options
e.g. -Xstdout file e.g. redirects standard out to a file.

2
 The Java compiler takes a set of classes as arguments and generates the byte
code. As shown in Table 1 the classpath can be extended by using the option
-cp, warnings can be ignored... and other options can be set.
Each class has its own class file. In the case a source code file C.java contain-
ing more than one class, the main class (that has the same name as the source
file without extension) is compiled into a file C.class. Other named classes are
compile into classes that have the name C$NameOfTheClass.class. Anony-
mous classes are compiled into classes that have the name C$number .class
where number is a unique identifier for anonymous classes within the file.
Example of Java compilation:

javac *.java

2.4 Java Virtual Machine

Table 2: Java Virtual Machine main options

java
-classpath path, Adds the path to the CLASSPATH value
-cp path for this execution
-verbose [:class—gc—jni] Output messages on classes/garbage
collection/java native interface to
show the effected operations
-version Gives the current version and exits
-help, -? Print help
-X Print non-standard options
e.g. -Xmssize e.g. Set the initial heap size.
e.g. -Xsssize e.g. Set the thread stack size.

The Java Virtual Machines (JVM) are the execution environments for Java
programs (see Table 2). A JVM is intended to act as an interpreter for the byte
code. Thus the byte code is itself portable from one platform to another. Java
virtual machines have to be ported and installed on the respective platforms
prior to program execution.
By default, the argument class name will be loaded and the main method
within this class will be called as a starting point. The JVM takes care of
memory allocation and deallocation. In particular, the JVM manages automatic
garbage collection of instances and code when not used any more .
While interpretation is slow in general, a JVM has lots of facilities to speed
up execution. The most important one is Just-In-Time (JIT) compiling which
compiles the byte-code to native code when it is loaded, thus giving near native
performance on the use of a class once it has been executed at least once. Of
course this initial translation yields a performance penalty at first execution of
given method.
If MyMain is the class containing the bootstrap code, the program can be
launched as follows:

java MyMain

3
2.5 Java Dynamic Loading
As each class has its own file, class loading can be delayed until the class is
actually needed. The default behavior for the Java class loading mechanism
is on-demand class loading. A class is actually loaded at the moment its first
instance is created. This is often called lazy class loading.
This mechanism has the clear advantage of reducing startup time, especially
in the case of just-in-time compilation but slows down the execution while a
complete set of classes has not been loaded in memory. Please note that this
constitutes only a mere introduction to JVM class loading. We will study it in
more details later on.

2.6 Java Documentation

Table 3: Java documentation generation tool, main options

javadoc
-classpath path, Adds the path to the CLASSPATH value
-cp path for this execution
-verbose Output messages on what javadoc is doing
-quiet Do not output messages on classes/garbage
-version Gives the current version and exits
-help Print help
-d path Generated documentation will be put to path

Java Development Kits (JDK) include the javadoc utility (see Table 3 for de-
tails on the options) that automatically generates the documentation in HTML
format.
In Java, comments can be inserted in the code in two ways: using // to
comment the following characters in the line or use /* to begin a comment and
*/ to finish it.
Each comment written using the /** and ending by */ just immediately
before an element that can be commented ensures that the comment will be put
into the documentation. Asterisks at the beginning of a line are ignored.
It is also possible to include tags that lead to the creation of specific cate-
gories and links automatically. Including HTML tags is also allowed and will
be included as is in generated pages.
As an example, the javadoc documentation presents the example from Fig-
ure 2 that describes the package tojp:
/**
* This package is an example for the course Technique of Java Programming at ETHZ
*
* @since 0.1
* @see java.lang
* @author Manuel Oriol
*/
package ch.ethz.tojp;

Tags usable in the Java documentation are of two kinds: tags that can be
used within the text of the documentation itself and tags that define categories
and need to be used at the end of the descriptions. In Table 4, we show the

4
 Figure 2: Generated documentation

first category of tags between braces ({ }) and explain all tags with an informal
description. A complete documentation for javadoc and tags can be found in
the JDK documentation.1

Table 4: JavaDoc Tags

Tag JDK Use
@author 1.0 Add an author entry
{@code} 1.5 Display text in courier font
{@docRoot} 1.3 Refers to the root of the documentation
@deprecated 1.0 Adds a comment to quit using the class
@exception 1.0 Synonymous for @throws
{@inheritDoc} 1.4 Copies “nearest” documentation
{@link} 1.2 Link to another documentation
{@linkplain} 1.4 As @link except that the link is plain
{@literal} 1.5 Display the text as is
@param 1.0 Adds a parameter description
@return 1.0 Adds a description of returned value
@see 1.0 Adds a “See Also” heading
@serialData 1.2 Description of serialized data
@serialField 1.2 Description of serialized fields
@since 1.1 Indication on since when this was used
@throws 1.2 Gives a description of the thrown exceptions
{@value} 1.4 Displays the actual value of a constant
@version 1.0 adds a version field

An example of the javadoc use can be:

javadoc *.java -d doc/

2.7 Java Archive - JAR

Grouping classes into an archive is a nice way to distribute applications written
in Java. The Virtual Machines are all able to load the *.jar archives files. It
1 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/tooldocs/solaris/javadoc.html#javadoctags

5
 Table 5: Java Archive main options

jar
c Create
t List content
x Extract
u Update
v Verbose mode
f First argument is archive file name
0 No ZIP compression

has a clear advantage in terms of size as the classes are compressed using the
ZIP algorithm. It is also possible to specify a startup class and thus have the
jar file being an executable program.
Its use (see Table 5 for details on the options, for a good tutorial, please
visit SUN’s website2 ) is similar to the tar utility:

jar cvf classes.jar Foo.class Bar.class

2.8 Java Debugger

The basic Java debugger is very similar to gdb and the commands it under-
stands.3 The command to launch is jdb StartClass and it launches a second
JVM to debug the program that waits for continued execution. Breakpoints can
be set by using stop at AClass:aLineNumber or stop in aCompleteMethod-
Name, or stop in AClass.<init> for stopping at the constructors, or stop in
AClass.<clinit> to stop at the initialization of the class.
next advances to the next line.
step advances to the next line within current scope.
run starts execution.
cont continues execution after a breakpoint has been found.
print prints values of the subsequent fields/method calls.
dump is more complete with all values of fields dumped.
threads lists the number of threads.
thread selects the thread with number indicated afterwards.
where dumps the stack.
where all dumps all the stacks.
catch can catch an exception on-the-fly.

2.9 Exercises
1. Compile HelloWorld.java.
2. Generate complete documentation for HelloWorld.java.
3. Unzip a jar file using unzip.
2 http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/deployment/jar/
3 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/tooldocs/solaris/jdb.html for more details

6
 4. Debug HelloWorld using gdb.

3 Packages
3.1 Naming Convention
By using packages you can set unique names for classes. To assign a file to a
package, it is needed to put at the beginning of the file package adherance:
package package.name;
Package names are sequences of characters separated by dots. The hierarchy
that is intended goes from the more general to the more particular. In our
previous example, we defined the package ch.ethz.tojp it means that the
convention is to prefix all packages from ETHZ by ch.ethz. In the file system
this is translated by having a tree-like structure where each folder includes the
rest of the package.
Classes from the package ch.ethz.tojp would all be contained in a directory
named tojp, itself contained in a directory named ethz, itself contained in a
directory named ch. By convention, package names are in lower case, while
class names begin with an upper case character, only contain letters and have
upper cases at the beginning of each new word in the class name.

3.2 Referencing Classes and Packages

In order for the compiler and the JVM to be able to find the class the directory
containing the first directory of the package (ch in our case) must be in the
CLASSPATH.
Referencing a class in the code must be done using its fully qualified name.
This name is built by concatenating the package name a dot and the short
name of the class. In that case, the class Tojp from ch.ethz.tojp would have the
fully qualified name ch.ethz.tojp.Tojp. As this is very much time and space
consuming, it is also possible to import packages and classes at the beginning
of a source code file. Then if there is no ambiguity for a given class, the class
can be used by only using its short name (Tojp in our case).
Importing a package can be done as follows:

import ch.ethz.tojp.*;

Importing a class can be done as follows:

import ch.ethz.tojp.Tojp;

3.3 Standard Packages

By default, the package java.lang is imported. This package contains most
basic classes like String, Runtime, System, Integer, Long, Thread, Object...
Other important packages are java.io that contains all input/output facili-
ties, java.awt that contains a first basic framework for graphical user interfaces
(GUI), java.net that contains network related classes, java.util that contains
collections and sets, java.rmi that contains facilities for RPC-like mechanisms,
javax.swing that contains an advanced GUI framework and org.omg.CORBA
that provides CORBA facilities.

7
 Table 6: Java Primitive Types
Type Represents Default Size Min Example Max
boolean true or f alse false 1 bit true
char unicode chars \u000 16 bits \u0000 ’c’ \uFFFF
byte signed int 0 8 bits −128 50B 127
short signed int 0 16 bits −32768 500S 32767
int signed int 0 32 bits −2147483648 250 2147483647
long signed int 0 64 bits −263 4587L 263 − 1
float IEEE 754 0.0 32 bits ±3.4E + 38 34.545F ±1.4E − 45
double IEEE 754 0.0 64 bits ±1.7E + 308 23.54e5 ±4.9E − 324

3.4 Exercises
1. Define your own package name for HelloWorld.
2. Reference HelloWorld in a class outside the package.

4 Types
4.1 Primitive Types
The first kind of types that exists in Java is primitive types, the other one
being reference types. Primitive types (see Table 6 for details) are not classes.
Contrary to other types, non-local variables of these types are automatically
initialized to valid values. It is also possible to use standard arithmetic operators
(+, -, *, /) with numbers as well as comparison operators (<, >, ==, >=, <=, !=).
There is an automatic conversion policy for numbers when used in formulae and
if there is no loss of precision during the conversion. Contrary to the C language
from which it borrows the types names, there is no possibility to assign a number
to a char and vice-versa.
Primitive types have equivalent classes: boolean’s equivalent is Boolean,
char’s equivalent is Character, int’s equivalent is Integer, byte’s equivalent
is Byte, short’s equivalent is Short, float’s equivalent is Float, and double’s
equivalent is Double. Note that in the most recent version of Java, SUN has
introduced automatic boxing in the language. This allows to use int variables
and Integer in an interchangeable manner while calculating arithmetic formu-
lae and making assignments.

4.2 Reference Types

Reference types are types for which an instance of a class is the actual value of
the variable. The reserved keyword for denoting unassigned reference variables
is null. It is also the default value assigned to any uninitialized reference type
variable. Note that null can be returned by any method returning a reference
type.

4.3 Classes
Named classes begin with a visibility modifier as described in Figure 7 the
keyword class, a name, an opening brace ({). It ends with a closing brace (}).

8
By default, a class is only accessible from within its own package.
The following modifiers can be applied to a classes definitions: abstract is
for saying that the class cannot be instantiated and must be subclassed to be
used, final means that the class cannot be subclassed, public means that the
class is accessible from other packages.
As we already wrote in Subsection 3.1, class names begin by convention
with an upper case character, they only contain letters and have upper case
characters at each beginning of a new word in the class name. This is often
referred to as CamelCase.4
As an example, the class HelloWorld could be declared as follows:

public class HelloWorld {

4.4 Interfaces
Interfaces are equivalent to abstract classes because they cannot be used for
creating instances. Interfaces do not contain any implementation, only signature
of methods (see Subsection 6.2 ). Interfaces begin with the keyword interface,
a name, an opening brace ({). It ends with a closing brace (}). By default,
interfaces are only accessible within their package. A public interface means
that the interface is accessible from other packages.
Most interfaces are called somethingable because they act as an enabler for
a property.
As an example, the toy interface Wavable could be declared as follows:

public interface Wavable{

4.5 Inheritance
Java has single inheritance, which means that a class can have one parent class
only. Methods are directly inherited in children classes. Their name do not
change and they can be used as is if the client code respects the given visibility
for the methods. At the top of the inheritance tree, the class Object defines
the set of common methods.
A class specifies that it inherits from another one by writing extends Oth-
erClass between its name and the opening brace. As an example:

public class HelloWorld extends Object {

If no parent class is specified, the class inherits from Object by default. In

a child class, methods and fields from the parent are directly accessible. There
is no way to rename methods nor fields. Please see Subsection 6.6 for details on
overriding methods.
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CamelCase

9
4.6 Implementation
A class may implement an interface. This means that it gives an actual im-
plementation for each of the method signatures from the interface. Note that
instances of a class implementing an interface are also of the type of the inter-
face. Thus they can be treated as variables of that type. This constitutes the
main use of interfaces: getting rid of multiple inheritance and still being able to
automate treatments over classes from several branches of the inheritance tree.
The class HelloWorld implementing Wavable, it could be declared as follows:
public class HelloWorld implements Wavable {
...
}

4.7 Nested/Inner Classes

Nested classes are classes that are defined in another class. If a class is defined at
the same level (outside) as the main class of the file, then it is implicitly defined
as a static class. This means that it can be accessed from outside the class by
writing NameOfMainClass.NameOfNestedClass. If not, it may be defined as a
static or non-static class.
Inner classes are classes defined within another main class and are non-
static classes. They can inherit from a static class. They cannot declare static
members other than constant (final) ones. There are several ways of defining
inner classes. A local class (a class defined for the scope of a method) may be
defined as a variable. The scope of the class is then the immediately enclosing
block. As an example:

// method declaration
public void wave(){
class Hello2 extends HelloWorld{

};
...
}

Inner classes can also be anonymous. Please remember that they are non-
abstract and final in addition of being non-static. It is then made on-the-
fly when calling a constructor by opening a brace ({) immediately after the call
(before the ;) and beginning to define/redefine methods before closing the brace.
This kind of declaration is very useful when willing to redefine a class for only
one variable as it happens very often for graphical user interfaces. Example:

public void wave(){

Object o = new Object(){
public Object clone(){
return this;
}
};
...
}

10
 The last possibility for describing inner classes is to include a class definition
at the same level as the class’s methods. In that case, the scope of the class is
the inner class itself. Example:

public class HelloWorld extends Object{

class Hello2 extends HelloWorld{

};
// method declaration
public void wave(){
...
}
}

4.8 Generic Classes

With the most recent version of Java genericicity has been introduced. The way
to declare generics is to add the class name that is used to parameterize the
generic type just after the class name of the generic type. The syntax used to
declare the generic parameter is the angle brackets < and >. If a generic type is
parameterized using the type E, it is defined as a regular type within the scope
of the generic class. When declaring a variable of the generic type, the generic
parameter must be actualized using the angle brackets.
Example:

public class List<E>{

// method declaration
E m(){
...
}
// actual type
Iterator<Integer> i;
}

Declaring a generic type that uses more than one parameter is done through
using of commas between generic parameters. As an example, this is the decla-
ration of a generic type that uses two types internally, given by the two generic
parameters:

public class DoubleList<E,G>{

...
}

4.9 Arrays
Arrays are declared similarly to C/C++: by adding [ ] after the type of which
we are considering the array. When actually instanciating the array itself a new
type is defined. As an example:

// defines an array of int called a

int[] a;

11
// defines an array of HelloWorld called hellos
HelloWorld[] hellos;

4.10 Exercises
1. Why would one use interfaces?
2. What is the difference between interfaces and abstract classes?
3. Why use inner classes?
4. What is the difference between primitive types and reference types?

5 Variables
5.1 Declaring Variables
Variables are declared using C-style declaration: first the type of the variable
and then the name of the variable.
int a;
String c;
Each declaration ends with a semicolon (;) and several variable names shar-
ing the same type can be declared at once by separating variable names with a
comma (,).
int a,b;
String c;

5.2 Using Variables

Assigning a variable is made through the use of = and assignments at initializa-
tion can be done that way.
int a=3;
String c="tojp";
// defines an array of int called b and iniotialized textually
int []b={3,4,5,6};
// defines an array of HelloWorld called hellos
HelloWorld [] hellos;
...
a=a+2;
// initialization of hellos
// creates an array of size 10
hellos=new HelloWorld[10];
Note that compact forms for assignments of primitive types are also available
as in C. As an example, i++ is equivalent to i=i+1, i-- is equivalent to i=i-1,
i-=m is equivalent to i=i-m, and i+=m is equivalent to i=i+m.
Values stored in an array can be accessed by providing an index into the
array: nameOfArray[ integerValue]. Arrays values are indexed from 0 to n-1
where n is the size of the array. As an example:

12
int a;
int []b={3,4,5,6};
...
a=b[2];
// a is now equal to 5
Another way of using variables is to test their value. By default, the usual
comparison operators (==, !=, <, >, =<, >=) apply naturally on number types.
Equality/inequality can also be tested on variables of reference types, denoting
respectively then reference equality and reference inequality.

5.3 Local Variables

Unlike C or other languages, the declaration of local variables can be made at
any point in the code as long as they do not compete with any other declaration
of another local variable. Still, it is usually done at the beginning of the method.
The scope of a local variable starts after its declaration and is valid through the
the whole innermost block (group of instructions between { and }).

5.4 this
Within instances methods, it is possible to reference the current object by using
this. This can be usefull when another declaration shadows a variable or to
use the current object as a parameter of another method. As an example:
int a;
...
public void add(int a){
this.a=this.a+a;
System.out.println(this);
}

5.5 Instance Variables

Instance variables are variables declared within a class but outside a method.
Each instance has its own values for instance variables (even instances of sub-
classes). Instance variables can have a visibility qualifier (see Table 7) expressed
in first position of their declaration.

Table 7: Visibility Modifiers

protected

private
default
public

Qualifier
Not in package/Not in a subclass yes no no no
In subclass yes yes no no
Within package yes yes yes no

Instance variables may be accessed through the use of this.variableName

or more simply variableName. As an example, consider that HelloWorld has a
field giving the message to print:

13
public class HelloWorld {
public String message = "Hello World!";
...
System.out.println(this.message);
...
System.out.println(message);
...
}

Instance variables can also have the following modifiers: final, transient,
volatile. Fields that are final can only be assigned once and must be as-
signed in any constructor. Fields that are transient do not participate to the
persistent state of the object (they will not be serialized). volatile fields may
be accessed by threads safely (we will come back to this notion in later lectures).
The qualifiers volatile and final are incompatible.
Possibly HelloWorld could declare the field message as final:
public class HelloWorld {
public final String message = "Hello World!";
...
}

5.6 Class Variables

Class variables have the qualifier static. Instances of the class all share the
same value for the variable. Accessing class variables may be made through
the use of ClassName.variableName or more simply within the class by simply
using variableName.
Visibility as explained in Table 7 is still usable as well as the qualifiers final,
transient and volatile.
In the case of HelloWorld, it is possible to declare the message as a class
variable:
public class HelloWorld {
public static String message = "Hello World!";
...
System.out.println(HelloWorld.message);
...
System.out.println(message);
...
}

5.7 Exercises
1. Why is it incompatible to have a final and volatile field?
2. Would you use a static qualifier for a multithreaded application? Would
you use another qualifier?
3. Is a local variable accessible from outside the class?
4. Is a local variable accessible from outside the code in which it is defined?

14
 5. How would you declare a String that should be visible outside the package,
shared by all instances and may be accessed concurrently?

6 Methods
6.1 Constructors
A constructor is a creation procedure. Constructors have the same visibility
modifiers as the ones described in Table 7. Constructors in Java have the same
name as the class for which they build instances. Constructors do not have
return types (implicitely they return a fresh instance of their class). Construc-
tors are not inherited by child classes. Constructors must contain a call to a
constructor of the parent class (using super instead of the constructor name), if
they fail to do that, a call to the default constructor with no argument is added
by the compiler. If this still fails, there is a compile-time error. Example:
/*
* Class to wave at the world.
**/
public class HelloWorld {

/*
* The message that will be displayed
**/
public String message="Hello World!";

/*
* Constructor that changes the message displayed
**/
public HelloWorld(String s){
super();
message=s;
}
}
Calling a constructor in a client class is done by adding the keyword new in
front of the class name and then adding the arguments separated by commas
between parentheses. Suppose the example for HelloWorld:
HelloWorld world=new HelloWorld("Hello my dearest World!!!");
A constructor for generic classes has to indicate the bindings of the generic
types in its signature:

/*
* Class to wave at the world.
**/
public class HelloWorld <E>{
/*
* Constructor that changes the message displayed
**/

15
 public HelloWorld<E>(String s){
super();
}
}

A call to a constructor of a generic class must also include the generic pa-
rameter:

HelloWorld <String> world=

new HelloWorld<String>("Hello my dearest World!!!");

6.2 Declaration
A method is declared through writing:

visibilityModifiers otherModifiers ReturnType methodName ( arguments ){

...implementation...
} visibilityModifiers are the same ones as the ones shown in Table 7. other-
Modifiers can be:
abstract: The method is not implemented, only the signature is given, the
{...implementation...} is replaced by ;. The class is declared abstract;
static: The method is a class method. It can be called by using Class-
Name.methodName and does not need an instance.
final: The method cannot be overridden (through inheritance).
native: The method is platform dependent and implemented natively.
strictfp: Expressions of type float or double in the body of this method are
FP-strict: all results will confirm to the EEE 754 arithmetic on operands.
synchronized: All synchronized methods of the class execute in mutual ex-
clusion if they have the same scope (instance or class).
ReturnType can be a reference type or a primitive type. It can also be void
if there is no return type. In the code for the method’s body, it is possible to
interrupt the computation by using return anExpression, that will return the
value calculated by the expression.
methodName is generally a verbal proposition in which there are only char-
acters and in which words are separated by having the first letter of each word
be a capital letter.
arguments are C-style declarations of types and local name bindings within
the method (optional in the case of an abstract method). Each argument
declaration is made of a type and a name, declarations are separated by commas.
As in C it is possible to declare methods with a variable number of arguments.
Arguments are then automatically ”boxed” into an array. Within the method,
they can then be used as if they were in an array.
Examples method declaration:

16
public abstract Void wave();

public int getCount(){

return count;
}

public in countArgs(String... args){

String s0=args[0];
}
Interestingly enough subtyping may become unsafe when using generics. As
an example, if one assigns a list of drivers to a list of persons, then the system
may allow to add persons that are not drivers and then corrupt the list of drivers
without breaking subtyping.
To solve this problem, the specification for the generics follow a policy that
is based on the use of wildcards when trying to use their types. Then the super
type of all Lists is:

public printList(List<?> l){

...
}

In this case we make no assumption on the actual type of the generic type
of l. It is however useful to use methods from a certain type sometimes. As an
example, the method printList can be defined as follows:

public printList(List<? extends MyClass> l){

...
}

The same thing is possible using the keyword super instead of extends and
to combine several conditions using &. The excellent tutorial from Gilad Bracha
”Generics in the Java Programming Language”5 explains these constructs in
more details.

6.3 Using Methods

Only reference types accept methods invocations. Generally, a method is called
on an instance and possibly returns a result. Given a method declared with
static, the method can be called using the class name instead of an instance
name. The call itself is made using parentheses to delimit arguments and one
need to put the parentheses even if there is no argument. Example:

out2=out.clone();
out2.println("Hello World!");

If a method returns a result, calls may be chained and applied with a default
left side parentheses. It can also be combined with fields accesses.

System.out.println("Hello World!");
5 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5/pdf/generics-tutorial.pdf

17
6.4 Method Conformance
A method m2 conforms to another method m1 if:
• they have the same name.
• they have the same number of formal parameters and each parameter has
the same type in each method.
• the return type of m2 is the same or a subtype of the one of m1 .

6.5 Overloading Methods

Overloading methods is giving the same name to several methods and have each
of them provide different implementations. As long as methods have different
(non-conforming) signatures, it is allowed to overload them. This allows to make
the binding at load-time.

6.6 Overriding Methods

It was already stated that children classes inherit methods as they are defined
in the parent (e.g. no renaming). These methods can be used freely on the
instances of the subclass if the visibility modifyer allows it.
Overriding methods is the ability to use polymorphism by redefining a method
with a conforming method that has an equivalent or more permissive visibility.
In that case, even if the instance is stored in a variable of parent’s type, the
redefinition of the method is called in place of the parent’s definition. In Java,
overriding is implicit. This allows to have a particular treatment for instances
of a subclass when used as instances of their parent class.
Still, it can be necessary to access the parent method from the child. Simi-
larly to constructors, it is possible to call a method from the parent by writing
super.methodName.

6.7 Visibility
Visibility modifiers for methods are the same as the ones described in Table 7.

6.8 The main Method

In each class it is possible to implement a main method that allows to startup
the system. The arguments are stored in an array of Strings. The method
should have the following definition:

public static void main(String []args){

...
}

Launching the application can be made by calling java on the class contain-
ing the definition of the main method. Example:

java HelloWorld

18
6.9 Exercises
1. Why does the following code not compile?

public class HelloWorld {

public String message="Hello World!";
public HelloWorld(String s){
super();
message=s;
}
}
public class HelloWorld2 extends HelloWorld{
public HelloWorld2(String s){
message=s;
}
}

2. And why does this one not compile either?

public class HelloWorld {

public String message="Hello World!";
private HelloWorld(String s){
super();
message=s;
}
}
public class HelloWorld2 extends HelloWorld{
public HelloWorld2(String s){
super(s);
}
}

3. What will happen here?

public class Parent {

public Parent wave(Parent p){
System.out.println("in the parent");
return null;
}
}
public class Child extends Parent{
public Child wave(Object o){
System.out.println("in the child");
return null;
}
public static void main(String []args){
Parent p=new Child();
p.wave(p);
}
}

19
 4. And here?

public class Parent {

public Parent wave(Parent p){
System.out.println("in the parent");
return null;
}
}
public class Child extends Parent{
public Child wave(Parent p){
System.out.println("in the child");
return null;
}
public static void main(String []args){
Parent p=new Child();
p.wave(p);
}

5. What is invalid here?

public class HelloWorld{

String s="Hello World";
public static void main(String []args){
System.out.println(s);
}
}

7 Expressions
7.1 Instructions
A statement can be:
• An empty statement (e.g. ;).
• A labeled statement to be used in conjunction with break or continue.6
• An expression statement that is calculated. Note that it covers method
invocations and calculations.
• A control structure that is affecting the execution.
• An assert statement that tries to verify a condition if assertions are on.7
• A return statement that terminates the methods invocation and possibly
returns a value.
• A throw statement that generates a new exception.
6 http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third edition/html/statements.html#14.7
7 http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third edition/html/statements.html#14.10

20
 • A try statement that catches an exception.
At the end of each non-block statement, a ; is needed.

7.2 Method invocation

As we already expressed, a method is invoked through a call of the form vari-
ableName.methodName or ClassName.methodName. This expression can also
be used on an expression returning a reference type variable instead of variable-
Name. Note that even if the method returns a result, it can be ignored by not
assigning it to a variable.

7.3 instanceof
The operator instanceof is a primitive of the language that allows programmers
to verify that an instance is an instance of a given class. In particular it also
considers that instances of subclasses are instances of the parent classes. The
expression variableName instanceof ClassName returns a boolean that is true
if the variable is an instance of the class, false otherwise. This expression can
also be used on an expression returning a reference type variable instead of
variableName.

7.4 Casting
A cast is a way of having an instance conform to the type of a variable by trying
to change its declared type. It is made by prefixing the reference to be cast by
(TypeName). This used to be extremely useful before the existence of generic
types in Java because any object being put in a container would loose its type
indication when retrieved. Example of use:
String s;
Object o;
...
s=(String)o;

7.5 Blocks
A block is an instruction terminated by a semi-colon (;) or a group of instruc-
tions packed by { and }. Executing a block means that each instruction is
executed one after the other. Blocks are instructions.

7.6 if
If statements have two different forms:
if (test )block
if (test ) block1 else block2
The first expression executes block only if the evaluation of the test returns
true.
The second expression executes block1 only if the evaluation of the test re-
turns true, otherwise it executes block2 . Example:

21
if (a>0)
a=a+1;
else
a=a-1;

7.7 switch
Switch statements have the following form:
switch (expression ){
case constant1 : block1
case constant2 : blockn
...
default: blockf inal
}
As in C or C++, the execution of a switch statement is as follows: if
the value of the expression (that must be of type char, byte, int, short,
Character, Byte, Integer or Short) is equal to one of the constants, then
all the blocks following this constant will be executed. When there is a break
instruction, the code continues execution after the end of the switch statement.
In the case the expression does not evaluate to any constant, the final block is
executed.
Example of use:

int a;
switch (a){
case 1:
System.out.println(1);
break;
case 2:
System.out.println(2);
break;
default:
System.out.println("N/A");
}

7.8 while
While statements have the following form:
while (test ) block ;
While the test is true, the block is executed. Example:

while(true){
i=i+1;
}

7.9 do...while
Do...while statements have the following form:
do block while( expression );
Execute the block and do it again until the expression is false. Example:

22
do{
i=i+1;
}while(i<10);

7.10 for
For statements have the following form:
for(initInstruction;test ;loopInstruction)block
The semantics of the statement is that initInstruction is executed, then the
test is verified, if it returns false the next statement is executed. While the
test is verified block is executed, then loopInstruction is executed and then test
verified. Example:

for(i=0;i<10;i++) System.out.println("I print this 10 times");

7.11 Enhanced for

In the case we are considering Iterable variables, there is a form for a for
statement that applies to all the elements.
for(Type Identifier :expression)block
The only condition is that expression return an Iterable. In that case, it
is equivalent8 to:

for (I #i = Expression.iterator(); #i.hasNext(); ) {

VariableModifiersopt Type Identifier = #i.next();
block
}

Where #i is a fresh variable. As an example:

int sum(int[] a) {
int sum = 0;
for (int i : a)
sum += i;
return sum;
}

7.12 break/continue and labels

The break instruction allows to break any loop (while, for, do...while) and
continue with the execution of the rest of the program. continue allows to go
back to the test part of the loop and skip the rest of the loop. Note that break
does not act on if statements, thus it is possible to exit from a loop by using
break in an if statement:

while(true){
i=i+1;
if (i>10) break;
}
8 Example from http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third edition/html/statements.html#14.14.2

23
 A less known way of using break and continue is to use them with labels.
It is possible to use labels as follows:
label : block
Actually when used as break label ; within a block the execution interrupts
the block that has the same label and continues execution.
In the case the label is defined on a loop statement, it is also possible to use
continue label ; to effect a continue on this loop rather than on the innermost
loop. Example:
test:{
System.out.println("beginning test");
while (true){
if (i<5) {
break test;
} else i++;
System.out.println("end test");
}
}

test2:while (true) {
System.out.println("beginning test2");
if (i<5) {
break test2;
} else {
i++;
continue test2;
}
}

7.13 Exercises
1. Look up in the documentation9 for the documentation on assert.
2. What does the following program do:

while (true) {
System.out.println("beginning test2");
if (i<5) {
break ;
} else {
i++;
continue ;
}
}

3. And this one?

int i;
test:for (;true;) {
9 http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third edition/html/statements.html

24
 while(true){
System.out.println("beginning test2");
if (i<5) {
break test;
} else {
i++;
continue ;
}
}
}

4. Find a good question for this section and exchange them with your most
direct neighbor.

8 Exceptions and Errors

8.1 Throwable
Contrary to other languages, exceptions in Java can be used a programming
style. Still, it is important to differentiate between real errors and exceptions.
Throwable is a class that is subclassed by both Error and Exception.
The throw statement allows to raise the throwable and interrupt execution
until a corresponding catch block is found. Example of use:

throw new ActivationException("message");

When there is a Throwable that is raised execution is blocked and enclosing

blocks and methods are terminated until a block containing a matching catch
clause is found. The syntax of try/catch statements is the following one:
try block
catch ( ThrowableType1 varName1 )block1
catch ( ThrowableType2 varName2 ) block2
...
finally blockf
It has the basic semantics of trying to execute block and if a Throwable is
called during the execution and that the type of the Throwable is a subtype of
at least one of the variables of the catch clauses, then the corresponding block
of the first matching clause is executed. In the case the optional finally clause
is present, the blockf is also executed. And program continues execution. If no
clause matches, then the optional the blockf is executed if present and then the
Throwable is propagated.
In the case there is no Throwable raised, blockf is executed after block and
the program continues execution normally. An example of use is the following:

public int getCount() {

if (count>1000) throw new TooManyElementsError();
return count;
}
...
try{

25
 a=getCount();
} catch (Error e){
System.out.println("Too many elements!!!");
}
...

8.2 Error
Error mostly consist of problems that cannot be resolved like LinkageError,
ThreadDeath, VirtualMachineError. It is not needed to declare that a method
may throw an Error as it generally cannot be foreseen.

8.3 Exceptions
There are plenty of exceptions, we can however cite common ones like: ClassNotFoundException,
IOException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException...
A method that may raise an exception needs to declare that it throws an
exception. Thus programmers cannot be surprised by exceptions that they did
not foresee. This indication is added just before the body of the method. As
an example:

public int getCount() throws TooManyElementsException {

if (count>1000) throw new TooManyElementsException();
return count;
}
...
try{
a=getcount();
} catch (Exception e){
System.out.println("Too many elements!!!");
}
...

8.4 Exercise
1. To treat errors happening on sockets, would you define exceptions or er-
rors?
2. When willing to use a persistence framework if the main storage is not
accessible, would you use an exception or an error to report it?
3. Are exceptions gotos? Give some other point of view than the one used
in Java.
4. what does the following code do?

public int ping() throws PingException {

System.out.println("Ping")
throw new PingException();
}
...

26
 public int pong() throws PongException {
System.out.println("Pong")
throw new PongException();
}
...
boolean b;
while (true)
try{
if (b)
ping();
else
pong();
} catch (PingException pi){
b=false;
}catch (PongException po){
b=true;
}

9 Standard Classes
9.1 Object
The class Object has a limited set of methods. They are all inherited by any
class. The main ones are:
clone(): returns a copy of the object (not a deep copy though).
equals(Object obj): returns true if the current Object is equal to the argu-
ment (according to the method) returns false otherwise.
finalize(): method called by the garbage collector when the object is removed
from the heap.
getClass(): the method returns the actual class of the object.
hashCode(): method that returns a hash code for the current object. Note
that for objects that are equals regarding to equals should have the same
hashCode.
toString(): returns a String that represents the current object.
The other methods of Object are used for concurrent accesses.

9.2 String
The class String is a class that is immutable in Java. This means that the value
of the instances of this class cannot change once created. Some of the methods
of the class String are:
charAt(int index): returns the char at the position specified.
concat(String str): returns a String that is a concatenation of the current
String and the argument.

27
equals(Object anObject): returns true if the argument is a String with the
same value.
length(): returns the size of the current String.
matches(String regex): returns true if the current String matches the reg-
ular expression passed as an argument.
Please note also the existence of a whole set of static methods called
valueOf and that returns the String representations of values from a primi-
tive type.

9.3 System
The System is a class that intends to provide a library for useful functionalities
(static methods) related to the interactions with the system. In particular:
exit(int status): quits the program and sends the return code status to the
system.
getenv(): returns a Map of environment variables and values.
nanoTime(): returns a long containing the most precise available time.
Moreover, the three fields err to output on the error channel, in to read
users inputs, out to output on standar outpout.

9.4 Vector
The class Vector is a generic class that allows to store in an array-like structure
values of a given type. The methods of the class Vector:
add(element): appends the element to the current Vector.
clear(): removes all the elements of the current Vector.
elementAt(int index): returns the element at position index.
remove(Object o): removes o from the current Vector.
size(): returns an int giving the size of the current Vector.

9.5 Exercises
1. Inspect the class Array.
2. Inspect the interface Iterable.
3. Inspet the class OutputStream.

28
10 Basic Examples
10.1 Hello World
The most simple version of Helloworld is:
/**
* Class to startup students
*
*@author Manuel Oriol
*/
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}

10.2 A Small Note taker

import java.io.*;
/**
* Class to simply take notes into a file.
*/
public class NoteTaker{

/**
* Reader from the keyboard
*/
public static BufferedReader standard;

/**
* Stream to write in the file
*/
public static FileOutputStream out;

/**
* This program taks the first argument as a file name,
* it opens it and write what user write into it
*/
public static void main(String[] args){
String s;

standard = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));

// checks arguments number

if (args.length!=1) System.exit(0);

// open the file name

try {out = new FileOutputStream(args[0]);}
catch (FileNotFoundException e){System.exit(0);}

29
 // users have to leave by using Control-C
while(true){
try {
// read and write
s=standard.readLine();
out.write(s.getBytes());
out.write("\n".getBytes());
} catch (IOException e){
System.out.println("I/O error");
System.exit(0);
}

10.3 A Small Stack

We design here a tiny example of stack to show how generics work in practice.
For a nice implementation of Stack, please use java.util.Stack.
/**
* Small Stack Class to serve as an example for generics.
*
*@author Manuel Oriol
*/
public class MySmallStack <E> {

/**
* Private class for the Elements of the stack.
*/
private class Element <E>{
public Element<E> next;
public Element<E> previous;
public E value;
public Element(E value){
this.value=value;
}
public E getValue(){
return value;
}
};

/**
* First element of the stack.
*/
private Element<E> first;

30
 /**
* Constructor for the stack.
*/
public MySmallStack(){
first=null;
}

/**
* Method that adds a value to the stack.
*
*@param value the value to add
*/
public void add(E value){
Element<E> e;
e= new Element<E>(value);
e.next=this.first;
this.first=e;
}

/**
* Method that removes a value from the stack.
*
*@return the removed value
*/
public E remove(){
E retValue;
if (this.first!=null){
retValue=this.first.getValue();
this.first=this.first.next;
if (this.first!=null) this.first.previous=null;
return retValue;
}
return null;

}
/**
* Test for the stack. The expected result is 3 2 1
*/
public static void main(String[] args){
MySmallStack<Integer> myStack = new MySmallStack<Integer>();
myStack.add(1);
myStack.add(2);
myStack.add(3);
System.out.println(myStack.remove());
System.out.println(myStack.remove());
System.out.println(myStack.remove());
}

31