Intro to Java

Stoney Jackson
[email protected]
wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~jacksoni
What’s the first question you’ve got to ask about a language named Java?
 Computer Programming

 computer science discipline dealing

with the creation and maintenance
of computer programs

 computer programming is just one

activity in the more complex field
of software engineering
Programming Language – a set of rules, symbols, and special
words used to construct programs.

2
 Java Programming Language
 developed in early 1990s by James Gosling et.
al. as the programming language component of
the Green Project at Sun Microsystems

 originally named Oak and intended for

programming networked “smart” consumer
electronics

 launched in 1995 as a “programming language

for the Internet”; quickly gained popularity with
the success of the World Wide Web

3
 Java Programming Language
 currently used by around 5 million software
developers and powers more than 2.5 billion
devices worldwide, from computers to mobile
phones

 design goals
 simple: derived from C/C++, but easier to learn
 secure: built-in support for compile-time and run-time
security
 distributed: built to run over networks
 object-oriented: built with OO features from the start

4
 Java Programming Language
 robust: featured memory management, exception
handling, etc.
 portable: “write once, run anywhere''
 interpreted: “bytecodes” executed by the Java Virtual
Machine
 multithreaded, dynamic, high-performance,
architecture-neutral

Bytecodes are the machine language of

the Java virtual machine

5
 Java Platform
 Java Virtual Machine, or JVM: a virtual
machine, usually implemented as a program,
which interprets the bytecodes produced by the
Java compiler; the JVM converts the bytecode
instructions to equivalent machine language
code of the underlying hardware; compiled Java
programs can be executed on any device that
has a JVM.

6
Can you make coffee with it?

7
 It was meant to!!
A programming language for appliances!

8
Must Run on Any Architecture
debug
“WRITE ONCE, RUN ANYWHERE!”
pretty portable
Program Java Java
in Java Compiler Bytecode

Java Virtual Machine Java Virtual Machine

9
Doesn’t Make Coffee Yet

10
 How it works…!
Compile-time Environment Compile-time Environment

Class
Loader Java
Class
Bytecode Libraries
Java Verifier
Source
(.java)

Just in
Java Java
Time
Bytecodes Interpreter Java
Compiler
move locally Virtual
or through machine
Java network
Compiler
Runtime System

Operating System
Java
Bytecode
(.class ) Hardware
 So What’s Java Good For?
Web applications!

Java Applet
Java Applet

Server

12
 Java on the Web: Java Applets
 Clients download applets via Web browser
 Browser runs applet in a Java Virtual Machine
(JVM)
Applet

Client
Server

Interactive web, security, and client consistency

Slow to download, inconsistent VMs (besides,
flash won this war)
13
 Java on the Web: J2EE
 Thin clients (minimize download)
 Java all “server side”
JSPs
Servlets

Client
Server

EJB

THIS IS WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING!! JDBC

14
 Java Features
 Well defined primitive data types: int, float, double, char,
etc.
 int 4 bytes [–2,147,648, 2,147,483,647]
 Control statements similar to C++: if-then-else, switch,
while, for
 Interfaces
 Exceptions
 Concurrency
 Packages
 Name spaces
 Reflection
 Applet model

15
 The Java programming environment
 Java programming language specification
 Syntax of Java programs
 Defines different constructs and their semantics
 Java byte code: Intermediate representation for Java
programs
 Java compiler: Transform Java programs into Java byte
code
 Java interpreter: Read programs written in Java byte code
and execute them
 Java virtual machine: Runtime system that provides
various services to running programs
 Java programming environment: Set of libraries that
provide services such as GUI, data structures,etc.
 Java enabled browsers: Browsers that include a JVM +
ability to load programs from remote hosts
16
 Java: A tiny intro
 How are Java programs written?
 How are variables declared?
 How are expressions specified?
 How are control structures defined?
 How to define simple methods?
 What are classes and objects?
 What about exceptions?

17
 How are Java programs written?
/* This program displays the message "Hello, World!" on the
standard output device (usually the screen)...This code must be
saved in a file named HelloWorld.java...
*/
// this is the declaration of the HelloWorld class...
public class HelloWorld {
// the main method defines the "starting point" of the execution
// of this program...
public static void main(String[] args) {
// this statement displays the program’s output...
System.out.println("Hello, World!");
} // end of method main...
} // end of class HelloWorld...

18
 Fundamental Concepts

 Java programs are made up of one or more classes.

 A Java class is defined through a class declaration,
which, aside from assigning a name for the class,
also serves to define the structure and behavior
associated with the class.
 By convention, Java class names start with an
uppercase letter. Java programs are case-sensitive.
 A Java source code file usually contains one class
declaration, but two or more classes can be declared
in one source code file. The file is named after the
class it declares, and uses a .java filename extension.

19
 Fundamental Concepts
 For a class to be executable, it must be declared
public, and must provide a public static method
called main, with an array argument of type String.
 If a file contains more than one class declaration,
only one of the classes can be declared public, and
the file must be named after the sole public class.
 The Java compiler (javac) is used to compile a Java
source code file into a class file in bytecode format.
The resulting class file has the same name as the
source code file, but with a .class filename
extension.
 The Java Virtual Machine (java) is used to execute
the class file.
20
Variables, Constants, and Data
Types
 Primitive Data Types
 Variables, Initialization, and Assignment
 Constants
 Characters
 Strings

21
 Primitive Data

 There are eight primitive data types in Java

 Four of them represent integers:
 byte, short, int, long

 Two of them represent floating point numbers:

 float, double

 One of them represents characters:

 char

 And one of them represents boolean values:

 boolean

22
 Numeric Primitive Data

 The difference between the various numeric

primitive types is their size, and therefore
the values they can store:
Type Storage Min Value Max Value

byte 8 bits -128 127

short 16 bits -32,768 32,767
int 32 bits -2,147,483,648 2,147,483,647
long 64 bits < -9 x 1018 > 9 x 1018

float 32 bits +/- 3.4 x 1038 with 7 significant digits

double 64 bits +/- 1.7 x 10308 with 15 significant digits

23
 Boolean Primitive Data

 A boolean value represents a true or false condition

 The reserved words true and false are the only
valid values for a boolean type
boolean done = false;
 A boolean variable can represent any two states such
as a light bulb being on or off
boolean isOn = true;

24
 Variables
 A variable is a name for a location in memory
 A variable must be declared by specifying the
variable's name and the type of information that it
will hold

data type variable name

int total;
 Multiple variables can be created in one
declaration:
int count, temp, result;

25
 Variable Initialization

 A variable can be given an initial value in

the declaration with an equals sign
int sum = 0;
int base = 32, max = 149;
 When a variable is referenced in a program,
its current value is used
int keys = 88;
System.out.println(“A piano has ” + keys + “ keys.”);

 Prints as:
A piano has 88 keys.

26
 Assignment
 An assignment statement changes the value of a
variable
 The equals sign is also the assignment operator
total = 55;

 The expression on the right is evaluated and the

result is stored as the value of the variable on the
left
 The value previously stored in total is overwritten
 You can only assign a value to a variable that is
consistent with the variable's declared type

27
 Constants
 A constant is an identifier that is similar to a
variable except that it holds the same value
during its entire existence
 As the name implies, it is constant, not variable
 In Java, we use the reserved word final in the
declaration of a constant
final int MIN_HEIGHT = 69;

 Any subsequent assignment statement with

MIN_HEIGHT on the left of the = operator will be
flagged as an error

28
 Constants

 Constants are useful for three important reasons

 First, they give meaning to otherwise unclear literal
values
 For example, NUM_STATES means more than the literal 50

 Second, they facilitate program maintenance

 If a constant is used in multiple places and you need to
change its value later, its value needs to be updated in only
one place

 Third, they formally show that a value should not

change, avoiding inadvertent errors by other
programmers

29
 Characters

 A char variable stores a single character

 Character literals are delimited by single
quotes:
'a' 'X' '7' '$' ',' '\n'
 Example declarations:
char topGrade = 'A';
char terminator = ';', separator = ' ';

30
 Character Sets

 A character set is an ordered list of

characters, with each character
corresponding to a unique number
 A char variable in Java can store any
character from the Unicode character set
 The Unicode character set uses sixteen bits
per character, allowing for 65,536 unique
characters
 It is an international character set,
containing symbols and characters from
many world languages

31
 Characters
 The ASCII character set is older and smaller
than Unicode, but is still quite popular (in C
programs)
 The ASCII characters are a subset of the
Unicode character set, including:
uppercase letters A, B, C, …
lowercase letters a, b, c, …
punctuation period, semi-colon, …
digits 0, 1, 2, …
special symbols &, |, \, …
control characters carriage return, tab, ...

32
 Character Strings
 A string of characters can be represented as a
string literal by putting double quotes around
the text:
 Examples:
"This is a string literal."
"123 Main Street"
"X"
 Note the distinction between a primitive
character ‘X’, which holds only one character,
and a String object, which can hold a sequence
of one or more characters
 Every character string is an object in Java,
defined by the String class
33
 The println Method

 The System.out object represents a destination

(the monitor screen) to which we can send output

System.out.println ("Whatever you are, be a good one.");

object method information provided to the method

name (parameters)

34
 The print Method
 The System.out object provides another
method
 The print method is similar to the println
method, except that it does not start the next
line
 Therefore any parameter passed in a call to
the print method will appear on the same
line
System.out.print (“Three… ”);
System.out.print (“Two… ”);
 Prints as:
Three… Two…
35
 String Concatenation
 The string concatenation operator (+) is used
to append one string to the end of another
"Peanut butter " + "and jelly"
 It can also be used to append a number to a
string
 A string literal cannot be broken across two
lines in a program so we must use
concatenation
System.out.println(“We present the following facts for
your ” + “extracurricular edification”);

36
 String Concatenation
 The + operator is also used for arithmetic
addition
 The function that it performs depends on the
type of the information on which it operates
 If both operands are strings, or if one is a string
and one is a number, it performs string
concatenation
 If both operands are numeric, it adds them
 The + operator is evaluated left to right, but
parentheses can be used to force the order
System.out.println(“24 and 45 concatenated: ” + 24 + 45);
 Prints as:
24 and 45 concatenated: 2445

37
 String Concatenation

 The + operator is evaluated left to right, but

parentheses can be used to force the order
Addition is
Done first

System.out.println(“24 and 45 added: ” + (24 + 45));

 Prints as:
Then concatenation is done
24 and 45 added: 69

38
 Escape Sequences
 What if we want to include the quote character
itself?
 The following line would confuse the compiler
because it would interpret the two pairs of
quotes as two strings and the text between the
strings as a syntax error:
System.out.println ("I said "Hello" to you.");
Syntax
A String A String
Error
 An escape sequence is a series of characters that
represents a special character
 Escape sequences begin with a backslash
character (\)
System.out.println ("I said \"Hello\" to you.");

A String 39
 Escape Sequences

• Some Java Escape Sequences

Escape Sequence Meaning
\b backspace
\t tab
\n newline
\r carriage return
\" double quote
\' single quote
\\ backslash
System.out.println(“Roses are red,\n\tViolets are blue,\n” +

• Prints as:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
40
 Escape Sequences

 To put a specified Unicode character into a string

using its code value, use the escape sequence: \uhhhh
where hhhh are the hexadecimal digits for the Unicode
value
 Example: Create a string with a temperature value and
the degree symbol:
double temp = 98.6;
System.out.println(
“Body temperature is ” + temp + “ \u00b0F.”);
 Prints as:
Body temperature is 98.6 ºF.

41