CSC 260L: Java Programming Lab 1

Programming Exercise 1:
A First Program

Purpose: Introduction to Java programming, using the

Eclipse Integrated Development Environment

Background readings from textbook: 1.7-1.10, 1.12, 2.2, 2.4-2.5

Due date for section 001: Monday, January 18 by 10 am

Due date for section 002: Wednesday, January 20 by 10 am

Overview:
In this assignment, you will familiarize yourself with the basic steps of creating a Java program using
the Eclipse IDE. You will enter, compile, debug (if necessary), and run a simple program. You will
then modify the program several times, compiling, debugging and running it as you modify it. For
this assignment, you will need to understand the basic structure of a 1-method Java program, variable
declarations and output statements using System.out. First, we look at using Eclipse. If you are using
your home computer, you can download a free copy of Eclipse from the Eclipse website at
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/.

Part 1: Starting a Java Program in Eclipse

Start Eclipse. You will see a selection box called the “Workspace Launcher” (Figure 1) which will
allow you to set the directory for your workspace files. You can set this location as the default so that
this window does not appear in the future, otherwise it will appear every time you start Eclipse. Use
the Browse… button to select an appropriate location. If you are using your home computer, set up
a workspace directory that you will remember. If you are using a campus computer, use a flash drive.
You should use the same workspace for all of your programs this semester both for convenience and
to easily access them later in the semester if you need to see how you accomplished something.

Figure 1 Select your workspace

After setting up your workspace, you will see a generic Eclipse Welcome window the first time you
use Eclipse. The actual window may vary depending on which version you installed, but it will look
something like what is shown in Figure 2. If you have already used Eclipse since installing it, this
step is skipped and you will see a project interface window (see figure 3). Close the Welcome window

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by clicking the X in the Welcome tab. You can return to this Welcome window by selecting
Welcome from the Help menu.

Figure 2: Eclipse welcome page.

Figure 3: Eclipse Project Interface Window

Before creating Java programs in Eclipse, you need to first create a project to hold the files that are
associated with that program. For most of this semester, we will only create a single file, but it still
must be placed inside a project. To do this, we create the project first.

From the Eclipse Project Interface Window, create a new project by selecting New… from the File…
menu and then Java Project from the submenu. This brings up a New Java Project pop-up
window, as shown in figure 4. From here, you will see the default location (workspace). You can
change this by de-selecting the Use default location checkbox but since we just set this up,
we will keep it as is. Type in your project name. The name can be anything but it should be
meaningful. Use HelloWorld for this assignment (spell it exactly as shown here). Under JRE
(Java Run-time Environment), you should not have to adjust anything but if you need to, you would
select the appropriate button (e.g., Use default JRE) and adjust the drop down box or click
Configure JREs… under Project layout, leave it as it defaults. There are no working sets to
add so you would leave that blank. Finally, click on Finish.

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Enter the file name. For this assignment it

should be HelloWorld.

Enter the location where you want the file

saved. Either save to your NKU account or to a
flash drive.

Figure 4: New Java Project Window

Now let’s explore the entire Eclipse Project Interface window. You should see in the leftmost pane
the Package Explorer. There is one package, named HelloWorld. If you click on the triangle to
expand this, you will see two items, src and JRE System Library. The src item is where your Java
source code is placed. The JRE System Library lists all of the jar files that are available. Figure 5
shows this list expanded. The upper right pane is where you will edit your source code. The lower
right pane is where output (and any error messages) will appear.

Edit pane

Project pane

Output pane

Figure 5: Java Project Interface Panes for HelloWord Project

At this point, we will begin to write our first program.

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Part 2: Writing, Compiling and Running a Program

We have a project but now we need at least one file. Through most of this class, our programs will
consist of a single file which itself will store code which includes a main method. The main method
is the first set of code run whenever you run any Java program. For several weeks, we will only use
main methods. Later in the semester we will write additional methods.

To create our file, select New… from the File menu and Class in the submenu. This brings up a
New Java Class pop-up window, as shown in figure 6. In this window, you see the folder which
stores this file, and any package that we want to place this file in (we won’t be doing that in this class).
Beneath this, we find several selections. First, we have to enter a name for this class. Use
HelloWorld. Do we want to make this class public, package, private or protected? We want to
use public. We can also make the class abstract, final or static. We will not use any of these. We
can enter this class’ parent class (superclass) if we want to use inheritance. We will cover this at the
end of the semester. Without specifying a parent, the class automatically uses the Object class as the
parent; we don’t need to change that setting. We can also select a method stub to create. In our case,
we want public static void main(String[ ] args). We can click this checkbox or
we can write it ourselves. In this case, we will use this automated feature, so select the checkbox for
main. Finally, click on Finish.

Figure 6: Creating a Class

Creating the class causes Eclipse to automatically generate some of the code for us. This appears in
the Edit pane in a window labeled with the name of our file that we just created, HelloWorld.java

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(this is the file containing our class, the class is named HelloWorld). See figure 7 which shows the
edit pane.

Figure 7: Automatically Generated Code for New Class

Where you see // TODO Auto-generated method stub, you will add your own code. The
notation // means that what follows is a comment. Comments are ignored by the compiler and are
there for us humans to read. Delete that comment. Enter what you see below exactly as shown except
that you need to fill in what appears in italics (such as your name, the section number and the date).
The items that appear between /* and */ notation are also comments. The rest is the code. Notice
that you do not have to type public class HelloWorld, {, public static void
main(String[] args), } or } yourself, that is already there. Fill in the rest.

/*
Author: your name
Course: CSC260L lab section
Date: today's date
Assignment: #1
Instructor: your instructor’s name
*/

public class HelloWorld

{
public static void main( String[] args )
{
System.out.println( "Hello World!" );
System.out.println( "Welcome to the fun world of Java programming." );
System.exit(0);
}
}

Notes:
 The class name must match the file name (excluding the .java part) otherwise you will receive
an error.
 The last instruction has a zero in parens.
 Spell all the words exactly as shown, and use the same capitalization. Java, is a case sensitive
programming language.
 Use the same punctuation including the parentheses, quote marks, semicolons, and brackets
exactly as shown.
 Spacing does not have to be as shown above, but Eclipse automatically indents for you, so
you should stick as closely to the above as possible.
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What does this program do? Not much. The executable code appears between the inner { } and
consists of two System.out.println statements and a System.exit(0) statement. The println statements
output anything found inside of the ( ) while the exit statement causes the program to terminate. This
program, like many that we will write early in this semester, has a single class (HelloWorld) with a
single method (main).

Save your program (select Save from the File menu or select the Save button on the button
bar, it looks like a floppy disk, it should be the third from the left. Before you can run your program,
it must be compiled. We can compile it and then run it, or it will automatically compile when you try
to run it. So we will just run it. You can run it by selecting the Run button (it’s a white triangle
pointing to the right in a green button), or by selectin Run from the Run menu, or by right
clicking on HelloWorld.java in the Package Explorer pane and selecting Run As
and from there Java Application. If you had not saved your file, you will be asked if you want
to do so now. Eclipse will first attempt to compile your code. Assuming there are no errors, the
compiled program will then run. If there are errors, you will receive syntax error messages. We
explore syntax error messages and how to find and fix them in the next section. For now, if you have
any errors you should see the lines that contain erroneous instructions selected with a red circle and
an x off to the left of the instructions in the edit pane. Fix any errors you can by referencing the
program above and save and compile it again. Once all errors are fixed, run it.

NOTE: if you prefer to compile the program first before it runs, from the Project menu select
Build Automatically (which is checked) to shut that feature off. Now, you can build (compile)
when you want by selecting Build Project from the Build menu. Don’t forget to save your
file first after making changes and before compiling. If you leave Build Automatically on,
then you don’t have to worry about compiling as your program will be compiled automatically every
time you try to run it.

Part 3. Debugging

There are three sources of errors for any program. The first is known as a syntax error. This error
arises because there is something syntactically invalid with your program code. There are many
reasons for having syntax errors such as misspelling words, forgetting to declare variables, having
incorrect punctuation marks, or a common error in Java is not naming the file the same as the class.
The second source of error is called a run-time error. This error arises after successfully compiling
the program but while it is executing something went wrong. For instance, if the program expects
the user to input a number and the user types in a name instead, this results in a run-time error.
Because we do not know what the user will enter when we compile the program, this error is not
caught until running the program, thus it is a run-time error. Another source of run-time errors is
asking the computer to do something it cannot such as divide by 0. The final source of error is the
hardest to catch and fix, a logical error. Here, your logic is incorrect. With very complex programs
(consisting of hundreds of thousands or millions of instructions), finding logical errors is one of the
biggest challenges that programmers will ever encounter. A logical error might be as simple as adding
when you meant to subtract but it can also be an infinite loop so that your program never terminates.
Here, we will explore syntax errors only but you will come across run-time and logical errors
throughout the semester and quite likely your entire career.

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Return to your Edit Pane and change the first word from public to Public as shown below.
Public class HelloWorld
Compile your program (try to run it). You will receive an error and your environment will look
something like that of figure 8. Notice in the figure three things. First, next to HelloWorld.java is an
X indicating an error arose. The error is in line 9. We see an X next to 9 and we see the word Public
underlined in red. Finally, in the Output pane we see a message indicating an Unresolved compilation
problem in HelloWorld.main(HelloWorld.java:11). The “Unresolved compilation problem” is the
syntax error message. In this case, the error message is not helpful. Some messages are very helpful
others are not. We are told that the error exists in the main method of HelloWorld at (or near) line
11. In fact the error is in line 9 (at least in this figure). The error is that we misspelled the word
public as Public. Change it back and in a few moments you will see the red underline disappear and
the X disappear. You can then run the program and upon compilation, you will see the X next to
HelloWorld.java disappear and the error message in the Output pane be replaced with the program’s
output.

Figure 8: A Syntax Error

Let’s explore some additional sources of errors. In the same line (public class HelloWorld), change
the name of the class from HelloWorld to Hello. Try to run (or compile) your program. What
error message did you get? It is asking for the class HelloWorld because that is the name of the file.
The class it found was not named what was expected. This is an error fairly unique to Java but a
common error. Correct the name. Now, remove the ; at the end of the first println statement. Compile
your program. In this case, you are told that you need to insert a ; in the line where the error arose.
Although it does not tell you where to insert the ; as a Java programmer you should know to end each
instruction with one. Fix this error. Now remove the last } at the bottom of your program. Again,
the error message tells you how to fix it, insert a } to complete the ClassBody which means the class
code. For another syntax error, remove the close quote mark from the first println statement (the
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quote after world!). Again, compile/run your program. What error message do you get? The
message given is less instructive than the last couple but you should still be able to make some sense
out of it. Replace the quote mark before continuing. We will try one more syntax error. Remove the
word void (between static and main). Again, compile/run your program. The error message this time
may make no sense at all but it outputs the line that it expected to see. What is missing is the word
void. Replace it.

Let’s explore a minor logical error. Your program contains two System.out.println
statements. Change the first statement to System.out.print (remove the ln from println).
Compile and run your program. No syntax error. Why is there a logical error? If you look at the
output, you will see that the two output lines are now on one line. That in itself is not an error, but
there is no space between them. You can fix this error by adding some blank spaces inside the quote
marks either after the ! in World! or before Welcome. For instance, our first statement could become:
System.out.print(“Hello World! ”);
What is the difference between print and println? With println, after the output a new line character
is placed so that the next output statement will output on a new line. The print statement does not
output the new line character so the next output statement will appear on the same line. By using a
print instead of a println, while the output of the program is not incorrect, it does not look nice.
Change print back to println before you continue.

Part 4: Program Enhancements

We will enhance your program now to make it slightly more interesting. We will do this by adding
variables and assignment statements. A variable represents the name of a place in memory to store
information. In Java, every variable must be typed. To provide a type, you declare the variable before
you use it (this differs from some other languages like Python). A declaration is simply the type
followed by the variable you are declaring. For instance, an int variable (an integer) is declared as
int name; where name is the name you are giving to the variable. Types in Java include int
(integer numbers), float (floating point or real numbers), double (floating point numbers with more
precision), char (single characters like a letter, a digit or a punctuation mark), String (note the
capitalization, to store a group of 0 or more characters) and boolean (to store either true or false).
There are other types but for now, we will be dealing with these.

You can declare more than one variable at a time if they are the same type by separating each name
by a comma as in int x, y, z; and String firstName, lastName; Notice the spelling
we used for the two Strings. This is called camel notation. We can either start each new word with
a capital letter or insert an underscore (_) between names like income_tax or income_Tax. We
typically use camel notation instead.

Once we have a variable declared, we can use it. We can assign it a value through an assignment
statement, or input a value into it. If it has a value, we can use it to assign another variable or to
output it, among other things. For now, we will use very simple assignment statements of the form
variable = value; The value must match the proper type. For instance, from above, we could
do x = 1; y = 5; and z = 10000; but we could not do x = 1.123; or y = “Frank”;
Note that spaces are not needed in our assignment statements. We could just as easily do x=1;
instead of x = 1;

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To output a value, use a System.out.print or System.out.println statement. Our previous two

print/println statements output only literally characters (items placed in quote marks). If we want to
output a variable, we do not use the quote marks, as in System.out.println(firstName);
or System.out.print(x); What if we want to print multiple things such as Hello and
firstName? For such an output, we must concatenate the items together. In Java, Strings are
concatenated together by using the + before each String item. For instance, we can have our output
appears as the word Hello followed by the contents of the variable firstName as “Hello ” +
firstName, giving us the instruction System.out.println(“Hello ” + firstName);
Notice the blank space after the ‘o’ in Hello before the close quote mark. Why is it there? You will
explore this below.

Add to your program two variable declarations, the String name and the int age. Assign them
both your values (for name, use your first name and for age, use your age such as age=18;) Place
each variable declaration prior to the assignment statement that gives that variable its value. Now,
modify your first System.out.println statement so that it outputs Hello and your name. Add another
System.out.println statement after this and before the Welcome message that says “You are ___ years
old” where ____ is your age. Note: this statement will require two + signs, one before age and one
after age. See if you can figure out how to do this. If you can’t, ask your instructor for help.

Compile and run your program. Once successful, move on to the last part.

Part 5: Additional Enhancements

With a print statement, as we explored above, no new line character is output. You can output a new
line character “by hand” by outputting the character \n. For instance,
System.out.print(“Hello ” + name + “\n”); is the same as
System.out.println(“Hello ”+name); because the first statement, while being a print,
also outputs \n to end the line, causing a new line to appear. Modify your program by including
another String variable called message. Create whatever message you like. Make sure your message
is no longer than 80 total character. Replace the Welcome to the… output statement with the
word Done. Now, add a System.out.println statement that outputs literally The message of
the day is followed by the value stored in your variable message. In this println statement, add
two \n’s before “The” and add two \n’s after message is output. The result will be two blank lines
before and after the message. Your output might look like this:
Hello Richard
You are 51 years old

The message of the day is Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom!

Done

Once done modifying your program, compile and run it. If it does not compile, fix any errors you
find. If it does run but the output does not look right, fix it and try again. When done, run your
program and copy the output from the Output pane.

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At the very bottom of your program in the Edit pane, after your last } press the enter key add /*,
press the enter key and paste your output there, and then add one more */. This will
put your output in a comment at the bottom of the program.

To submit your program, do one of the following:

 Print your source code including your output as inserted in comments (Print from the
File menu) and hand the printout in to your instructor *or*
 Email your source code file to your instructor ([email protected]). You will have to locate the
source file to attach it to the email. It will be beneath the directory you specified as your
working directory, under the subdirectory of the name of the project (HelloWorld) in a
subdirectory called src. In this case, the program is called HelloWorld.java.

Part 6: Common Pitfalls

In each lab, we will see some common sources of syntax, logical or run-time errors to help you better
learn what not to do. Here are some pitfalls for this lab.

1. The class name does not match the file name (HelloWorld and HelloWorld.java in our case).

Syntax error!
2. public class HelloWorld; Do not place semicolons at the end of
{ class or method declarations. This
... may give more than one error about
} “illegal start of expression” or
“unclosed literal.”

Syntax error!
3. public static void main( String[] args )
{ All opening quote marks, opening
System.out.println( "Hello World!" ); parentheses, and opening braces must
have a closing partner. In this case,
System.exit(0);
there is no } at the end

4. public static void main( String[] args )

{ Syntax error!
name = ‘‘Frank’’;
The variable name is not declared. It
System.out.println( "Hello " + name );
should be declared as a String prior
System.exit(0);
to the assignment statement.
}

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