M251 Meeting 3:

Objects and Classes

Edited by: Dr. Bayan Abu Shawar

AOU-Jordan

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 Objectives

 To describe, declare, create objects and classes.

 To create objects using constructors.

 To access objects via reference variables.

 To distinguish between instance and static variables and methods.

 Visibility Modifiers

 To define private data fields with appropriate get and set methods.

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 O.O. Programming Concepts

 The state (attributes)

 The behavior (methods).

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 Classes

Class uses attributes and methods .

Class provides constructors.

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 Example
class Circle {
/** The radius of this circle */
double radius = 1.0; Data field

/** Zero-argument-Construct */
Circle() {
}
Constructors
/** One-argument Construct */
Circle(double newRadius) {
radius = newRadius;
}

/** Return the area of this circle */

double getArea() { Method
return radius * radius * 3.14159;
}
}//end of a class
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6
 Constructors
Constructors are a special kind of methods that are
invoked to initialise objects.
//Zero-argument constructor
Circle() {
}

//One-argument constructor
Circle(double newRadius) {
radius = newRadius;
}

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 .Constructors, cont

A constructor with no parameters is referred to as a

no-arg or zero-arg constructor.
Constructors must have the same name as the class itself.
Constructors do not have a return type—not even void.
Constructors are invoked using the new operator.

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 Default Constructor
A class may be defined without constructors. In this
case, a no-arg constructor with an empty body is
implicitly defined in the class.
This constructor, called a default constructor, is
provided automatically only if no constructors are
explicitly defined in the class.
‫اذا ال يوجد قيم مبدئية لمتغيرات الكالس حاضرة في ذهنك في كل‬
‫مرة تقوم فيها بإنشاء اوبجكت من الكالس اترك الكالس بدون اي‬
‫ في هذه الحالة سيقوم الكومبايلر بالنيابة عنك‬constructors
‫ وظيفة هذا الكونستركتور هو‬defualt constructor ‫بإنشاء‬
‫ لالوبجكت الذي يتم‬default values ‫تخصيص قيم ابتدائية‬ 9

‫انشاؤه‬
 Declaring Object Reference
Variables

Circle myCircle; //Declare

mycircle = new Circle(); //Create

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 Declaring/Creating Objects
in a Single line

//Declare and Create in a single line

Circle myCircle = new Circle();

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 Data fields (Attributes)
The data fields can be primitive or reference .

Example:

public class Student {

String name; // name has default value null

int age; // age has default value 0

boolean isScienceMajor; // isScienceMajor has default value false

char gender; // c has default value '\u0000'

}

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 ‫‪Attributes‬‬
‫شريحة اضافية غير موجودة بالساليدات االساسية‬
 The null Value

If a data field of a reference type does not

reference any object, the data field holds a
special literal value, null.

In the previous slide the name reference is an example for a reference

data type field and it does not reference any object so it holds null.
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 Default Value for a Data Field

The default value of a data field is:

null for a reference type,

0 for a numeric type,

false for a boolean type,

and '\u0000' for a char type.

Note: no default value to a local variable.

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Creating Objects from student Class

public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Student student = new Student();

System.out.println("name? " + student.name);

System.out.println("age? " + student.age);

System.out.println("isScienceMajor? " + student.isScienceMajor);

System.out.println("gender? " + student.gender);

}

}// End of class

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 Example

Java assigns default values for attributes. But NO

default value to local variables.
‫ قبل محاولة استخدامه‬local ‫يجب تخصيص قيمة لمتغير‬
public class Test {

public static void main(String[] args) {

int x; // x has no default value ‫متغير لوكال‬

String y; // y has no default value ‫متغير لوكال‬

System.out.println("x is " + x); ‫تم استخدامه قبل تخصيص قيمة له‬

System.out.println("y is " + y); ‫تم استخدامع قبل تخصيص قيمة له‬

}
Compile error: variable not initialized 17
 Data fields and Methods
Data fields can be classified into:

Instance variables and static variables

Methods can be classified into:

Instance methods and static methods

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 Instance Variables and Instance
Methods
 Instance variables belong to a specific instance
(object). For example:
‫ يجب ان يتم انشاء متغير من الكالس حتى نستطيع الوصول لهذه النوعية من االتربيوت‬

Circle myCircle = new Circle(5.0); : Circle

radius: 5.0
myCircle

 Instance methods are invoked by an instance of the

class. For example:
double x = myCircle.getArea();
‫ يجب ان يتم انشاء متغير من الكالس حتى نستطيع الوصول لهذه النوعية من الميثود‬
 Static Variables, Constants,
and Methods
Static variables (class variables) are shared by all the instances of the class.
Class variables are used to keep count of the number of objects of a class type
that have been created. As each object would have to update the count every time
a new object came into existence – (in the constructors).
Static methods (class methods) are not tied to a specific object.
You could not access an instance member from a class method.

Static constants are final variables shared by all the instances of the class,

and usually intiaised upon declaration.

You can access class variables and methods using class name.
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 Static Variable Example
Public class VariableDemo {
‫ستاتيك اتربيوت حيث تم استخدام الكلمة المحجوزة ستاتيك لتعريف المتغير‬
static int count=0;
‫ نتيجة تنفيذ اوبجكت‬count ‫كل اوبجكت جديد يتم انشاؤه سيتعامل مع اخر قيمة وصل اليها المتغير‬
increment ‫سابق للميثود‬
public void increment() { count++; }
public static void main(String args[]) {
VariableDemo obj1=new VariableDemo();
VariableDemo obj2=new VariableDemo();
obj1.increment(); //first count increment
obj2.increment(); //second count increment
System.out.println("Obj1: count is="+obj1.count);//count = 2
System.out.println("Obj2: count is="+obj2.count);//count = 2
}
}
Output:
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Obj1: count is=2 Obj2: count is=2
 Static Constants
static ‫ في حالة ال‬static ‫ مع‬final ‫الحظ ضرورة استخدام كلمة‬
constant

To declare static variables, constants, and

methods, use the static modifier.
For example: PI is declared inside Math class as constant :

So you can access it using: Math.PI

• It is public because we wish it to be available to other classes,
• It is static because it has one value for all objects of the class
• It is final because pi is a constant.
• It is double because that is the most accurate decimal representation we
can use.

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 Scope of Variables

 The scope of instance and static variables is the

entire class.
 The scope of a local variable starts from its
declaration and continues to the end of the block
that contains the variable. A local variable must
be initialized explicitly before it can be used.

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 Static methods

Example:

public static double max (double a, double b)

{
if (a>b)
return a;
else
return b;
}

 To access it: double val = Math.max(Math.PI, 4.0);

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 Packages
 A package is used to associate a number of classes.

The .* notation means 'all the classes in the package.

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 ‫‪Import package‬‬
‫شريحة اضافية غير موجودة بالساليدات االساسية‬
 Access modifiers
There are three keywords associated with controlling levels of access to class members
in Java: public, protected & private. These are known as access modifiers.

There is actually a fourth level of access, 'default'. There is no 'default‘ keyword;

default access arises when none of the access modifiers is specified.

The following example illustrates the accessibility:

Example:

Visibility for a ref. var. defined in Alpha

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 Visibility Modifiers and
Accessor/Mutator Methods

By default, the class, variable, or method can be accessed

by any class in the same package.
 public
The class, data, or method is visible to any class in any package.
 private
The data or methods can be accessed only by the declaring class.
 Protected
The data or methods are accessible inside class where they are declared, and
inside subclasses.
 No modifier: default members can be accessed by all classes in the same
package.

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The private modifier restricts access to within a class, the default modifier
restricts access to within a package, and the public modifier enables unrestricted
access.

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The default modifier on a class restricts access to within a package, and the
public modifier enables unrestricted access.

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 NOTE
An object cannot access its private members, as shown
in (b). It is OK, however, if the object is declared in its
own class, as shown in (a).

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Why Data Fields Should Be private?
To protect data.

To make code easy to maintain.

To achieve encapsulation principle.

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 Getter methods

– A getter method should not change the state of the object.

– All private attributes should have getter methods .

For example, inside the class Circle, we need to add another method:
public double getRadius(){
return radius
}

In the main method: we invoke getRadius() using object name.

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 Setter Method

– It is one that changes the state of an object.

– Setter methods do not normally return a value.

For Example: Inside Circle class we need to add:

Public void setRadius(double r){

radius = r;
}

In the main method: we invoke setRadius() using object name.

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 Example of
Data Field Encapsulation
Circle
The - sign indicates
private modifier -radius: double The radius of this circle (default: 1.0).
-numberOfObjects: int The number of circle objects created.

+Circle() Constructs a default circle object.

+Circle(radius: double) Constructs a circle object with the specified radius.
+getRadius(): double Returns the radius of this circle.
+setRadius(radius: double): void Sets a new radius for this circle.
+getNumberOfObjects(): int Returns the number of circle objects created.
+getArea(): double Returns the area of this circle.

CircleWithPrivateDataFields

TestCircleWithPrivateDataFields Run
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 ‫الساليدات التالية تحتوي على بعض االسئلة‬
‫مالحظة‪ :‬االسئلة غير مقتبسة من الكويزات السابقة وليس لها اي عالقة بالكويزات‬
‫( فقط لتوضيح بعض االفكار بالميتنج والتأكيد على الفهم )‬

‫‪36‬‬
Exercise: 1
Exercise: 2
Exercise: 3
Exercise: 4
Exercise: 5
Exercise: 6
Exercise: 7
 Exercise: 8

What is the instance variable?

 Exercise: 9

What is the setter method?

 Exercise: 10

How many constructors?

 Exercise: 11

What is return type of getArea() method?

 Exercise: 12

What is the return type of setRadius() method?

Exercise: 13
Exercise: 14
Exercise: 15
Edited By: Ramadan Ibrahim
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