Cover Page

Introduction to Programming Using Java

Version 3.0, Summer 2000

Author: David J. Eck

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York 14456
Email: [email protected]
WWW: http://math.hws.edu/eck/

May 24, 2000

This PDF file or printout contains parts of a free textbook

that covers introductory programming with Java.
The entire text is available on the World-Wide Web,
for use on-line and for downloading,
at this Web address:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/

The PDF file and printouts that are made from it do not show the Java applets that
are embedded throughout the text. In most places where an applet should appear, you will
see a message such as "Sorry, but your Web browser does not support Java." Also not
included are Java source code examples from Appendix 3 of the text and solutions to the
quizzes and programming exercises. The real version of the textbook is on-line, to be read
with a Web browser.

Permission is hereby granted to duplicate and distribute

all or part of the following material,
provided that the material is unmodified and that
it is accompanied by a copy of this cover page.

http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/pdf-front-page.html [5/24/2000 8:32:13 AM]

Java Programming, Main Index

Introduction to Programming Using Java

Version 3.0, Summer 2000
Author: David J. Eck ([email protected])

WELCOME TO Introduction to Programming Using Java, an on-line textbook on introductory

programming, which uses Java as the language of instruction. This text has more than enough material for a
one-semester course, and it also suitable for individuals who want to learn programming on their own. This
is the third edition of the text. It covers more material and has more examples than the second edition. It
also adds end-of-chapter quizzes and solved programming exercises. Previous editions have been used in a
course, Computer Science 124: Introductory Programming, at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. (The
title of the previous editions included a reference to this course.) This textbook covers Java 1.1. Most of the
applets that are contained in the text require Java 1.1 or higher.

Links for downloading copies of this text can be found at the bottom of this page. To learn more about this
on-line text, including usage restrictions and links to previous editions, please read its preface.

Short Table of Contents:

● Full Table of Contents
● Preface
● Preface to the Second Edition
● Chapter 1: Overview: The Mental Landscape
● Chapter 2: Programming in the Small I: Names and Things
● Chapter 3: Programming in the Small II: Control
● Chapter 4: Programming in the Large I: Subroutines
● Chapter 5: Programming in the Large II: Objects and Classes
● Chapter 6: Applets, HTML, and GUI's
● Chapter 7: Components and Events
● Chapter 8: Arrays
● Chapter 9: Correctness and Robustness
● Chapter 10: Advanced Input/Output
● Chapter 11: Linked Data Structures and Recursion
● Appendix 1: From Java to C++
● Appendix 2: Some Notes on Java Programming Environments
● Appendix 3: Source code for all examples in the text

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/ (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:32:47 AM]

Java Programming, Main Index

● News and Errata

This is a free textbook. The latest edition is always available, at no charge, for downloading and for
on-line use at the Web address http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/. This edition, the third, is also permanently
archived at the address http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/javanotes3/.

Downloading Links
Use one of the following direct links to download a compressed archive of this entire textbook. You can use
this material on your own computer. You can also re-post it in unmodified form on any Web server. See
the preface for more information on usage restrictions and for full downloading instructions. A PDF file
that can be used for printing the textbook is also available there.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.zip (1.6 MB), for Windows.

● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.sit.hqx (2.1 MB), for Macintosh.

● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.tar.Z (1.8 MB), for Linux/UNIX.

David Eck ([email protected]), May 2000

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/ (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:32:47 AM]

Java Programming: Contents

Introduction to Programming Using Java, Third Edition

Table of Contents

THIS IS THE FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS for an on-line introductory programming textbook that uses
Java as the language of instruction. For more information about the text, please see its front page. The text
is available on-line at http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/.

Preface

Preface to the Second Edition

Chapter 1: Overview: The Mental Landscape

● Section 1: The Fetch-and-Execute Cycle: Machine Language
● Section 2: Asynchronous Events: Polling Loops and Interrupts
● Section 3: The Java Virtual Machine
● Section 4: Fundamental Building Blocks of Programs
● Section 5: Objects and Object-oriented Programming
● Section 6: The Modern User Interface
● Section 7: The Internet and World-Wide Web
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 2: Programming in the Small I: Names and Things

● Section 1: The Basic Java Application
● Section 2: Variables and the Primitive Types
● Section 3: Strings, Objects, and Subroutines
● Section 4: Text Input and Output
● Section 5: Details of Expressions
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 3: Programming in the Small II: Control

● Section 1: Blocks, Loops, and Branches
● Section 2: Algorithm Development
● Section 3: The while and do..while Statements
● Section 4: The for Statement
● Section 5: The if Statement

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/contents.html (1 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:32:55 AM]

Java Programming: Contents

● Section 6: The switch Statement

● Section 7: Introduction to Applets and Graphics
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 4: Programming in the Large I: Subroutines

● Section 1: Black Boxes
● Section 2: Static Subroutines and Static Variables
● Section 3: Parameters
● Section 4: Return Values
● Section 5: Toolboxes, API's, and Packages
● Section 6: More on Program Design
● Section 7: The Truth about Declarations
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 5: Programming in the Large II: Objects and Classes

● Section 1: Objects, Instance Variables, and Instance Methods
● Section 2: Constructors and Object Initialization
● Section 3: Programming with Objects
● Section 4: Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Abstract Classes
● Section 5: More Details of Classes
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 6: Applets, HTML, and GUI's

● Section 1: The Basic Java Applet
● Section 2: HTML Basics and the Web
● Section 3: Graphics and the Paint Method
● Section 4: Mouse Events
● Section 5: Keyboard Events
● Section 6: Introduction to Layouts and Components
● Section 7: Looking Back: The Java 1.0 Event Model
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 7: Advanced GUI Programming

● Section 1: More about Graphics
● Section 2: More about Layouts and Components

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/contents.html (2 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:32:55 AM]

Java Programming: Contents

● Section 3: Standard Components and Their Events

● Section 4: Programming with Components
● Section 5: Threads, Synchronization, and Animation
● Section 6: Nested Classes and Adapter Classes
● Section 7: Frames and Dialogs
● Section 8: Looking Forward: Swing and Java 2.0
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 8: Arrays
● Section 1: Creating and Using Arrays
● Section 2: Programming with Arrays
● Section 3: Vectors and Dynamic Arrays
● Section 4: Searching and Sorting
● Section 5: Multi-Dimensional Arrays
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 9: Correctness and Robustness

● Section 1: Introduction to Correctness and Robustness
● Section 2: Writing Correct Programs
● Section 3: Exceptions and the try...catch Statement
● Section 4: Programming with Exceptions
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 10: Advanced Input/Output

● Section 1: Streams, Readers, and Writers
● Section 2: Files
● Section 3: Programming with Files
● Section 4: Networking
● Section 5: Programming Networked Applications
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Chapter 11: Linked Data Structures and Recursion

● Section 1: Recursion
● Section 2: Linking Objects
● Section 3: Stacks and Queues

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/contents.html (3 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:32:55 AM]

Java Programming: Contents

● Section 4: Binary Trees

● Section 5: A Simple Recursive-descent Parser
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

Appendix 1: From Java to C++

● Section 1: C++ Programming Fundamentals
● Section 2: Pointers and Arrays in C++
● Section 3: Classes and Objects in C++

Appendix 2: Some Notes on Java Programming Environments

Appendix 3: Source code for all examples in the text

News and Errata

David J. Eck ([email protected]), May 2000

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/contents.html (4 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:32:55 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to the Third Edition

Introduction to Programming Using Java, Third Edition

Preface

"INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH JAVA" is a free, on-line textbook. It is suitable for use
in an introductory programming course and for people who are trying to learn programming on their own.
There are no prerequisites beyond a general familiarity with the ideas of computers and programs.

This text uses the Java programming language as the language of instruction. It requires Java version 1.1 or
higher. In style, this is a textbook rather than a tutorial. That is, it concentrates on explaining concepts rather
than giving step-by-step how-to-do-it guides. It is certainly not a Java reference book, and it is not even a
comprehensive survey of all the features of Java. It is not a quick introduction to Java for people who
already know another programming language. Instead, it is directed mainly towards people who are
learning programming for the first time, and it is as much about general programming concepts as it is
about Java in particular.

This is the third edition of Introduction to Programming with Java. The first two editions have been used
by the author and by another professor in the introductory programming class at Hobart and William Smith
Colleges (http://www.hws.edu/). The new edition is a major upgrade. It is more than twice the size of the
second edition. Changes include:
● Chapter 11, on linked data structures and recursion, is completely new. Chapter 9, on correctness
and robustness, is new except for the section on the try...catch statement.
● A single chapter on "programming in the small" from the previous edition has been expanded to two
chapters (Chapter 2 and Chapter 3) in this edition.
● Every chapter, except the first, now includes a set of programming exercises. A solution is provided
for each exercise, along with a discussion of the programming involved.
● There is a sample quiz at the end of each chapter, with answers.
● Many sections from the previous edition have been rewritten, and many new examples have been
added. As in the previous editions, the source code for every example is included in an appendix.
● Based on experience with the previous editions, the exposition of some topics has been modified by
postponing certain details until later in the text. This is especially true in the two chapters on
graphical user interface programming (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 in this edition). These chapters have
been completely reorganized.

With these changes, Introduction to Programming with Java is now fully competitive, in the author's
opinion, with the conventionally published, printed programming textbooks that are available on the
market. (Well, all right, I'll confess that I think it's better.)

This textbook differs from many other Java programming books in that it does not deal primarily with
applets. Early chapters concentrate on standalone applications that use text input and output. Applets are
introduced briefly in Section 3.7 and covered pretty thoroughly in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. In the
remaining chapters, applets are used in many but not all examples and exercises. "Swing," a new set of
interface components introduced in Java 1.2, is just barely mentioned (in Section 7.8). This approach allows
a gentler introduction to fundamental programming concepts, and it postpones the complexities of graphical
user interface programming until a time when students are ready to deal with them. The decision to do
things this way also reflects the fact that applets are only one aspect of Java, and probably not the most
important.

I do not plan any further major upgrades to this textbook, but I will probably release new versions in the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface3.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:18 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to the Third Edition

future with minor revisions and corrections. The current edition of Introduction to Programming with Java
will always be available at the following Web address:
http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/

The first, second, and third editions are permanently archived at the following addresses:
First edition: http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/javanotes1/
Second edition: http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/javanotes2/
Third edition: http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/javanotes3/

Downloading the Text

The complete Introduction to Programming with Java is available for download as a compressed archive
for the Windows, Macintosh, or Linux/Unix platforms. (Text files have slightly different formats on the
three platforms. The text files in each archive are in the appropriate format for the platform. For many
purposes, though, the difference is unimportant. For example, Web browsers will accept files in any of the
formats.) The uncompressed archives contain 580 files and directories and take up over four megabytes of
space. You should be able to download an archive by clicking on one of the following links. If you have
problems with the downloading, please let me know!
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.zip (1.6 MB), for Windows.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.sit.hqx (2.1 MB), for Macintosh.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.tar.Z (1.8 MB), for Linux/UNIX.

An archive must be uncompressed to be useful. To do this, you will need appropriate software (which might
already be on your computer). For Windows, you can use WinZip, available from www.winzip.com.
WinZip is shareware, but you can use it for a 30 day trial without charge. Alternatively, you might want to
get the free program, Aladdin Expander for Windows from www.aladdinsys.com, which can also be used to
uncompress the Windows archive. For Macintosh, you need Stuffit Expander for Macintosh, which is
already included with most Web browsers. In fact, your Web browser might uncompress the archive
automatically when you download it. If you don't have it, Stuffit Expander can be downloaded from
www.aladdinsys.com. The software for Linux/UNIX should already be included on your system. To
decode the archive javanotes3.tar.Z, use the command "uncompress javanotes3.tar.Z" followed by the
command "tar xf javanotes3.tar".
I recommend reading Introduction to Programming with Java with a Web browser, so that you can see and
use the applets that occur throughout the text. However, I know from experience that a lot of people will
want to print all or part of the text. To make this a little easier, I've made a large PDF file that contains the
entire textbook, except for the Java source code files from Appendix 3 and the solutions to the quizzes and
programming exercises. Of course, the PDF file does not display the applets in the text. Where they should
appear, you'll generally see a message such as "Sorry, but your browser does not support Java." A PDF file
can be viewed or printed using the free program, Adobe Acrobat Reader. (The file was created using the
"Web Capture" feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro 4.0.) The PDF file is available through the following link. It
is more than 1.8 megabytes in size, and it contains more than 500 pages of text.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes3.pdf

If there is a PDF viewer built into your browser, clicking on the above link will show the file in your Web
browser window. In that case, to download the file, try right-clicking or Control-clicking the link. This
should bring up a menu that contains a command such as "Save this link". Selecting that command will
allow you to download the file to your hard disk.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface3.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:18 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to the Third Edition

Usage Restrictions
Introduction to Programming with Java is free, but it is not in the public domain. Permission is hereby
granted to use this on-line textbook in any of the following ways:
● Complete, unmodified copies of this work can be redistributed in any form and posted on Web sites,
including globally accessible Web sites. This includes commercial redistribution. The copy must, in
particular, include the "welcome page," including the reference on that page to the main Web site
for this text, http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/. The intention is that readers should understand that the
work is freely available on the Internet.
● An unmodified copy of a part of this work can be redistributed in any form and posted on Web sites,
including globally accessible Web sites, provided that the source of the material is clearly and
prominently explained. Materials posted on the Web must include a link to the main Web site for
this text, http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/. Printed materials must include this Web address.
● Teachers can make modified versions of this work or of parts of this work for use in their courses,
provided that: they are only distributed locally; they include prohibitions on further redistribution by
users; and they clearly explain the source of the material. These materials can be posted on a Web
site, as long as access is restricted to a local network.

Anyone who wants to use this work, or a part of it, in any other way should contact the author.

Professor David J. Eck

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York 14456, USA
Email: [email protected]
WWW: http://math.hws.edu/eck/

May 23, 2000

[ Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface3.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:18 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to Previous Edition

Introduction to Programming Using Java

Preface to the Previous Edition, Fall 1998

"INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH JAVA" is the "second edition" of an on-line

introductory programming textbook that uses Java as the language of instruction. This book does not claim
to cover the Java language comprehensively, although it does cover enough of it to make it possible to write
interesting programs and applets. The main point of the text, however, is to teach the basics of
programming -- including object-oriented programming -- with no prerequisites except a general familiarity
with the ideas of computers and programs.

This text should be useful to anyone who wants to learn Java, but who is not already an expert in C and
C++. Unlike many introductions to Java programming, it does not assume any background in these
languages.

Many working applets are included on the Web pages that make up the text, and the full source code for all
these applets can be found in an appendix.

I used the "first edition" of the text in introductory programming courses taught at Hobart and William
Smith Colleges in Fall 1996 and Winter 1998. The second edition has been updated to cover Java 1.1
instead of Java 1.0 and was used in the Fall term of 1998. The course has a weekly lab. Lab worksheets
from Fall 1998 and from previous terms are available. (See the information page for CS124.)

Usage Restrictions
This on-line text can be freely used for non-commercial purposes, as long as its source and author are made
clear. For example, you can download a copy and use it on your own computer. You can post it in
unmodified form on your own Web server (provided that you do not charge for access). You can print it out
for your personal use. Professors who use it in a course can make printed copies and make them available to
students for the cost of reproduction.

The text can also be distributed in unmodified form as part of a CD-ROM collection of free and/or
shareware materials, provided that the cost of the CD is not more than $50.

Anyone who wants to use the text for any other purposes that might be considered "commercial" should
contact me for permission.

Downloading the Text

This entire text is available for downloading in several formats. The archives, which I haven't yet created as
I write this, will probably be between 600 KB and 1 MB in size. You can use the following links to
download the archives.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes2-fall98.zip, for Windows 95/98/NT and other
platforms.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes2-fall98.sit.hqx, for Macintosh.
● http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/downloads/javanotes2-fall98.tar.Z, for UNIX.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface2.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:38 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to Previous Edition

The "first edition" of the text, which covered Java 1.0 instead of Java 1.1, is also available for download.
See the bottom of its index page at http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs124/notes98.html.

Why a Free On-line Text?

You might ask, does this really qualify as a textbook? And if so, why is it available for free on-line, instead
of as an overpriced hardcover edition?

To answer the first question: Yes, this is meant as a serious textbook. Currently, it is not quite as long as
most programming textbooks, but it has plenty of material for a solid one-term course. I think that it is a
reasonable choice for a textbook in a college-level programming course -- or I wouldn't be using it in my
own courses.

When I started work on the text for the Fall term of 1996, there was really no suitable textbook for
introductory programming in Java. I decided to write my own class notes, and it seemed reasonable to put
them in HTML format so that I could include working Java applets right on the page. I felt that the result
was good enough to publish on the Web, and the response to it has been good. I suppose that I had some
idea that I might eventually convert the notes into a hard-copy textbook, but I know from experience that
it's a long, hard process to get a textbook into print -- and not a very profitable one unless a lot of people
buy the book.

Since then, I've decided that the book really works well in an on-line version. Sometimes, it would be
convenient to have a printed version as well, but if I ever do come out with a printed version, it will be a
companion to the on-line version, rather than vice versa.

Furthermore, in the meantime, I've become a fan of the Linux operating system and the whole free software
movement. (The "free" in this case means "freely distributable" rather than "free of charge.") If we can have
free software, why not free textbooks?

Java 1.0 vs. Java 1.1

Java 1.1 introduced a large number of changes to the Java language, and in this second edition of the text, I
have made correspondingly large changes. I do not try to cover both Java 1.0 and 1.1. That is, I almost
never say things like, in Java 1.1 you do this, but in Java 1.0 you do that. And I don't try to point out the
features that were unavailable in Java 1.0. It's time to let Java 1.0 fade away...
However, it is only fairly recently that Web browsers have become available that use Java 1.1. If you read
this text with an older browser, most of the applets will just show up as blank white areas. Netscape 4.0.6,
released in August 1998, is the first version of Netscape that will run the Java 1.1 applets in these notes.
(On the Macintosh, even Netscape 4.0.6 does not support Java 1.1.) Internet Explorer 4.0 also uses Java 1.1,
as does Sun Microsystem's browser, HotJava 1.1.4.

Changes from the First Edition

Chapter 1 is almost unchanged, except that I've removed Section 8, which was an explanation of why I
decided to use Java instead of C++ in my introductory programming class. I don't think this can any longer
be seen as a controversial decision.

In the fist edition, Chapters 2 and 3 used a "Console" class that I wrote for doing console-style I/O in
programs. I did this because I found standard input and output (System.in and System.out) to be
undependable. (The Macintoshes on which I first taught the course did not even implement standard input!)
In the second edition, I use a "TextIO" class that simply provides a reasonable interface to the standard

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface2.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:38 AM]

Java Programming: Preface to Previous Edition

input and output streams. This makes for a smoother exposition, since using the Console class forced me to
start using objects prematurely.

I've added a new section in Chapter 2 on "the structure of Java programs," in which I try to deal with the
confusion that results from having both static and non-static members in classes.

I restructured the material in Chapter 4 extensively, without really adding any important new topics.

The largest changes in the text are in Chapters 5 and 6, which have been completely rewritten to use the
Java 1.1 event model. All the applets in the text (except for some of the decorative end-of-chapter applets)
have been rewritten to use this event model. I've added sections in Chapter 6 on nested classes and on
Frames, and I moved the section on threads and animation from Chapter 6 to Chapter 5. The number of
sample applets in Chapters 5 and 6 has been increased substantially.

Chapter 7 contains a new section that briefly introduces some of Java's standard data types, such as
StringBuffer and HashTable. The rest of the chapter is little changed

Chapter 8 has been revised to cover Reader and Writer streams. These were introduced in Java 1.1 as
the recommended way to do character input and output, in place of InputStream and OutputStream.
InputStream and OutputStream are still used for binary data.

Chapter 9 is essentially unchanged (and might be removed in future editions of this text).

The Future of This Text

I expect that there will be a "third edition" of this text, but not until the second half of the year 2000. I will
be on sabbatical for the academic year 1999--2000, so I won't be teaching any courses. However, I do plan
to work on this text as one of my sabbatical projects.

It looks like Java is here to stay as an important language. The next version of the language, Java 1.2, will
be out before the end of 1998. As far as I know, nothing in Java 1.2 will require major changes in this text.
One of the big changes in Java 1.2 will be the inclusion of a new set of GUI components, called "Swing," as
an alternative to the AWT components used in Java 1.0 and 1.1. If Swing becomes popular enough to
displace the AWT, then I will probably rewrite the text to use Swing instead of the AWT. Most of the other
forseeable changes in Java concern advanced API's that will probably never be more than mentioned in an
introductory text

I would like to expand treatment of several topics in the text. In the next edition, Chapter 7 will be broken
into at least two chapters. The first chapter will cover arrays, probably with more examples than are now
included. The second chapter will include material on linked data structures such as trees, stacks, and
queues. It will also include an introduction to recursion. Chapter 8, which in this edition is pretty sketchy,
will also be expanded and possibly broken into separate chapters on writing correct and robust programs,
using files and streams, and networking. In the longer term, the text might eventually be expanded to
include enough material for a two-term introductory programming sequence.

[ Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/preface2.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:33:38 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Overview: The Mental Landscape

WHEN YOU BEGIN a journey, it's a good idea to have a mental map of the terrain you'll be passing
through. The same is true for an intellectual journey, such as learning to write computer programs. In this
case, you'll need to know the basics of what computers are and how they work. You'll want to have some
idea of what a computer program is and how one is created. Since you will be writing programs in the Java
programming language, you'll want to know something about that language in particular and about the
modern, "networked" computing environment for which Java is designed.

As you read this chapter, don't worry if you can't understand everything in detail. (In fact, it would be
impossible for you to learn all the details from the brief expositions in this chapter.) Concentrate on learning
enough about the big ideas to orient yourself, in preparation for the rest of the course. Most of what is
covered in this chapter will be covered in much greater detail later in the course.

Contents of Chapter 1:
● Section 1: The Fetch-and-Execute Cycle: Machine Language
● Section 2: Asynchronous Events: Polling Loops and Interrupts
● Section 3: The Java Virtual Machine
● Section 4: Fundamental Building Blocks of Programs
● Section 5: Objects and Object-oriented Programming
● Section 6: The Modern User Interface
● Section 7: The Internet and World-Wide Web
● Quiz on this Chapter

[ First Section | Next Chapter | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/ [5/24/2000 8:34:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.1

Section 1.1
The Fetch and Execute Cycle: Machine Language

A COMPUTER IS A COMPLEX SYSTEM consisting of many different components. But at the heart --
or the brain, if you want -- of the computer is a single component that does the actual computing. This is the
Central Processing Unit, or CPU. In a modern desktop computer, the CPU is a single "chip" on the order of
one square inch in size. The job of the CPU is to execute programs.

A program is simply a list of unambiguous instructions meant to be followed mechanically by a computer.

A computer is built to carry out instructions that are written in a very simple type of language called
machine language. Each type of computer has its own machine language, and it can directly execute a
program only if it is expressed in that language. (It can execute programs written in other languages if they
are first translated into machine language.)

When the CPU executes a program, that program is stored in the computer's main memory (also called the
RAM or random access memory). In addition to the program, memory can also hold data that is being used
or processed by the program. Main memory consists of a sequence of locations. These locations are
numbered, and the sequence number of a location is called its address. An address provides a way of
picking out one particular piece of information from among the millions stored in memory. When the CPU
needs to access the program instruction or data in a particular location, it sends the address of that
information as a signal to the memory; the memory responds by sending back the data contained in the
specified location. The CPU can also store information in memory by specifying the information to be
stored and the address of the location where it is to be stored.

On the level of machine language, the operation of the CPU is fairly straightforward (although it is very
complicated in detail). The CPU executes a program that is stored as a sequence of machine language
instructions in main memory. It does this by repeatedly reading, or fetching, an instruction from memory
and then carrying out, or executing, that instruction. This process -- fetch an instruction, execute it, fetch
another instruction, execute it, and so on forever -- is called the fetch-and-execute cycle. With one
exception, which will be covered in the next section, this is all that the CPU ever does.

The details of the fetch-and-execute cycle are not terribly important, but there are a few basic things you
should know. The CPU contains a few internal registers, which are small memory units capable of holding
a single number or machine language instruction. The CPU uses one of these registers -- the program
counter, or PC -- to keep track of where it is in the program it is executing. The PC stores the address of the
next instruction that the CPU should execute. At the beginning of each fetch-and-execute cycle, the CPU
checks the PC to see which instruction it should fetch. During the course of the fetch-and-execute cycle, the
number in the PC is updated to indicate the instruction that is to be executed in the next cycle. (Usually, but
not always, this is just the instruction that sequentially follows the current instruction in the program.)

A computer executes machine language programs mechanically -- that is without understanding them or
thinking about them -- simply because of the way it is physically put together. This is not an easy concept.
A computer is a machine built of millions of tiny switches called transistors, which have the property that
they can be wired together in such a way that an output from one switch can turn another switch on or off.
As a computer computes, these switches turn each other on or off in a pattern determined both by the way
they are wired together and by the program that the computer is executing.

Machine language instructions are expressed as binary numbers. A binary number is made up of just two
possible digits, zero and one. So, a machine language instruction is just a sequence of zeros and ones. Each
particular sequence encodes some particular instruction. The data that the computer manipulates is also
encoded as binary numbers. A computer can work directly with binary numbers because switches can
readily represent such numbers: Turn the switch on to represent a one; turn it off to represent a zero.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s1.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.1

Machine language instructions are stored in memory as patterns of switches turned on or off. When a
machine language instruction is loaded into the CPU, all that happens is that certain switches are turned on
or off in the pattern that encodes that particular instruction. The CPU is built to respond to this pattern by
executing the instruction it encodes; it does this simply because of the way all the other switches in the CPU
are wired together.

So, you should understand this much about how computers work: Main memory holds machine language
programs and data. These are encoded as binary numbers. The CPU fetches machine language instructions
from memory one after another and executes them. It does this mechanically, without thinking about or
understanding what it does -- and therefore the program it executes must be perfect, complete in all details,
and unambiguous because the CPU can do nothing but execute it exactly as written. Here is a schematic
view of this first-stage understanding of the computer:

This figure is taken from The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and Computing, a textbook
that serves as an introductory overview of the whole field of computer science. If you would like to know
more about the basic operation of computers, please see Chapters 1 to 3 of that text.

[ Next Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s1.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.2

Section 1.2
Asynchronous Events: Polling Loops and Interrupts

THE CPU SPENDS ALMOST ALL ITS TIME fetching instructions from memory and executing them.
However, the CPU and main memory are only two out of many components in a real computer system. A
complete system contains other devices such as:
● A hard disk for storing programs and data files. (Note that main memory holds only a comparatively
small amount of information, and holds it only as long as the power is turned on. A hard disk is
necessary for permanent storage of larger amounts of information, but programs have to be loaded
from disk into main memory before they can actually be executed.)
● A keyboard and mouse for user input.
● A monitor and printer which can be used to display the computer's output.
● A modem that allows the computer to communicate with other computers over telephone lines.
● A network interface that allows the computer to communicate with other computers that are
connected to it on a network.
● A scanner that converts images into coded binary numbers that can be stored and manipulated on the
computer.

The list of devices is entirely open ended, and computer systems are built so that they can easily be
expanded by adding new devices. Somehow the CPU has to communicate with and control all these
devices. The CPU can only do this by executing machine language instructions (which is all it can do,
period). The way this works is that for each device in a system, there is a device driver, which consists of
software that the CPU executes when it has to deal with the device. Installing a new device on a system
generally has two steps: plugging the device physically into the computer, and installing the device driver
software. Without the device driver, the actual physical device would be useless, since the CPU would not
be able to communicate with it.

A computer system consisting of many devices is typically organized by connecting those devices to one or
more busses. A bus is a set of wires that carry various sorts of information between the devices connected to
those wires. The wires carry data, addresses, and control signals. An address directs the data to a particular
device and perhaps to a particular register or location within that device. Control signals can be used, for
example, by one device to alert another that data is available for it on the data bus. A fairly simple computer
system might be organized like this:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s2.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.2

(This illustration is taken from The Most Complex Machine.)

Now, devices such as keyboard, mouse, and network interface can produce input that needs to be processed
by the CPU. How does the CPU know that the data is there? One simple idea, which turns out to be not very
satisfactory, is for the CPU to keep checking for incoming data over and over. Whenever it finds data, it
processes it. This method is called polling, since the CPU polls the input devices continually to see whether
they have any input data to report. Unfortunately, although polling is very simple, it is also very inefficient.
The CPU can waste an awful lot of time just waiting for input.

To avoid this inefficiency, interrupts are often used instead of polling. An interrupt is a signal sent by
another device to the CPU. The CPU responds to an interrupt signal by putting aside whatever it is doing in
order to respond to the interrupt. Once it has handled the interrupt, it returns to what it was doing before the
interrupt occurred. For example, when you press a key on your computer keyboard, a keyboard interrupt is
sent to the CPU. The CPU responds to this signal by interrupting what it is doing, reading the key that you
pressed, processing it, and then returning to the task it was performing before you pressed the key.

Again, you should understand that this is purely mechanical process: A device signals an interrupt simply
by turning on a wire. The CPU is built so that when that wire is turned on, it saves enough information
about what it is currently doing so that it can return to the same state later. This information consists of the
contents of important internal registers such as the program counter. Then the CPU jumps to some
predetermined memory location and begins executing the instructions stored there. Those instructions make
up an interrupt handler that does the processing necessary to respond to the interrupt. (This interrupt handler
is part of the device driver software for the device that signalled the interrupt.) At the end of the interrupt
handler is an instruction that tells the CPU to jump back to what it was doing; it does that by restoring its
previously saved state.

Interrupts allow the CPU to deal with asynchronous events. In the regular fetch-and-execute cycle, things
happen in a predetermined order; everything that happens is "synchronized" with everything else. Interrupts
make it possible for the CPU to deal efficiently with events that happen "asynchronously", that is, at
unpredictable times.

As another example of how interrupts are used, consider what happens when the CPU needs to access data
that is stored on the hard disk. The CPU can only access data directly if it is in main memory. Data on the
disk has to be copied into memory before it can be accessed. Unfortunately, on the scale of speed at which
the CPU operates, the disk drive is extremely slow. When the CPU needs data from the disk, it sends a
signal to the disk drive telling it to locate the data and get it ready. (This signal is sent synchronously, under
the control of a regular program.) Then, instead of just waiting the long and unpredicatalble amount of time
the disk drive will take to do this, the CPU goes on with some other task. When the disk drive has the data

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s2.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.2

ready, it sends an interrupt signal to the CPU. The interrupt handler can then read the requested data.

Now, you might have noticed that all this only makes sense if the CPU actually has several tasks to
perform. If it has nothing better to do, it might as well spend its time polling for input or waiting for disk
drive operations to complete. All modern computers use multitasking to perform several tasks at once.
Some computers can be used by several people at once. Since the CPU is so fast, it can quickly switch its
attention from one user to another, devoting a fraction of a second to each user in turn. This application of
multitasking is called timesharing. But even modern personal computers with a single user use multitasking.
For example, the user might be typing a paper while a clock is continuously displaying the time and a file is
being downloaded over the network.

Each of the individual tasks that the CPU is working on is called a thread. (Or a process; there are technical
differences between threads and processes, but they are not important here.) At any given time, only one
thread can actually be executed by a CPU. The CPU will continue running the same thread until one of
several things happens:
● The thread might voluntarily yield control, to give other threads a chance to run.

● The thread might have to wait for some asynchronous event to occur. For example, the thread might
request some data from the disk drive, or it might wait for the user to press a key. While it is
waiting, the thread is said to be blocked, and other threads have a chance to run. When the event
occurs, an interrupt will "wake up" the thread so that it can continue running.
● The thread might use up its alloted slice of time and be suspended to allow other threads to run. Not
all computers can "forcibly" suspend a thread in this way; those that can are said to use preemptive
multitasking. To do preemptive multitasking, a computer needs a special timer device that generates
an interrupt at regular intervals, such as 100 times per second. When a timer interrupt occurs, the
CPU has a chance to switch from one thread to another, whether the thread that is currently running
likes it or not.

Ordinary users, and indeed ordinary programmers, have no need to deal with interrupts and interrupt
handlers. They can concentrate on the different tasks or threads that they want the computer to perform; the
details of how the computer manages to get all those tasks done are not relevant to them. In fact, most users,
and many programmers, can ignore threads and multitasking altogether. However, threads have become
increasingly important as computers have become more powerful and as they have begun to make more use
of multitasking. Indeed, threads are built into the Java programming language as a fundamental
programming concept.

Just as important in Java and in modern programming in general is the basic concept of asynchronous
events. While programmers don't actually deal with interrupts directly, they do often find themselves
writing event handlers, which, like interrupt handlers, are called asynchronously when specified events
occur. Such "event-driven programming" has a very different feel from the more traditional straight-though,
synchronous programming. We will begin with the more traditional type of programming, which is still
used for programming individual tasks, but we will return to threads and events later in the text.

By the way, the software that does all the interrupt handling and the communication with the user and with
hardware devices is called the operating system. The operating system is the basic, essential software
without which a computer would not be able to function. Other programs, such as word processors and
World Wide Web browsers, are dependent upon the operating system. Common operating systems include
UNIX, Linux, DOS, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and the Macintosh OS.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s2.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.3

Section 1.3
The Java Virtual Machine

MACHINE LANGUAGE CONSISTS of very simple instructions that can be executed directly by the
CPU of a computer. Almost all programs, though, are written in high-level programming languages such as
Java, Pascal, or C++. A program written in a high-level language cannot be run directly on any computer.
First, it has to be translated into machine language. This translation can be done by a program called a
compiler. A compiler takes a high-level-language program and translates it into an executable
machine-language program. Once the translation is done, the machine-language program can be run any
number of times, but of course it can only be run on one type of computer (since each type of computer has
its own individual machine language). If the program is to run on another type of computer it has to be
re-translated, using a different compiler, into the appropriate machine language.

There is an alternative to compiling a high-level language program. Instead of using a compiler, which
translates the program all at once, you can use an interpreter, which translates it instruction-by-instruction,
as necessary. An interpreter is a program that acts much like a CPU, with a kind of fetch-and-execute cycle.
In order to execute a program, the interpreter runs in a loop in which it repeatedly reads one instruction
from the program, decides what is necessary to carry out that instruction, and then performs the appropriate
machine-language commands to do so.

One use of interpreters is to execute high-level language programs. For example, the programming
language Lisp is usually executed by an interpreter rather than a compiler. However, interpreters have
another purpose: they can let you use a machine-language program meant for one type of computer on a
completely different type of computer. For example, there is a program called "Virtual PC" that runs on
Macintosh computers. Virtual PC is an interpreter that executes machine-language programs written for
IBM-PC-clone computers. If you run Virtual PC on your Macintosh, you can run any PC program,
including programs written for Windows 95 or 98. (Unfortunately, a PC program will run much more
slowly than it would on an actual IBM clone. The problem is that Virtual PC executes several Macintosh
machine-language instructions for each PC machine-language instruction in the program it is interpreting.
Compiled programs are inherently faster than interpreted programs.)

The designers of Java chose to use a combination of compilation and interpretation. Programs written in
Java are compiled into machine language, but it is a machine language for a computer that doesn't really
exist. This so-called "virtual" computer is known as the Java virtual machine. The machine language for the
Java virtual machine is called Java bytecode. There is no reason why Java bytecode could not be used as the
machine language of a real computer, rather than a virtual computer. In fact, Sun Microsystems -- the
originators of Java -- have developed CPU's that run Java bytecode as their machine language.

However, one of the main selling points of Java is that it can actually be used on any computer. All that the
computer needs is an interpreter for Java bytecode. Such an interpreter simulates the Java virtual machine in
the same way that Virtual PC simulates a PC computer.

Of course, a different Jave bytecode interpreter is needed for each type of computer, but once a computer
has a Java bytecode interpreter, it can run any Java bytecode program. And the same Java bytecode
program can be run on any computer that has such an interpreter. This is one of the essential features of
Java: the same compiled program can be run on many different types of computers.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s3.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.3

Why, you might wonder, use the intermediate Java bytecode at all? Why not just distribute the original Java
program and let each person compile it into the machine language of whatever computer they want to run it
on? There are many reasons. First of all, a compiler has to understand Java, a complex high-level language.
The compiler is itself a complex program. A Java bytecode interpreter, on the other hand, is a fairly small,
simple program. This makes it easy to write a bytecode interpreter for a new type of computer; once that is
done, that computer can run any compiled Java program. It would be much harder to write a Java compiler
for the same computer.

Furthermore, many Java programs are meant to be downloaded over a network. This leads to obvious
security concerns: you don't want to download and run a program that will damage your computer or your
files. The bytecode interpreter acts as a buffer between you and the program you download. You are really
running the interpreter, which runs the downloaded program indirectly. The interpreter can protect you from
potentially dangerous actions on the part of that program.

I should note that there is no necessary connection between Java and Java bytecode. A program written in
Java could certainly be compiled into the machine language of a real computer. And programs written in
other languages could be compiled into Java bytecode. However, it is the combination of Java and Java
bytecode that is platform-independent, secure, and network-compatible while allowing you to program in a
modern high-level object-oriented language.

I should also note that the really hard part of platform-independence is providing a "Graphical User
Interface" -- with windows, buttons, etc. -- that will work on all the platforms that support Java. You'll see
more about this problem in Section 6.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s3.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.4

Section 1.4
Fundamental Building Blocks of Programs

THERE ARE TWO BASIC ASPECTS of programming: data and instructions. To work with data, you
need to understand variables and types; to work with instructions, you need to understand control structures
and subroutines. You'll spend a large part of the course becoming familiar with these concepts.

A variable is just a memory location (or several locations treated as a unit) that has been given a name so
that it can be easily referred to and used in a program. The programmer only has to worry about the name; it
is the compiler's responsibility to keep track of the memory location. The programmer does need to keep in
mind that the name refers to a kind of "box" in memory that can hold data, even if the programmer doesn't
have to know where in memory that box is located.

In Java and most other languages, a variable has a type that indicates what sort of data it can hold. One type
of variable might hold integers -- whole numbers such as 3, -7, and 0 -- while another holds floating point
numbers -- numbers with decimal points such as 3.14, -2.7, or 17.0. (Yes, the computer does make a
distinction between the integer 17 and the floating-point number 17.0; they actually look quite different
inside the computer.) There could also be types for individual characters ('A', ';', etc.), strings ("Hello", "A
string can include many characters", etc.), and less common types such as dates, colors, sounds, or any
other type of data that a program might need to store.

Programming languages always have commands for getting data into and out of variables and for doing
computations with data. For example, the following "assignment statement," which might appear in a Java
program, tells the computer to take the number stored in the variable named "principal", multiply that
number by 0.07, and then store the result in the variable named "interest":

interest = principal * 0.07;

There are also "input commands" for getting data from the user or from files on the computer's disks and
"output commands" for sending data in the other direction.

These basic commands -- for moving data from place to place and for performing computations -- are the
building blocks for all programs. These building blocks are combined into complex programs using control
structures and subroutines.

A program is a sequence of instructions. In the ordinary "flow of control," the computer executes the
instructions in the sequence in which they appear, one after the other. However, this is obviously very
limited: the computer would soon run out of instructions to execute. Control structures are special
instructions that can change the flow of control. There are two basic types of control structure: loops, which
allow a sequence of instructions to be repeated over and over, and branches, which allow the computer to
decide between two or more different courses of action by testing conditions that occur as the program is
running.

For example, it might be that if the value of the variable "principal" is greater than 10000, then the
"interest" should be computed by multiplying the principal by 0.05; if not, then the interest should be
computed by multiplying the principal by 0.04. A program needs some way of expressing this type of
decision. In Java, it could be expressed using the following "if statement":
if (principal > 10000)
interest = principal * 0.05;
else
interest = principal * 0.04;

(Don't worry about the details for now. Just remember that the computer can test a condition and decide

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s4.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.4

what to do next on the basis of that test.)

Loops are used when the same task has to be performed more than once. For example, if you want to print
out a mailing label for each name on a mailing list, you might say, "Get the first name and address and print
the label; get the second name and address and print the label; get the third name and address and print the
label..." But this quickly becomes ridiculous -- and might not work at all if you don't know in advance how
many names there are. What you would like to say is something like "While there are more names to
process, get the next name and address, and print the label." A loop can be used in a program to express
such repetition.

Large programs are so complex that it would be almost impossible to write them if there were not some
way to break them up into manageable "chunks". Subroutines provide one way to do this. A subroutine
consists of the instructions for performing some task, grouped together as a unit and given a name. That
name can then be used as a substitute for the whole set of instructions. For example, suppose that one of the
tasks that your program needs to perform is to draw a house on the screen. You can take the necessary
instructions, make them into a subroutine, and give that subroutine some appropriate name -- say,
"drawHouse()". Then anyplace in your program where you need to draw a house, you can do so with the
single command:

drawHouse();
This will have the same effect as repeating all the house-drawing instructions in each place.

The advantage here is not just that you save typing. Organizing your program into subroutines also helps
you organize your thinking and your program design effort. While writing the house-drawing subroutine,
you can concentrate on the problem of drawing a house without worrying for the moment about the rest of
the program. And once the subroutine is written, you can forget about the details of drawing houses -- that
problem is solved, since you have a subroutine to do it for you. A subroutine becomes just like a built-in
part of the language which you can use without thinking about the details of what goes on "inside" the
subroutine.

Variables, types, loops, branches, and subroutines are the basis of what might be called "traditional
programming." However, as programs become larger, additional structure is needed to help deal with their
complexity. One of the most effective tools that has been found is object-oriented programming, which is
discussed in the next section.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s4.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.5

Section 1.5
Objects and Object-oriented Programming

PROGRAMS MUST BE DESIGNED. No one can just sit down at the computer and compose a program
of any complexity. The discipline called software engineering is concerned with the construction of correct,
working, well-written programs. The software engineer tends to use accepted and proven methods for
analyzing the problem to be solved and for designing a program to solve that problem.

During the 1970s and into the 80s, the primary software engineering methodology was structured
programming. The structured programming approach to program design was based on the following advice:
To solve a large problem, break the problem into several pieces and work on each piece separately; to solve
each piece, treat it as a new problem which can itself be broken down into smaller problems; eventually,
you will work your way down to problems that can be solved directly, without further decomposition. This
approach is called top-down programming.

There is nothing wrong with top-down programming. It is a valuable and often-used approach to
problem-solving. However, it is incomplete. For one thing, it deals almost entirely with producing the
instructions necessary to solve a problem. But as time went on, people realized that the design of the data
structures for a program was as least as important as the design of subroutines and control structures.
Top-down programming doesn't give adequate consideration to the data that the program manipulates.

Another problem with strict top-down programming is that is makes it difficult to reuse work done for other
projects. By starting with a particular problem and subdividing it into convenient pieces, top-down
programming tends to produce a design that is unique to that problem. It is unlikely that you will be able to
take a large chunk of programming from another program and fit it into your project, at least not without
extensive modification. Producing high-quality programs is difficult and expensive, so programmers and
the people who employ them are always eager to reuse past work.

So, in practice, top-down design is often combined with bottom-up design. In bottom-up design, the
approach is to start "at the bottom," with problems that you already know how to solve (and for which you
might already have a reusable software component at hand). From there, you can work upwards towards a
solution to the overall problem.

The reusable components should be as "modular" as possible. A module is a component of a larger system
that interacts with the rest of the system in a simple, well-defined, straightforward manner. The idea is that
a module can be "plugged into" a system. The details of what goes on inside the module are not important
to the system as a whole, as long as the module fulfills its assigned role correctly. This is called information
hiding, and it is one of the most important principles of software engineering.

One common format for software modules is to contain some data, along with some subroutines for
manipulating that data. For example, a mailing-list module might contain a list of names and addresses
along with a subroutine for adding a new name, a subroutine for printing mailing labels, and so forth. In
such modules, the data itself is often hidden inside the module; a program that uses the module can then
manipulate the data only indirectly, by calling the subroutines provided by the module. This protects the
data, since it can only be manipulated in known, well-defined ways. And it makes it easier for programs to
use the module, since they don't have to worry about the details of how the data is represented. Information
about the representation of the data is hidden.

Modules that could support this kind of information-hiding became common in programming languages in
the early 1980s. Since then, a more advanced form of the same idea has more or less taken over software
engineering. This latest approach is called object-oriented programming, often abbreviated as OOP.

The central concept of object-oriented programming is the object, which is a kind of module containing

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s5.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.5

data and subroutines. The point-of-view in OOP is that an object is a kind of self-sufficient entity that has
an internal state (the data it contains) and that can respond to messages (calls to its subroutines). A mailing
list object, for example, has a state consisting of a list of names and addresses. If you send it a message
telling it to add a name, it will respond by modifying its state to reflect the change. If you send it a message
telling it to print itself, it will respond by printing out its list of names and addresses.

The OOP approach to software engineering is to start by identifying the objects involved in a problem and
the messages that those objects should respond to. The program that results is a collection of objects, each
with its own data and its own set of responsibilities. The objects interact by sending messages to each other.
There is not much "top-down" in such a program, and people used to more traditional programs can have a
hard time getting used to OOP. However, people who use OOP would claim that object-oriented programs
tend to be better models of the way the world itself works, and that they are therefore easier to write, easier
to understand, and more likely to be correct.

You should think of objects as "knowing" how to respond to certain messages. Different objects might
respond to the same message in different ways. For example, a "print" message would produce very
different results, depending on the object it is sent to. This property of objects -- that different objects can
respond to the same message in different ways -- is called polymorphism.

It is common for objects to bear a kind of "family relationship" to one another. Objects that contain the
same type of data and that respond to the same messages in the same way belong to the same class. (In
actual programming, the class is primary; that is, a class is created and then one or more objects are created
using that class as a template.) But objects can be similar without being in exactly the same class.

For example, consider a drawing program that lets the user draw lines, rectangles, ovals, polygons, and
curves on the screen. In the program, each visible object on the screen could be represented by a software
object in the program. There would be five classes of objects in the program, one for each type of visible
object that can be drawn. All the lines would belong to one class, all the rectangles to another class, and so
on. These classes are obviously related; all of them represent "drawable objects." They would, for example,
all presumably be able to respond to a "draw yourself" message. Another level of grouping, based on the
data needed to represent each type of object, is less obvious, but would be very useful in a program: We can
group polygons and curves together as "multipoint objects," while lines, rectangles, and ovals are
"two-point objects." (A line is determined by its endpoints, a rectangle by two of its corners, and an oval by
two corners of the rectangle that contains it.) We could diagram these relationships as follows:

DrawableObject, MultipointObject, and TwoPointObject would be classes in the program.

MultipointObject and TwoPointObject would be subclasses of DrawableObject. The class Line would be a
subclass of TwoPointObject and (indirectly) of DrawableObject. A subclass of a class is said to inherit the
properties of that class. The subclass can add to its inheritance and it can even "override" part of that
inheritance (by defining a different response to some method). Nevertheless, lines, rectangles, and so on are
drawable objects, and the class DrawableObject expresses this relationship.

Inheritance is a powerful means for organizing a program. It is also related to the problem of reusing

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s5.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.5

software components. A class is the ultimate reusable component. Not only can it be reused directly if it fits
exactly into a program you are trying to write, but if it just almost fits, you can still reuse it by defining a
subclass and making only the small changes necessary to adapt it exactly to your needs.

So, OOP is meant to be both a superior program-development tool and a partial solution to the software
reuse problem. Objects, classes, and object-oriented programming will be important themes throughout the
rest of this text.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s5.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.6

Section 1.6
The Modern User Interface

WHEN COMPUTERS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED, ordinary people -- including most programmers --
couldn't get near them. They were locked up in rooms with white-coated attendants who would take your
programs and data, feed them to the computer, and return the computer's response some time later. When
timesharing -- where the computer switches its attention rapidly from one person to another -- was invented
in the 1960s, it became possible for several people to interact directly with the computer at the same time.
On a timesharing system, users sit at "terminals" where they type commands to the computer, and the
computer types back its response. Early personal computers also used typed commands and responses,
except that there was only one person involved at a time. This type of interaction between a user and a
computer is called a command-line interface.

Today, of course, most people interact with computers in a completely different way. They use a Graphical
User Interface, or GUI. The computer draws interface components on the screen. The components include
things like windows, scroll bars, menus, buttons, and icons. Usually, a mouse is used to manipulate such
components. Assuming that you are reading these notes on a computer, you are no doubt familiar with the
basics of graphical user interfaces.

A lot of GUI interface components have become fairly standard. That is, they have similar appearance and
behavior on many different computer platforms including Macintosh, Windows 3.1, Windows 98, and
various UNIX window systems. Java programs, which are supposed to run on many different platforms
without modification to the program, can use all the standard GUI components. They might vary in
appearance from platform to platform, but their functionality should be identical on any computer on which
the program runs.

Below is a very simple Java program -- actually an "applet," since it is running right here in the middle of a
page -- that shows a few standard GUI interface components. There are four components that you can
interact with: a button, a checkbox, a text field, and a pop-up menu. These components are labeled. There
are a few other components in the applet. The labels themselves are components (even though you can't
interact with them). The lower half of the applet is a text area component, that can display multiple lines of
text. In fact, in Java terminology, the whole applet is itself considered to be a "component." Try clicking on
the button and on the checkbox, and try selecting an item from the pop-up menu. You can type in the text
field, but you might have to click on it first to activate it:

Sorry, your browser doesn't do Java.

Here is what the applet looked like
on my computer:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s6.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.6

As you experiment with the other components, you'll find that messages are displayed in the text area. What
happens is that when you perform certain actions, such as clicking on a button, you generate "events." For
each event, a message is sent to the applet telling it that the event has occurred, and the applet responds
according to its program. In fact, the program consists mainly of "event handlers" that tell the applet how to
respond to various types of events. In this example, the applet has been programmed to respond to each
event by displaying a message in the text area.

The use of the term "message" here is deliberate. Messages, as you saw in the previous section, are sent to
objects. In fact, Java GUI components are implemented as objects. Java includes many predefined classes
that represent various types of GUI components. Some of these classes are subclasses of others. Here is a
diagram showing some of these classes and their relationships:

Don't worry about the details for now, but try to get some feel about how object-oriented programming and
inheritance are used here. Note that all the GUI classes are subclasses, directly or indirectly, of a class
called Component. Two of the direct subclasses of Component themselves have subclasses. The classes
TextArea and TextField, which have certain behaviors in common, are grouped together as
subclasses of TextComponent. The class named Container refers to components that can contain
other components. The Applet class is, indirectly, a subclass of Container since applets can contain

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s6.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.6

components such as buttons and text fields.

Just from this brief discussion, perhaps you can see how GUI programming can make effective use of
object-oriented design. In fact, GUI's, with their "visible objects," are probably a major factor contributing
to the popularity of OOP.

Programming with GUI components and events is one of the most interesting aspects of Java. However, we
will spend several chapters on the basics before returning to this topic in Chapter 6.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s6.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:34:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.7

Section 1.7
The Internet and the World-Wide Web

COMPUTERS CAN BE CONNECTED together on networks. A computer on a network can

communicate with other computers on the same network by exchanging data and files or by sending and
receiving messages. Computers on a network can even work together on a large computation.

Today, millions of computers throughout the world are connected to a single huge network called the
Internet. New computers are being connected to the Internet every day. In fact, a computer can join the
Internet temporarily by using a modem to establish a connection through telephone lines.

There are elaborate protocols for communication over the Internet. A protocol is simply a detailed
specification of how communication is to proceed. For two computers to communicate at all, they must
both be using the same protocols. The most basic protocols on the Internet are the Internet Protocol (IP),
which specifies how data is to be physically transmitted from one computer to another, and the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which ensures that data sent using IP is received in its entirety and
without error. These two protocols, which are referred to collectively as TCP/IP, provide a foundation for
communication. Other protocols use TCP/IP to send specific types of information such as files and
electronic mail.

All communication over the Internet is in the form of packets. A packet consists of some data being sent
from one computer to another, along with addressing information that indicates where on the Internet that
data is supposed to go. Think of a packet as an envelope with an address on the outside and a message on
the inside. (The message is the data.) The packet also includes a "return address," that is, the address of the
sender. A packet can hold only a limited amount of data; longer messages must be divided among several
packets, which are then sent individually over the net and reassembled at their destination.

Every computer on the Internet has an IP address, a number that identifies it uniquely among all the
computers on the net. The IP address is used for addressing packets. A computer can only send data to
another computer on the Internet if it knows that computer's IP address. Since people prefer to use names
rather than numbers, many computers are also identified by names, called domain names. For example, the
main computer at Hobart and William Smith Colleges has the domain name hws3.hws.edu. (Domain names
are just for convenience; your computer still needs to know IP addresses before it can communicate. There
are computers on the Internet whose job it is to translate domain names to IP addresses. When you use a
domain name, your computer sends a message to a domain name server to find out the corresponding IP
address. Then, your computer uses the IP address, rather than the domain name, to communicate with the
other computer.)

The Internet provides a number of services to the computers connected to it (and, of course, to the users of
those computers). These services use TCP/IP to send various types of data over the net. Among the most
popular services are Telnet, electronic mail, FTP, and the World-Wide Web.

Telnet allows a person using one computer to log on to another computer. (Of course, that person needs to
know a user name and password for an account on the other computer.) Telnet provides only a
command-line interface. Essentially, the first computer acts as a terminal for the second. Telnet is often
used by people who are away from home to access their computer accounts back home -- and they can do
so from any computer on the Internet, anywhere in the world.

Electronic mail, or email, provides person-to-person communication over the Internet. An email message is
sent by a particular user of one computer to a particular user of another computer. Each person is identified
by a unique email address, which consists of the domain name of the computer where they receive their
mail together with their user name or personal name. The email address has the form
"[email protected]". For example, my own email address is: [email protected]. Email is actually

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s7.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:53 AM]

Java Programing: Section 1.7

transferred from one computer to another using a protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
Email might still be the most common and important use of the Internet, although it has certainly been
challenged in popularity by the World-Wide Web.

FTP (File Transport Protocol) is designed to copy files from one computer to another. As with Telnet, an
FTP user needs a user name and password to get access to a computer. However, many computers have
been set up with special accounts that can be accessed through FTP with the user name "anonymous" and
any password. This so-called anonymous FTP can be used to make files on one computer publically
available to anyone with Internet access.

The World-Wide Web (WWW) is based on pages which can contain information of many different kinds as
well as links to other pages. These pages are viewed with a Web browser program such as Netscape or
Internet Explorer. Many people seem to think that the World-Wide Web is the Internet, but it's really just a
graphical user interface to the Internet. The pages that you view with a Web browser are just files that are
stored on computers connected to the Internet. When you tell your Web browser to load a page, it contacts
the computer on which the page is stored and transfers it to your computer using a protocol known as HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol). Any computer on the Internet can publish pages on the World-Wide Web.
When you use a Web browser, you have access to a huge sea of interlinked information that can be
navigated with no special computer expertise. The Web is the most exciting part of the Internet and is
driving the Internet to a truly phenomenal rate of growth. If it fulfills its promise, the Web might become a
universal and fundamental part of everyday life.

I should note that a typical Web browser can use other protocols besides HTTP. For example, it can also
use FTP to transfer files. The traditional user interface for FTP was a command-line interface, so among all
the other things it does, a Web browser provides a modern graphical user interface for FTP. (This fact
should help you understand that FTP is not a program. It is a set of standards for a certain type of
communication between computers. To use FTP, you need a program that implements those standards.
Different FTP programs can present you with very different user interfaces. Similarly, different Web
browser programs can present very different interfaces to the user, but they must all use HTTP to get
information from the Web.)

Now just what, you might be thinking, does all this have to do with Java? In fact, Java is intimately
associated with the Internet and the World-Wide Web. As you have seen in the previous section, special
Java programs called applets are meant to be transmitted over the Internet and displayed on Web pages. A
Web server transmits a Java applet just as it would transmit any other type of information. A Web browser
that understands Java -- that is, that includes an interpreter for the Java virtual machine -- can then run the
applet right on the Web page. Since applets are programs, they can do almost anything, including complex
interaction with the user. With Java, a Web page becomes more than just a passive display of information.
It becomes anything that programmers can imagine and implement.

Its association with the Web is not Java's only advantage. But many good programming languages have
been invented only to be soon forgotten. Java has had the good luck to ride on the coattails of the Web's
immense and increasing popularity.

End of Chapter 1

[ Next Chapter | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/s7.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:34:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 1 Quiz

Quiz Questions
For Chapter 1

THIS PAGE CONTAINS A SAMPLE quiz on material from Chapter 1 of this on-line Java textbook. You
should be able to answer these questions after studying that chapter. Sample answers to all the quiz
questions can be found here.

Question 1: One of the components of a computer is its CPU. What is a CPU and what role does it play in
a computer?

Question 2: Explain what is meant by an "asynchronous event." Give some examples.

Question 3: What is the difference between a "compiler" and an "interpreter"?

Question 4: Explain the difference between high-level languages and machine language.

Question 5: If you have the source code for a Java program, and you want to run that program, you will
need both a compiler and an interpreter. What does the Java compiler do, and what does the Java interpreter
do?

Question 6: What is a subroutine?

Question 7: Java is an object-oriented programming language. What is an object?

Question 8: What is a variable? (There are four different ideas associated with variables in Java. Try to
mention all four aspects in your answer. Hint: One of the aspects is the variable's name.)

Question 9: Java is a "platform-independent language." What does this mean?

Question 10: What is the "Internet"? Give some examples of how it is used. (What kind of services does it
provide?)

[ Answers | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c1/quiz.html [5/24/2000 8:34:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 2 Index

Chapter 2

Programming in the Small I

Names and Things

ON A BASIC LEVEL (the level of machine language), a computer can perform only very simple
operations. A computer performs complex tasks by stringing together large numbers of such operations.
Such tasks must be "scripted" in complete and perfect detail by programs. Creating complex programs will
never be really easy, but the difficulty can be handled to some extent by giving the program a clear overall
structure. The design of the overall structure of a program is what I call "programming in the large."

Programming in the small, which is sometimes called coding, would then refer to filling in the details of
that design. The details are the explicit, step-by-step instructions for performing fairly small-scale tasks.
When you do coding, you are working fairly "close to the machine," with some of the same concepts that
you might use in machine language: memory locations, arithmetic operations, loops and decisions. In a
high-level language such as Java, you get to work with these concepts on a level several steps above
machine language. However, you still have to worry about getting all the details exactly right.

This chapter and the next examine the facilities for programming in the small in the Java programming
language. Don't be misled by the term "programming in the small" into thinking that this material is easy or
unimportant. This material is an essential foundation for all types of programming. If you don't understand
it, you can't write programs, no matter how good you get at designing their large-scale structure.

Contents of Chapter 2:
● Section 1: The Basic Java Application
● Section 2: Variables and the Primitive Types
● Section 3: Strings, Objects, and Subroutines
● Section 4: Text Input and Output
● Section 5: Details of Expressions
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

[ First Section | Next Chapter | Previous Chapter | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/ [5/24/2000 8:35:29 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.1

Section 2.1
The Basic Java Application

A PROGRAM IS A SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTIONS that a computer can execute to perform some

task. A simple enough idea, but for the computer to make any use of the instructions, they must be written
in a form that the computer can use. This means that programs have to be written in programming
languages. Programming languages differ from ordinary human languages in being completely
unambiguous and very strict about what is and is not allowed in a program. The rules that determine what is
allowed are called the syntax of the language. Syntax rules specify the basic vocabulary of the language and
how programs can be constructed using things like loops, branches, and subroutines. A syntactically correct
program is one that can be successfully compiled or interpreted; programs that have syntax errors will be
rejected (hopefully with a useful error message that will help you fix the problem).

So, to be a successful programmer, you have to develop a detailed knowledge of the syntax of the
programming language that you are using. However, syntax is only part of the story. It's not enough to write
a program that will run. You want a program that will run and produce the correct result! That is, the
meaning of the program has to be right. The meaning of a program is referred to as its semantics. A
semantically correct program is one that does what you want it to.

When I introduce a new language feature in these notes, I will explain both the syntax and the semantics of
that feature. You should memorize the syntax; that's the easy part. Then you should try to get a feeling for
the semantics by following the examples given, making sure that you understand how they work, and
maybe writing short programs of your own to test your understanding.

Of course, even when you've become familiar with all the individual features of the language, that doesn't
make you a programmer. You still have to learn how to construct complex programs to solve particular
problems. For that, you'll need both experience and taste. You'll find hints about software development
throughout this textbook.

We begin our exploration of Java with the problem that has become traditional for such beginnings: to write
a program that displays the message "Hello World!". This might seem like a trivial problem, but getting a
computer to do this is really a big first step in learning a new programming language (especially if it's your
first programming language). It means that you understand the basic process of:
1. getting the program text into the computer,
2. compiling the program, and
3. running the compiled program.

The first time through, each of these steps will probably take you a few tries to get right. I can't tell you the
details here of how you do each of these steps; it depends on the particular computer and Java programming
environment that you are using. (See Appendix 2 for information on some common Java programming
environments.) But in general, you will type the program using some sort of text editor and save the
program in a file. Then, you will use some command to try to compile the file. You'll either get a message
that the program contains syntax errors, or you'll get a compiled version of the program. In the case of Java,
the program is compiled into Java bytecode, not into machine language. Finally, you can run the compiled
program by giving some appropriate command. For Java, you will actually use an interpreter to execute the
Java bytecode. Your programming environment might automate some of the steps for you, but you can be
sure that the same three steps are being done in the background.

Here is a Java program to display the message "Hello World!". Don't expect to understand what's going on
here just yet -- some of it you won't really understand until a few chapters from now:
public class HelloWorld {

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s1.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:35:30 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.1

// A program to display the message

// "Hello World!" on standard output

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("Hello World!");
}

} // end of class HelloWorld

The command that actually displays the message is:

System.out.println("Hello World!");

This command is an example of a subroutine call statement. It uses a "built-in subroutine" named
System.out.println to do the actual work. Recall that a subroutine consists of the instructions for
performing some task, chunked together and given a name. That name can be used to "call" the subroutine
whenever that task needs to be performed. A built-in subroutine is one that is already defined as part of the
language and therefore automatically available for use in any program.

When you run this program, the message "Hello World!" (without the quotes) will be displayed on standard
output. Unfortunately, I can't say exactly what that means! Java is meant to run on many different
platforms, and standard output will mean different things on different platforms. However, you can expect
the message to show up in some convenient place. (If you use a command-line interface, like that in Sun
Microsystem's Java Development Kit, you type in a command to tell the computer to run the program. The
computer will type the output from the program, Hello World!, on the next line.)

You must be curious about all the other stuff in the above program. Part of it consists of comments.
Comments in a program are entirely ignored by the computer; they are there for human readers only. This
doesn't mean that they are unimportant. Programs are meant to be read by people as well as by computers,
and without comments, a program can be very difficult to understand. Java has two types of comments. The
first type, used in the above program, begins with // and extends to the end of a line. The computer ignores
the // and everything that follows it on the same line. Java has another style of comment that can extend
over many lines. That type of comment begins with /* and ends with */.

Everything else in the program is required by the rules of Java syntax. All programming in java is done
inside "classes." The first line in the above program says that this is a class named HelloWorld.
"HelloWorld," the name of the class, also serves as the name of the program. Not every class is a program.
In order to define a program, a class must include a subroutine called main, with a definition that takes the
form:
public static void main(String[] args) {
statements
}

When you tell the Java interpreter to run the program, the interpreter calls the main() subroutine, and the
statements that it contains are executed. These statements make up the script that tells the computer exactly
what to do when the program is executed. The main() routine can call subroutines that are defined in the
same class or even in other classes, but it is the main() routine that determines how and in what order the
other subroutines are used.

The word "public" in the first line of main() means that this routine can be called from outside the
program. This is essential because the main() routine is called by the Java interpreter. The remainder of
the first line of the routine is harder to explain at the moment; for now, just think of it as part of the required
syntax. The definition of the subroutine -- that is, the instructions that say what it does -- consists of the
sequence of "statements" enclosed between braces, { and }. Here, I've used statements as a placeholder for
the actual statements that make up the program. Throughout this textbook, I will always use a similar
format: anything that you see in this style of text (which is green if your browser supports colored text) is a
placeholder that describes something you need to type when you write an actual program.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s1.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:35:30 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.1

As noted above, a subroutine can't exist by itself. It has to be part of a "class". A program is defined by a
public class that takes the form:
public class program-name {

optional-variable-declarations-and-subroutines

public static void main(String[] args) {

statements
}

optional-variable-declarations-and-subroutines

The name on the first line is the name of the program, as well as the name of the class. If the name of the
class is HelloWorld, then the class should be saved in a file called HelloWorld.java. When this file is
compiled, another file named HelloWorld.class will be produced. This class file,
HelloWorld.class, contains the Java bytecode that is executed by a Java interpreter.
HelloWorld.java is called the source code for the program. To execute the program, you only need the
compiled class file, not the source code.

Also note that according to the above syntax specification, a program can contain other subroutines besides
main(), as well as things called "variable declarations." You'll learn more about these later (starting with
variables, in the next section).

By the way, recall that one of the neat features of Java is that it can be used to write applets that can run on
pages in a Web browser. Applets are very different things from stand-alone programs such as the
HelloWorld program, and they are not written in the same way. For one thing, an applet doesn't have a
main() routine. Applets will be covered in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. In the meantime, you will see applets
in this text that simulate stand-alone programs. The applets you see are not really the same as the
stand-alone programs that they simulate, since they run right on a Web page, but they will have the same
behavior as the programs I describe. Here, just for fun, is an applet simulating the HelloWorld program.
To run the program, click on the button:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

[ Next Section | Previous Chapter | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s1.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:35:30 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.2

Section 2.2
Variables and the Primitive Types

NAMES ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO PROGRAMMING. In programs, names are used to refer to many
different sorts of things. In order to use those things, a programmer must understand the rules for giving
names to things and the rules for using the names to work with those things. That is, the programmer must
understand the syntax and the semantics of names.

According to the syntax rules of Java, a name is a sequences of one or more characters. It must begin with a
letter and must consist entirely of letters, digits, and the underscore character '_'. For example, here are
some legal names:
N n rate x15 quite_a_long_name HelloWorld

Uppercase and lowercase letters are considered to be different, so that HelloWorld, helloworld,
HELLOWORLD, and hElloWorLD are all distinct names. Certain names are reserved for special uses in
Java, and cannot be used by the programmer for other purposes. These reserved words include: class,
public, static, if, else, while, and several dozen other words.
Java is actually pretty liberal about what counts as a letter or a digit. Java uses the Unicode character set,
which includes thousands of characters from many different languages and different alphabets, and many of
these characters count as letters or digits. However, I will be sticking to what can be typed on a regular
English keyboard.

Finally, I'll note that often things are referred to by "compound names" which consist of several ordinary
names separated by periods. You've already seen an example: System.out.println. The idea here is
that things in Java can contain other things. A compound name is a kind of path to an item through one or
more levels of containment. The name System.out.println indicates that something called "System"
contains something called "out" which in turn contains something called "println". I'll use the term identifier
to refer to any name -- single or compound -- that can be used to refer to something in Java. (Note that the
reserved words are not identifiers, since they can't be used as names for things.)

Programs manipulate data that are stored in memory. In machine language, data can only be referred to by
giving the numerical address of the location in memory where it is stored. In a high-level language such as
Java, names are used instead of numbers to refer to data. It is the job of the computer to keep track of where
in memory the data is actually stored; the programmer only has to remember the name. A name used in this
way -- to refer to data stored in memory -- is called a variable.

Variables are actually rather subtle. Properly speaking, a variable is not a name for the data itself but for a
location in memory that can hold data. You should think of a variable as a container or box where you can
store data that you will need to use later. The variable refers directly to the box and only indirectly to the
data in the box. Since the data in the box can change, a variable can refer to different data values at different
times during the execution of the program, but it always refers to the same box. Confusion can arise,
especially for beginning programmers, because when a variable is used in a program in certain ways, it
refers to the container, but when it is used in other ways, it refers to the data in the container. You'll see
examples of both cases below.

(In this way, a variable is something like the title, "The President of the United States." This title can refer
to different people at different time, but it always refers to the same office. If I say "the President went
fishing," I mean that Bill Clinton went fishing. But if I say "Donald Trump wants to be President" I mean
that he wants to fill the office, not that he wants to be Bill Clinton.)

In Java, the only way to get data into a variable -- that is, into the box that the variable names -- is with an

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s2.html (1 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.2

assignment statement. An assignment statement takes the form:

variable = expression;

where expression represents anything that refers to or computes a data value. When the computer comes to
an assignment statement in the course of executing a program, it evaluates the expression and puts the
resulting data value into the variable. For example, consider the simple assignment statement
rate = 0.07;

The variable in this assignment statement is rate, and the expression is the number 0.07. The computer
executes this assignment statement by putting the number 0.07 in the variable rate, replacing whatever
was there before. Now, consider the following more complicated assignment statement, which might come
later in the same program:
interest = rate * principal;

Here, the value of the expression "rate * principal" is being assigned to the variable interest. In
the expression, the * is a "multiplication operator" that tells the computer to multiply rate times
principal. The names rate and principal are themselves variables, and it is really the values
stored in those variables that are to be multiplied. We see that when a variable is used in an expression, it is
the value stored in the variable that matters; in this case, the variable seems to refer to the data in the box,
rather than to the box itself. When the computer executes this assignment statement, it takes the value of
rate, multiplies it by the value of principal, and stores the answer in the box referred to by
interest.

(Note, by the way, that an assignment statement is a command that is executed by the computer at a certain
time. It is not a statement of fact. For example, suppose a program includes the statement "rate =
0.07;". If the statement "interest = rate * principal;" is executed later in the program, can
we say that the principal is multiplied by 0.07? No! The value of rate might have been changed in the
meantime by another statement. The meaning of an assignment statement is completely different from the
meaning of an equation in mathematics, even though both use the symbol "=".)

A variable in Java is designed to hold only one particular type of data; it can legally hold that type of data
and no other. The compiler will consider it to be a syntax error if you try to violate this rule. We say that
Java is a strongly typed language because it enforces this rule.

There are eight so-called primitive types built into Java. The primitive types are named byte, short,
int, long, float, double, char, and boolean. The first four types hold integers (whole numbers
such as 17, -38477, and 0). The four integer types are distinguished by the ranges of integers they can hold.
The float and double types hold real numbers (such as 3.6 and -145.99). Again, the two real types are
distinguished by their range and accuracy. A variable of type char holds a single character from the
Unicode character set. And a variable of type boolean holds one of the two logical values true or
false.

Any data value stored in the computer's memory must be represented as a binary number, that is as a string
of zeros and ones. A single zero or one is called a bit. A string of eight bits is called a byte. Memory is
usually measured in terms of bytes. Not surprisingly, the byte data type refers to a single byte of memory.
A variable of type byte holds a string of eight bits, which can represent any of the integers between -128
and 127, inclusive. (There are 256 integers in that range; eight bits can represent 256 -- two raised to the
power eight -- different values.) As for the other integer types,
● short corresponds to two bytes (16 bits). Variables of type short have values in the range
-32768 to 32767.
● int corresponds to four bytes (32 bits). Variables of type int have values in the range
-2147483648 to 2147483647.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s2.html (2 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.2

● long corresponds to eight bytes (64 bits). Variables of type long have values in the range
-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807.
You don't have to remember these numbers, but they do give you some idea of the size of integers that you
can work with. Usually, you should just stick to the int data type, which is good enough for most
purposes.

The float data type is represented in four bytes of memory, using a standard method for encoding real
numbers. The maximum value for a float is about 10 raised to the power 38. A float can have about 7
significant digits. (So that 32.3989231134 and 32.3989234399 would both have to be rounded off to about
32.398923 in order to be stored in a variable of type float.) A double takes up 8 bytes, can range up to
about 10 to the power 308, and has about 15 significant digits. Ordinarily, you should stick to the double
type for real values.

A variable of type char occupies two bytes in memory. The value of a char variable is a single character
such as A, *, x, or a space character. The value can also be a special character such a tab or a carriage return
or one of the many Unicode characters that come from different languages. When a character is typed into a
program, it must be surrounded by single quotes; for example: 'A', '*', or 'x'. Without the quotes, A would
be an identifier and * would be a multiplication operator. The quotes are not part of the value and are not
stored in the variable; they are just a convention for naming a particular character constant in a program.

A name for a constant value is called a literal. A literal is what you have to type in a program to represent a
value. 'A' and '*' are literals of type char, representing the character values A and *. Certain special
characters have special literals that use a backslash, \, as an "escape character". In particular, a tab is
represented as '\t', a carriage return as '\r', a linefeed as '\n', the single quote character as '\'',
and the backslash itself as '\\'. Note that even though you type two characters between the quotes in
'\t', the value represented by this literal is a single tab character.

Numeric literals are a little more complicated than you might expect. Of course, there are the obvious
literals such as 317 and 17.42. But there are other possibilities for expressing numbers in a Java program.
First of all, real numbers can be represented in an exponential form such as 1.3e12 or 12.3737e-108. The
"e12" and "e-108" represent powers of 10, so that 1.3e12 means 1.3 times 1012 and 12.3737e-108 means
12.3737 times 10-108. This format is used for very large and very small numbers. Any numerical literal that
contains a decimal point or exponential is a literal of type double. To make a literal of type float, you
have to append an "F" or "f" to the end of the number. For example, "1.2F" stands for 1.2 considered as a
value of type float. (Occasionally, you need to know this because the rules of Java say that you can't
assign a value of type double to a variable of type float, so you might be confronted with a
ridiculous-seeming error message if you try to do something like "float x = 1.2;". You have to say
"float x = 1.2F;". This is one reason why I advise sticking to type double for real numbers.)

Even for integer literals, there are some complications. Ordinary integers such as 177777 and -32 are literals
of type byte, short, or int, depending on their size. You can make a literal of type long by adding "L"
as a suffix. For example: 17L or 728476874368L. As another complication, Java allows octal (base-8) and
hexadecimal (base-16) literals. (I don't want to cover base-8 and base-16 in these notes, but in case you run
into them in other people's programs, it's worth knowing that a zero at the beginning of an integer makes it
an octal literal, as in 045 or 077. A hexadecimal literal begins with 0x or 0X, as in 0x45 or 0xFF7A. By the
way, the octal literal 045 represents the number 37, not the number 45.)

For the type boolean, there are precisely two literals: true and false. These literals are typed just as
I've written them here, without quotes, but they represent values, not variables. Boolean values occur most
often as the values of conditional expressions. For example,
rate > 0.05

is a boolean-valued expression that evaluates to true if the value of the variable rate is greater than 0.05,
and to false if the value of rate is not greater than 0.05. As you'll see in Chapter 3, boolean-valued

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s2.html (3 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.2

expressions are used extensively in control structures. Of course, boolean values can also be assigned to
variables of type boolean.

Java has other types in addition to the primitive types, but all the other types represent objects rather than
"primitive" data values. For the most part, we are not concerned with objects for the time being. However,
there is one predefined object type that is very important: the type String. A String is a sequence of
characters. You've already seen a string literal: "Hello World!". The double quotes are part of the literal;
they have to be typed in the program. However, they are not part of the actual string value, which consists
of just the characters between the quotes. Within a string, special characters can be represented using the
backslash notation. Within this context, the double quote is itself a special character. For example, to
represent the string value

I said, "Are you listening!"

with a linefeed at the end, you would have to type the literal:

"I said, \"Are you listening!\"\n"

Because strings are objects, their behavior in programs is peculiar in some respects (to someone who is not
used to objects). I'll have more to say about them in the next section.

A variable can be used in a program only if it has first been declared. A variable declaration statement is
used to declare one or more variables and to give them names. When the computer executes a variable
declaration, it sets aside memory for the variable and associates the variable's name with that memory. A
simple variable declaration takes the form:

type-name variable-name-or-names;

The variable-name-or-names can be a single variable name or a list of variable names separated by
commas. (We'll see later that variable declaration statements can actually be somewhat more complicated
than this.) Good programming style is to declare only one variable in a declaration statement, unless the
variables are closely related in some way. For example:
int numberOfStudents;
String name;
double x, y;
boolean isFinished;
char firstInitial, middleInitial, lastInitial;

In this chapter, we will only use variables declared inside the main() subroutine of a program. Variables
declared inside a subroutine are called local variables for that subroutine. They exist only inside the
subroutine, while it is running, and are completely inaccessible from outside. Variable declarations can
occur anywhere inside the subroutine, as long as each variable is declared before it is used in any
expression. Some people like to declare all the variables at the beginning of the subroutine. Others like to
wait to declare a variable until it is needed. My preference: Declare important variables at the beginning of
the subroutine, and use a comment to explain the purpose of each variable. Declare "utility variables" which
are not important to the overall logic of the subroutine at the point in the subroutine where they are first
used. Here is a simple program using some variables and assignment statements:
public class Interest {

/*
This class implements a simple program that
will compute the amount of interest that is
earned on $17,000 invested at an interest
rate of 0.07 for one year. The interest and
the value of the investment after one year are
printed to standard output.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s2.html (4 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.2

*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

/* Declare the variables. */

double principal; // The value of the investment.

double rate; // The annual interest rate.
double interest; // Interest earned in one year.

/* Do the computations. */

principal = 17000;
rate = 0.07;
interest = principal * rate; // Compute the interest.

principal = principal + interest;

// Compute value of investment after one year, with interest.
// (Note: The new value replaces the old value of principal.)

/* Output the results. */

System.out.print("The interest earned is $");

System.out.println(interest);
System.out.print("The value of the investment after one year is $");
System.out.println(principal);

} // end of main()

} // end of class Interest

And here is an applet that simulates this program:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

This program uses several subroutine call statements to display information to the user of the program. Two
different subroutines are used: System.out.print and System.out.println. The difference
between these is that System.out.println adds a carriage return after the end of the information that
it displays, while System.out.print does not. Thus, the value of interest, which is displayed by
the subroutine call "System.out.println(interest);", follows on the same line after the string
displayed by the previous statement. Note that the value to be displayed by System.out.print or
System.out.println is provided in parentheses after the subroutine name. This value is called a
parameter to the subroutine. A parameter provides a subroutine with information it needs to perform its
task. In a subroutine call statement, any parameters are listed in parentheses after the subroutine name. Not
all subroutines have parameters. If there are no parameters in a subroutine call statement, the subroutine
name must be followed by an empty pair of parentheses.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s2.html (5 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.3

Section 2.3
Strings, Objects, and Subroutines

THE PREVIOUS SECTION introduced the eight primitive data types and the type String. There is a
fundamental difference between the primitive types and the String type: Values of type String are
objects. While we will not study objects in detail until Chapter 5, it will be useful for you to know a little
about them and about a closely related topic: classes. This is not just because strings are useful but because
objects and classes are essential to understanding another important programming concept, subroutines.

Recall that a subroutine is a set of program instructions that have been chunked together and given a name.
In Chapter 4, you'll learn how to write your own subroutines, but you can get a lot done in a program just
by calling subroutines that have already been written for you. In Java, every subroutine is contained in a
class or in an object. Some classes that are standard parts of the Java language contain predefined
subroutines that you can use. A value of type String, which is an object, contains subroutines that can be
used to manipulate that string. You can call all these subroutines without understanding how they were
written or how they work. Indeed, that's the whole point of subroutines: A subroutine is a "black box"
which can be used without knowing what goes on inside.

Classes in Java have two very different functions. First of all, a class can group together variables and
subroutines that are contained in that class. These variables and subroutines are called static members of the
class. You've seen one example: In a class that defines a program, the main() routine is a static member
of the class. The parts of a class definition that define static members are marked with the reserved word
"static", just like the main() routine of a program. However, classes have a second function. They are
used to describe objects. In this role, the class of an object specifies what subroutines and variables are
contained in that object. The class is a type -- in the technical sense of a specification of a certain type of
data value -- and the object is a value of that type. For example, String is actually the name of a class that
is included as a standard part of the Java language. It is also a type, and actual strings such as "Hello
World" are values of type String.

So, every subroutine is contained either in a class or in an object. Classes contain subroutines called static
member subroutines. Classes also describe objects and the subroutines that are contained in those objects.

This dual use can be confusing, and in practice most classes are designed to perform primarily or
exclusively in only one of the two possible roles. For example, although the String class does contain a
few rarely-used static member subroutines, it exists mainly to specify a large number of subroutines that are
contained in objects of type String. Another standard class, named Math, exists entirely to group
together a number of static member subroutines that compute various common mathematical functions.

To begin to get a handle on all of this complexity, let's look at the subroutine System.out.print as an
example. As you have seen earlier in this chapter, this subroutine is used to display information to the user.
For example, System.out.print("Hello World") displays the message, Hello World.

System is one of Java's standard classes. One of the static member variables in this class is named out.
Since this variable is contained in the class System, its full name -- which you have to use to refer to it in
your programs -- is System.out. The variable System.out refers to an object, and that object in turn
contains a subroutine named print. The compound identifier System.out.print refers to the
subroutine print in the object out in the class System.

(As an aside, I will note that the object referred to by System.out is an object of the class
PrintStream. PrintStream is another class that is a standard part of Java. Any object of type
PrintStream is a destination to which information can be printed; any object of type PrintStream
has a print subroutine that be used to send information to that destination. The object System.out is

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s3.html (1 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.3

just one possible destination, and System.out.print is the subroutine that sends information to that
destination. Other objects of type PrintStream might send information to other destinations such as files
or across a network to other computers. This is object-oriented programming: Many different things which
have something in common -- they can all be used as destinations for information -- can all be used in the
same way -- through a print subroutine. The PrintStream class expresses the commonalities among
all these objects.)

Since class names and variable names are used in similar ways, it might be hard to tell which is which. All
the built-in, predefined names in Java follow the rule that class names begin with an upper case letter while
variable names begin with a lower case letter. While this is not a formal syntax rule, I recommend that you
follow it in your own programming. Subroutine names should also begin with lower case letters. There is
no possibility of confusing a variable with a subroutine, since a subroutine name in a program is always
followed by a left parenthesis.

Classes can contain static member subroutines, as well as static member variables. For example, the
System class contains a subroutine named exit. In a program, of course, this subroutine must be referred
to as System.exit. Calling this subroutine will terminate the program. You could use it if you had some
reason to terminate the program before the end of the main routine. (For historical reasons, this subroutine
takes an integer as a parameter, so the subroutine call statement might look like "System.exit(0);" or
"System.exit(1);". The parameter tells the computer why the program is being terminated. A
parameter value of 0 indicates that the program is ending normally. Any other value indicates that the
program is being terminated because an error has been detected.)

Every subroutine performs some specific task. For some subroutines, that task is to compute or retrieve
some data value. Subroutines of this type are called functions. We say that a function returns a value. The
returned value must then be used somehow in the program.

You are familiar with the mathematical function that computes the square root of a number. Java has a
corresponding function called Math.sqrt. This function is a static member subroutine of the class named
Math. If x is any numerical value, then Math.sqrt(x) computes and returns the square root of that
value. Since Math.sqrt(x) represents a value, it doesn't make sense to put it on a line by itself in a
subroutine call statement such as
Math.sqrt(x); // This doesn't make sense!

What, after all, would the computer do with the value computed by the function in this case? You have to
tell the computer to do something with the value. You might tell the computer to display it:
System.out.print( Math.sqrt(x) ); // Display the square root of x.

or you might use an assignment statement to tell the computer to store that value in a variable:
lengthOfSide = Math.sqrt(x);

The function call Math.sqrt(x) represents a value of type double, and it can be used anyplace where
a numerical value of type double could be used.

The Math class contains many static member functions. Here is a list of some of the more important of
them:
● Math.abs(x), which computes the absolute value of x.

● The usual trigonometric functions, Math.sin(x), Math.cos(x), and Math.tan(x). (For all
the trigonometric functions, angles are measured in radians, not degrees.)
● The inverse trigonometric functions arcsin, arccos, and arctan, which are written as:
Math.asin(x), Math.acos(x), and Math.atan(x).
● The exponential function Math.exp(x) for computing the number e raised to the power x, and
the natural logarithm function Math.log(x) for computing the logarithm of x in the base e.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s3.html (2 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.3

● Math.pow(x,y) for computing x raised to the power y.

● Math.floor(x), which rounds x down to the nearest integer value that is less than or equal to x.
(For example, Math.round(3.76) is 3.0.)
● Math.random(), which returns a randomly chosen double in the range 0.0 <=
Math.random() < 1.0. (The computer actually calculates so-called "pseudorandom" numbers,
which are not truly random but are random enough for most purposes.)
For these functions, the type of the parameter -- the value inside parentheses -- can be of any numeric type.
For most of the functions, the value returned by the function is of type double no matter what the type of
the parameter. However, for Math.abs(x), the value returned will be the same type as x. If x is of type
int, then so is Math.abs(x). (So, for example, while Math.sqrt(9) is the double value 3.0,
Math.abs(9) is the int value 9.)

Note that Math.random() does not have any parameter. You still need the parentheses, even though
there's nothing between them. The parentheses let the computer know that this is a subroutine rather than a
variable. Another example of a subroutine that has no parameters is the function
System.currentTimeMillis(), from the System class. When this function is executed, it retrieves
the current time, expressed as the number of milliseconds that have passed since a standardized base time
(the start of the year 1970 in Greenwich Mean Time, if you care). One millisecond is one thousandth
second. The value of System.currentTimeMillis() is of type long. This function can be used to
measure the time that it takes the computer to perform a task. Just record the time at which the task is begun
and the time at which it is finished and take the difference.

Here is a sample program that preforms a few mathematical tasks and reports the time that it takes for the
program to run. On some computers, the time reported might be zero, because it is too small to measure in
milliseconds. Even if it's not zero, you can be sure that most of the time reported by the computer was spent
doing output or working on tasks other than the program, since the calculations performed in this program
occupy only a tiny fraction of a second of a computer's time.

public class TimedComputation {

/* This program performs some mathematical computations and displays

the results. It then reports the number of seconds that the
computer spent on this task.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

long startTime; // Starting time of program, in milliseconds.

long endTime; // Time when computations are done, in milliseconds.
double time; // Time difference, in seconds.

startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();

double width, height, hypotenuse; // sides of a triangle

width = 42.0;
height = 17.0;
hypotenuse = Math.sqrt( width*width + height*height );
System.out.print("A triangle with sides 42 and 17 has hypotenuse ");
System.out.println(hypotenuse);

System.out.println("\nMathematically, sin(x)*sin(x) + " +

+ "cos(x)*cos(x) - 1 should be 0.");
System.out.println("Let's check this for x = 1:");
System.out.print(" sin(1)*sin(1) + cos(1)*cos(1) - 1 is ");
System.out.println( Math.sin(1)*Math.sin(1)
+ Math.cos(1)*Math.cos(1) - 1 );

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s3.html (3 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.3

System.out.println("(There can be round-off errors when "

+ " computing with real numbers!)");

System.out.print("\nHere is a random number: ");

System.out.println( Math.random() );

endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
time = (endTime - startTime) / 1000.0;

System.out.print("\nRun time in seconds was: ");

System.out.println(time);

} // end main()

} // end class TimedComputation

Here is a simulated version of this program. If you run it several times, you should see a different random
number in the output each time.

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

A value of type String is an object. That object contains data, namely the sequence of characters that
make up the string. It also contains subroutines. All of these subroutines are in fact functions. For example,
length is a subroutine that computes the length of a string. Suppose that str is a variable that refers to a
String. For example, str might have been declared and assigned a value as follows:
String str;
str = "Seize the day!";

Then str.length() is a function call that represents the number of characters in the string. The value of
str.length() is an int. Note that this function has no parameter; the string whose length is being
computed is str. The length subroutine is defined by the class String, and it can be used with any
value of type String. It can even be used with String literals, which are, after all, just constant values
of type String. For example, you could have a program count the characters in "Hello World" for you by
saying
System.out.print("The number of characters in ");
System.out.println("the string \"Hello World\" is ");
System.out.println( "Hello World".length() );

The String class defines a lot of functions. Here are some that you might find useful. Assume that s1 and
s2 refer to values of type Strings:
● s1.equals(s2) is a function that returns a boolean value. It returns true if s1 consists of
exactly the same sequence of characters as s2, and returns false otherwise.
● s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2) is another boolean-valued function that checks whether s1 is the
same string as s2, but this function considers upper and lower case letters to be equivalent. Thus, if
s1 is "cat", then s1.equals("Cat") is false, while s1.equalsIgnoreCase("Cat") is
true.
● s1.length(), as mentioned above, is an integer-valued function that gives the number of
characters in s1.
● s1.charAt(N), where N is an integer, returns a value of type char. It returns the N-th character
in the string. Positions are numbered starting with 0, so s1.charAt(0) is the actually the first
character, s1.charAt(1) is the second, and so on. The final position is s1.length() - 1.
For example, the value of "cat".charAt(1) is 'a'. An error occurs if the value of the parameter

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s3.html (4 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.3

is less than zero or greater than s1.length() - 1.

● s1.substring(N,M), where N and M are integers, returns a value of type String. The
returned value consists of the characters in s1 in positions N, N+1,..., M-1. Note that the character
in position M is not included. The returned value is called a substring of s1.
● s1.indexOf(s2) returns an integer. If s2 occurs as a substring of s1, then the returned value is
the starting position of that substring. Otherwise, the returned value is -1. You can also use
s1.indexOf(ch) to search for a particular character, ch, in s1. To find the first occurrence of x
at or after position N, you can use s1.indexOf(x,N).
● s1.compareTo(s2) is an integer-valued function that compares the two strings. If the strings are
equal, the value returned is zero. If s1 is less than s2, the value returned is a number less than zero,
and if s1 is greater than s2, the value returned is some number greater than zero. (If both of the
strings consist entirely of lowercase letters, then "less than" and "greater than" refer to alphabetical
order. Otherwise, the ordering is more complicated.)
● s1.toUpperCase() is a String-valued function that returns a new string that is equal to s1,
except that any lower case letters in s1 have been converted to upper case. For example,
"Cat".toUpperCase() is the string "CAT". There is also a method s1.toLowerCase().
● s1.trim() is a String-valued function that returns a new string that is equal to s1 except that
any non-printing characters such as spaces and tabs have been trimmed from the beginning and from
the end of the string. Thus, if s1 has the value "fred ", then s1.trim() is the string "fred".

For the methods s1.toUpperCase(), s1.toLowerCase(), and s1.trim(), note that the value of
s1 is not changed. Instead a new string is created and returned as the value of the function. The returned
value could be used, for example, in an assignment statement such as "s2 = s1.toLowerCase();".

Here is another extremely useful fact about strings: You can use the plus operator, +, to concatenate two
strings. The concatenation of two strings is a new string consisting of all the characters of the first string
followed by all the characters of the second string. For example, "Hello" + "World" evaluates to
"HelloWorld". (Gotta watch those spaces, of course.) Let's suppose that name is a variable of type String
and that it already refers to the name of the person using the program. Then, the program could greet the
user by executing the statement:
System.out.println("Hello, " + name + ". Pleased to meet you!");

Even more surprising is that you can concatenate values belonging to one of the primitive types onto a
String using the + operator. The value of primitive type is converted to a string, just as it would be if you
printed it to the standard output, and then it is concatenated onto the string. For example, the expression
"Number" + 42 evaluates to the string "Number42". And the statements
System.out.print("After ");
System.out.print(years);
System.out.print(" years, the value is ");
System.out.print(principal);

can be replaced by the single statement:

System.out.print("After " + years +
" years, the value is " + principal);

Obviously, this is very convenient. It would have shortened several of the examples used earlier in this
chapter.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s3.html (5 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:31 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.4

Section 2.4
Text Input and Output

FOR SOME UNFATHOMABLE REASON, Java seems to lack any reasonable built-in subroutines for
reading data typed in by the user. You've already seen that output can be displayed to the user using the
subroutine System.out.print. This subroutine is part of a pre-defined object called System.out.
The purpose of this object is precisely to display output to the user. There is a corresponding object called
System.in that exists to read data input by the user, but it provides only very primitive input facilities,
and it requires some advanced Java programming skills to use it effectively.

There is some excuse for this, since Java is meant mainly to write programs for Graphical User Interfaces,
and those programs have their own style of input/output, which is implemented in Java. However, basic
support is needed for input/output in old-fashioned non-GUI programs. Fortunately, is possible to extend
Java by creating new classes that provide subroutines that are not available in the classes which are a
standard part of the language. As soon as a new class is available, the subroutines that it contains can be
used in exactly the same way as built-in routines.

For example, I've written a class called TextIO that defines subroutines for reading values typed by the
user. The subroutines in this class make it possible to get input from the standard input object,
System.in, without knowing about the advanced aspects of Java that you would need to know to use
System.in directly. TextIO also contains a set of output subroutines. The output subroutines are similar
to those provided in System.out, but they provide a few additional features. You can use whichever set
of output subroutines you prefer, and you can even mix them in the same program.

To use the TextIO class, you must make sure that the class is available to your program. What this means
depends on the Java programming environment that you are using. See Appendix 2 for information about
programming environments. In general, you just have to add the compiled file, TextIO.class, to the
directory that contains your main program. You can obtain the compiled class file by compiling the source
code, TextIO.java.

The input routines in the TextIO class are static member functions. (Static member functions were
introduced in the previous section.) Let's suppose that you want your program to read an integer typed in by
the user. The TextIO class contains a static member function named getInt that you can use for this
purpose. Since this function is contained in the TextIO class, you have to refer to it in your program as
TextIO.getInt. The function has no parameters, so a call to the function takes the form
"TextIO.getInt()". This function call represents the int value typed by the user, and you have to do
something with the returned value, such as assign it to a variable. For example, if userInput is a variable
of type int (created with a declaration statement "int userInput;"), then you could use the
assignment statement
userInput = TextIO.getInt();

When the computer executes this statement, it will wait for the user to type in an integer value. The value
typed will be returned by the function, and it will be stored in the variable, userInput. Here is a
complete program that uses TextIO.getInt to read a number typed by the user and then prints out the
square of the number that the user types:
public class PrintSquare {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// A program that computes and prints the square

// of a number input by the user.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s4.html (1 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:32 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.4

int userInput; // the number input by the user

int square; // the userInput, multiplied by itself

System.out.print("Please type a number: ");

userInput = TextIO.getInt();
square = userInput * userInput;
System.out.print("The square of that number is ");
System.out.println(square);

} // end of main()

} //end of class PrintSquare

Here's an applet that simulates this program. When you run the program, it will display the message "Please
type a number: " and will pause until you type a response. (If the applet does not respond to your typing,
you might have to click on it to activate it.)

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

The TextIO class contains static member subroutines TextIO.put and TextIO.putln that can be
used in the same way as System.out.print and System.out.println. For example, although
there is no particular advantage in doing so in this case, you could replace the two lines
System.out.print("The square of that number is ");
System.out.println(square);

with
TextIO.put("The square of that number is ");
TextIO.putln(square);

For the next few chapters, I will use TextIO for input in all my examples, and I will often use it for output.
Keep in mind that TextIO can only be used in a program if TextIO.class is available to that program.
It is not built into Java, as the System class is.

Let's look a little more closely at the built-in output subroutines System.out.print and
System.out.println. Each of these subroutines can be used with one parameter, where the parameter
can be any value of type byte, short, int, long, float, double, char, boolean, or String.
(These are the eight primitive types plus the type String.) That is, you can say
"System.out.print(x);" or "System.out.println(x);", where x is any expression whose
value is of one of these types. The expression can be a constant, a variable, or even something more
complicated such as 2*distance*time. In fact, there are actually several different subroutines to
handle the different parameter types. There is one System.out.print for printing values of type
double, one for values of type int, another for values of type String, and so on. These subroutines can
have the same name since the computer can tell which one you mean in a given subroutine call statement,
depending on the value of the parameter that you supply. Having several subroutines of the same name that
differ in the types of their parameters is called overloading. Many programming languages do not permit
overloading, but it is common in Java programs.

The difference between System.out.print and System.out.println is that

System.out.println outputs a carriage return after it outputs the specified parameter value. There is a
version of System.out.println that has no parameters. This version simply outputs a carriage return,
and nothing else. Of course, a subroutine call statement for this version of the program looks like
"System.out.println();", with empty parentheses. Note that "System.out.println(x);" is
exactly equivalent to "System.out.print(x); System.out.println();". (There is no version
of System.out.print without parameters. Do you see why?)

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s4.html (2 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:32 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.4

As mentioned above, the TextIO subroutines TextIO.put and TextIO.putln can be used as
replacements for System.out.print and System.out.println. However, TextIO goes beyond
System.out by providing additional, two-parameter versions of put and putln. You can use
subroutine call statements of the form "TextIO.put(x,n);" and "TextIO.putln(x,n);", where
the second parameter, n, is an integer-valued expression. The idea is that n is the number of characters that
you want to output. If x takes up fewer than n characters, then the computer will add some spaces at the
beginning to bring the total up to n. (If x already takes up more than n characters, the computer will just
print out more characters than you ask for.) This feature is useful, for example, when you are trying to
output neat columns of numbers, and you know just how many characters you need in each column.

The TextIO class is a little more versatile at doing output than is System.out. However, it's input for
which we really need it.

With TextIO, input is done using functions. For example, TextIO.getInt(), which was discussed
above, makes the user type in a value of type int and returns that input value so that you can use it in your
program. TextIO includes several functions for reading different types of input values. Here are examples
of using each of them:
b = TextIO.getByte(); // value read is a byte
i = TextIO.getShort(); // value read is a short
j = TextIO.getInt(); // value read is an int
k = TextIO.getLong(); // value read is a long
x = TextIO.getFloat(); // value read is a float
y = TextIO.getDouble(); // value read is a double
a = TextIO.getBoolean(); // value read is a boolean
c = TextIO.getChar(); // value read is a char
w = TextIO.getWord(); // value read is a String
s = TextIO.getln(); // value read is a String

For these statements to be legal, the variables on the left side of each assignment statement must be of the
same type as that returned by the function on the right side.

When you call one of these functions, you are guaranteed that it will return a legal value of the correct type.
If the user types in an illegal value as input -- for example, if you ask for a byte and the user types in a
number that is outside the legal range of -128 to 127 -- then the computer will ask the user to re-enter the
value, and your program never sees the first, illegal value that the user entered.

You'll notice that there are two input functions that return Strings. The first, getWord(), returns a string
consisting of non-blank characters only. When it is called, it skips over any spaces and carriage returns
typed in by the user. Then it reads non-blank characters until it gets to the next space or carriage return. It
returns a String consisting of all the non-blank characters that it has read. The second input function,
getln(), simply returns a string consisting of all the characters typed in by the user, including spaces, up
to the next carriage return. It gets an entire line of input text. The carriage return itself is not returned as part
of the input string, but it is read and discarded by the computer. Note that the String returned by this
function might be the empty string, "", which contains no characters at all.

All the other input functions listed -- getByte(), getShort(), getInt(), getLong(),
getFloat(), getDouble(), getBoolean(), and getChar() -- behave like getWord(). That is,
they will skip past any blanks and carriage returns in the input before reading a value. However, they will
not skip past other characters. If you try to read two ints and the user types "2,3", the computer will read
the first number correctly, but when it tries to read the second number, it will see the comma. It will regard
this as an error and will force the user to retype the number. If you want to input several numbers from one
line, you should make sure that the user knows to separate them with spaces, not commas. Alternatively, if
you want to require a comma between the numbers, use getChar() to read the comma before reading the
second number.

(There is another character input function, TextIO.getAnyChar(), which does not skip past blanks or

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s4.html (3 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:32 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.4

carriage returns. It simply reads and returns the next character typed by the user. This could be any
character, including a space or a carriage return. If the user typed a carriage return, then the char returned
by getChar() is the special linefeed character '\n'. There is also a function, TextIO.peek(), that let's
you look ahead at the next character in the input without actually reading it. After you "peek" at the next
character, it will still be there when you read the next item from input. This allows you to look ahead and
see what's coming up in the input, so that you can take different actions depending on what's there.)

The semantics of input is much more complicated than the semantics of output. The first time the program
tries to read input from the user, the computer will wait while the user types in an entire line of input.
TextIO stores that line in a chunk of internal memory called the input buffer. Input is actually read from
the buffer, not directly from the user's typing. The user only gets to type when the buffer is empty. This lets
you read several numbers from one line of input. However, if you only want to read in one number and the
user types in extra stuff on the line, then you could be in trouble. The extra stuff will still be there the next
time you try to read something from input. (The symptom of this trouble is that the computer doesn't pause
where you think it should to let the user type something in. The computer had stuff left over in the input
buffer from the previous line that the user typed.) To help you avoid this, there are versions of the TextIO
input functions that read a data value and then discard any leftover stuff on the same line:
b = TextIO.getlnByte(); // value read is a byte
i = TextIO.getlnShort(); // value read is a short
j = TextIO.getlnInt(); // value read is an int
k = TextIO.getlnLong(); // value read is a long
x = TextIO.getlnFloat(); // value read is a float
y = TextIO.getlnDouble(); // value read is a double
a = TextIO.getlnBoolean(); // value read is a boolean
c = TextIO.getlnChar(); // value read is a char
w = TextIO.getlnWord(); // value read is a String

Note that calling getlnDouble(), for example, is equivalent to first calling getDouble() and then
calling getln() to read any remaining data on the same line, including the end-of-line character itself. I
strongly advise you to use the "getln" versions of the input routines, rather than the "get" versions, unless
you really want to read several items from the same line of input.

You might be wondering why there are only two output routines, put and putln, which can output data
values of any type, while there is a separate input routine for each data value. As noted above, in reality
there are many put and putln routines. The computer can tell them apart based on the type of the
parameter that you provide. However, the input routines don't have parameters, so the different input
routines can only be distinguished by having different names.

Using TextIO for input and output, we can now improve the program from Section 2 for computing the
value of an investment. We can have the user type in the initial value of the investment and the interest rate.
The result is a much more useful program -- for one thing, it makes sense to run more than once!
public class Interest2 {

/*
This class implements a simple program that
will compute the amount of interest that is
earned on an investment over a period of
one year. The initial amount of the investment
and the interest rate are input by the user.
The value of the investment at the end of the
year is output. The rate must be input as a
decimal, not a percentage (for example, 0.05,
rather than 5).
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s4.html (4 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:32 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.4

double principal; // the value of the investment

double rate; // the annual interest rate
double interest; // the interest earned during the year

TextIO.put("Enter the initial investment: ");

principal = TextIO.getlnDouble();

TextIO.put("Enter the annual interest rate: ");

rate = TextIO.getlnDouble();

interest = principal * rate; // compute this year's interest

principal = principal + interest; // add it to principal

TextIO.put("The value of the investment after one year is $");

TextIO.putln(principal);

} // end of main()

} // end of class Interest2

Try out an equivalent applet here. (If the applet does not respond to your typing, you might have to click on
it to activate it.)

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

By the way, the applets on this page don't actually use TextIO. The TextIO class is only for use in
programs, not applets. For applets, I have written a separate class that provides similar input/output
capabilities in a Graphical User Interface program.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s4.html (5 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:35:32 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

Section 2.5
Details of Expressions

THIS SECTION TAKES A CLOSER LOOK at expressions. Recall that an expression is a piece of
program code that represents or computes a value. An expression can be a literal, a variable, a function call,
or several of these things combined with operators such as + and >. The value of an expression can be
assigned to a variable, used as the output value in an output routine, or combined with other values into a
more complicated expression. (The value can even, in some cases, be ignored, if that's what you want to do;
this is more common than you might think.) Expressions are an essential part of programming. So far, these
notes have dealt only informally with expressions. This section tells you the more-or-less complete story.

The basic building blocks of expressions are literals (such as 674, 3.14, true, and 'X'), variables, and
function calls. Recall that a function is a subroutine that returns a value. You've already seen some
examples of functions: the input routines from the TextIO class and the mathematical functions from the
Math class.
Literals, variables, and function calls are simple expressions. More complex expressions can be built up by
using operators to combine simpler expressions. Operators include + for adding two numbers, > for
comparing two values, and so on. When several operators appear in an expression, there is a question of
precedence, which determines how the operators are grouped for evaluation. For example, in the expression
"A + B * C", B*C is computed first and then the result is added to A. We say that multiplication (*) has
higher precedence than addition (+). If the default precedence is not what you want, you can use
parentheses to explicitly specify the grouping you want. For example, you could use "(A + B) * C" if
you want to add A to B first and then multiply the result by C.
The rest of this section gives details of operators in Java. The number of operators in Java is quite large, and
I will not cover them all here. Most of the important ones are here; a few will be covered in later chapters as
they become relevant.

Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They are indicated by +, -,
*, and /. These operations can be used on values of any numeric type: byte, short, int, long, float,
or double. When the computer actually calculates one of these operations, the two values that it combines
must be of the same type. If your program tells the computer to combine two values of different types, the
computer will convert one of the values from one type to another. For example, to compute 37.4 + 10, the
computer will convert the integer 10 to a real number 10.0 and will then compute 37.4 + 10.0. (The
computer's internal representations for 10 and 10.0 are very different, even though people think of them as
representing the same number.) Ordinarily, you don't have to worry about type conversion, because the
computer does it automatically.

When two numerical values are combined (after doing type conversion on one of them, if necessary), the
answer will be of the same type. If you multiply two ints, you get an int; if you multiply two doubles,
you get a double. This is what you would expect, but you have to be very careful when you use the
division operator /. When you divide two integers, the answer will always be an integer; if the quotient has
a fractional part, it is discarded. For example, the value of 7/2 is 3, not 3.5. If N is an integer variable,
then N/100 is an integer, and 1/N is equal to zero for any N greater than one! This fact is a common
source of programming errors. You can force the computer to compute a real number as the answer by
making one of the operands real: For example, when the computer evaluates 1.0/N, it first converts N to a
real number in order to match the type of 1.0, so you get a real number as the answer.
Java also has an operator for computing the remainder when one integer is divided by another. This

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

operator is indicated by %. If A and B are integers, then A % B represents the remainder when A is divided
by B. For example, 7 % 2 is 1, while 34577 % 100 is 77, and 50 % 8 is 2. A common use of % is to
test whether a given integer is even or odd. N is even if N % 2 is zero, and it is odd if N % 2 is 1. More
generally, you can check whether an integer N is evenly divisible by an integer M by checking whether N %
M is zero.

Finally, you might need the unary minus operator, which takes the negative of a number. For example, -X
has the same value as (-1)*X. For completeness, Java also has a unary plus operator, as in +X, even
though it doesn't really do anything.

Increment and Decrement

You'll find that adding 1 to a variable is an extremely common operation in programming. Subtracting 1
from a variable is also pretty common. You might perform the operation of adding 1 to a variable with
assignment statements such as:
counter = counter + 1;
goalsScored = goalsScored + 1;

The effect of the assignment statement x = x + 1 is to take the old value of the variable x, compute the
result of adding 1 to that value, and store the answer as the new value of x. The same operation can be
accomplished by writing x++ (or, if you prefer, ++x). This actually changes the value of x, so that it has
the same effect as writing "x = x + 1". The two statements above could be written
counter++;
goalsScored++;

Similarly, you could write x-- (or --x) to subtract 1 from x. That is, x-- performs the same computation
as x = x - 1. Adding 1 to a variable is called incrementing that variable, and subtracting 1 is called
decrementing. The operators ++ and -- are called the increment operator and the decrement operator,
respectively. These operators can be used on variables belonging to any of the numerical types and also on
variables of type char.

Usually, the operators ++ or --, are used in statements like "x++;" or "x--;". These statements are
commands to change the value of x. However, it is also legal to use x++, ++x, x--, or --x as
expressions, or as parts of larger expressions. That is, you can write things like:
y = x++;
y = ++x;
TextIO.putln(--x);
z = (++x) * (y--);

The statement "y = x++;" has the effects of adding 1 to the value of x and, in addition, assigning some
value to y. The value assigned to y is the value of the expression x++, which is defined to be the old value
of x, before the 1 is added. Thus, if the value of x is 6, the statement "y = x++;" will change the value of
x to 7 and will change the value of y to 6. On the other hand, the value of ++x is defined to be the new
value of x, after the 1 is added. So if x is 6, then the statement "y = ++x;" changes the values of both x
and y to 7. The decrement operator, --, works in a similar way.

This can be confusing. My advice is: Don't be confused. Use ++ and -- only in stand-alone statements, not
in expressions. I will follow this advice in all the examples in these notes.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

Relational Operators
Java has boolean variables and boolean-valued expressions that can be used to express conditions that can
be either true or false. One way to form a boolean-valued expression is to compare two values using a
relational operator. Relational operators are used to test whether two values are equal, whether one value is
greater than another, and so forth. The relation operators in Java are: ==, !=, <, >, <=, and >=. The
meanings of these operators are:
A == B Is A "equal to" B?
A != B Is A "not equal to" B?
A < B Is A "less than" B?
A > B Is A "greater than" B?
A <= B Is A "less than or equal to" B?
A >= B Is A "greater than or equal to" B?

These operators can be used to compare values of any of the numeric types. They can also be used to
compare values of type char. For characters, < and > are defined according the numeric Unicode values of
the characters. (This might not always be what you want. It is not the same as alphabetical order because all
the upper case letters come before all the lower case letters.)

When using boolean expressions, you should remember that as far as the computer is concerned, there is
nothing special about boolean values. In the next chapter, you will see how to use them in loop and branch
statements. But you can also assign boolean-valued expressions to boolean variables, just as you can assign
numeric values to numeric variables.

By the way, the operators == and != can be used to compare boolean values. This is occasionally useful.
For example, can you figure out what this does:
boolean sameSign;
sameSign = ((x > 0) == (y > 0));

One thing that you cannot do with the relational operators <, >, <=, and <= is to use them to compare
values of type String. You can legally use == and != to compare Strings, but because of peculiarities
in the way objects behave, they might not give the results you want. (The == operator checks whether two
objects are stored in the same memory location, rather than whether they contain the same value.
Occasionally, for some objects, you do want to make such a check -- but rarely for strings. I'll get back to
this in a later chapter.) Instead, you should use the subroutines equals(), equalsIgnoreCase(), and
compareTo(), which were described in Section 3, to compare two Strings.

Boolean Operators
In English, complicated conditions can be formed using the words "and", "or", and "not." For example, "If
there is a test and you did not study for it...". "And", "or", and "not" are boolean operators, and they exist in
Java as well as in English.

In Java, the boolean operator "and" is represented by &&. The && operator is used to combine two boolean
values. The result is also a boolean value. The result is true if both of the combined values are true, and
the result is false if either of the combined values is false. For example, "(x == 0) && (y ==
0)" is true if and only if both x is equal to 0 and y is equal to 0.

The boolean operator "or" is represented by ||. (That's supposed to be two of the vertical line characters,
|.) "A || B" is true if either A is true or B is true, or if both are true. "A || B" is false only if
both A and B are false.

The operators && and || are said to be short-circuited versions of the boolean operators. This means that
the second operand of && or || is not necessarily evaluated. Consider the test

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

(x != 0) && (x/y > 1)

Suppose that the value of x is in fact zero. In that case, the division x/y is illegal, since division by zero is
not allowed. However, the computer will never perform the division, since when the computer evaluates (x
!= 0), it finds that the result is false, and so it knows that ((x != 0) && anything) has to be false.
Therefore, it doesn't bother to evaluate the second operand, (x/y > 1). The evaluation has been
short-circuited and the division by zero is avoided. Without the short-circuiting, there would have been a
division-by-zero error. (This may seem like a technicality, and it is. But at times, it will make your
programming life a little easier. To be even more technical: There are actually non-short-circuited versions
of && and ||, which are written as & and |. Don't use them unless you have a particular reason to do so.)

The boolean operator "not" is a unary operator. In Java, it is indicated by ! and is written in front of its
single operand. For example, if test is a boolean variable, then

test = ! test;

will reverse the value of test, changing it from true to false, or from false to true.

Conditional Operator
Any good programming language has some nifty little features that aren't really necessary but that let you
feel cool when you use them. Java has the conditional operator. It's a ternary operator -- that is, it has three
operands -- and it comes in two pieces, ? and :, that have to be used together. It takes the form

boolean-expression ? expression-1 : expression-2

The computer tests the value of boolean-expression. If the value is true, it evaluates expression-1;
otherwise, it evaluates expression-2. For example:

next = (N % 2 == 0) ? (N/2) : (3*N+1);

will assign the value N/2 to next if N is even (that is, if N % 2 == 0 is true), and it will assign the
value (3*N+1) to next if N is odd.

Assignment Operators
You are already familiar with the assignment statement, which uses the symbol "=" to assign the value of an
expression to a variable. In fact, = is really an operator in the sense that an assignment can itself be used as
an expression or as part of a more complex expression. The value of an assignment such as A=B is the same
as the value that is assigned to A. So, if you want to assign the value of B to A and test at the same time
whether that value is zero, you could say:
if ( (A=B) == 0 )

Usually, I would say, don't do things like that!

In general, the type of the expression on the right-hand side of an assignment statement must be the same as
the type of the variable on the left-hand side. However, in some cases, the computer will automatically
convert the value computed by the expression to match the type of the variable. Consider the list of numeric
types: byte, short, int, long, float, double. A value of a type that occurs earlier in this list can be
converted automatically to a value that occurs later. For example:
int A;
double X;

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

short B;
A = 17;
X = A; // OK; A is converted to a double
B = A; // illegal; no automatic conversion
// from int to short

The idea is that conversion should only be done automatically when it can be done without changing the
semantics of the value. Any int can be converted to a double with the same numeric value. However,
there are int values that lie outside the legal range of shorts. There is simply no way to represent the
int 100000 as a short, for example, since the largest value of type short is 32767.

In some cases, you might want to force a conversion that wouldn't be done automatically. For this, you
could use what is called a type cast. A type cast is indicated by putting a type name, in parentheses, in front
of the value you want to convert. For example,
int A;
short B;
A = 17;
B = (short)A; // OK; A is explicitly type cast
// to a value of type short

You can do type casts from any numeric type to any other numeric type. However, you should note that you
might change the numeric value of a number by type-casting it. For example, (short)100000 is 34464.
(The 34464 is obtained by taking the 4-byte int 100000 and throwing away two of those bytes to obtain a
short -- you've lost the real information that was in those two bytes.)

As another example of type casts, consider the problem of getting a random integer between 1 and 6. The
function Math.random() gives a real number between 0.0 and 0.9999..., and so 6*Math.random() is
between 0.0 and 5.999.... The type-cast operator, (int), can be used to covert this to an integer:
(int)(6*Math.random()). A real number is cast to an integer by discarding the fractional part. Thus,
(int)(6*Math.random()) is one of the integers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. To get a number between 1 and
6, we can add 1: "(int)(6*Math.random()) + 1".

You can also type-cast between the type char and the numeric types. The numeric value of a char is its
Unicode code number. For example, (char)97 is 'a', and (int)'+' is 43.

Java has several variations on the assignment operator, which exist to save typing. For example, "A += B"
is defined to be the same as "A = A + B". Every operator in Java that applies to two operands gives rise
to a similar assignment operator. For example:

x -= y; // same as: x = x - y;
x *= y; // same as: x = x * y;
x /= y; // same as: x = x / y;
x %= y; // same as: x = x % y; (for integers x and y)
q &&= p; // same as: q = q && p; (for booleans q and p)

The combined assignment operator += even works with strings. You will recall from Section 3 that when
the + operator is used with a string as the first operand, it represents concatenation. Since str += x is
equivalent to str = str + x, when += is used with a string on the left-hand side, it appends the value
on the right-hand side onto the string. For example, if str has the value "tire", then the statement str +=
'd'; changes the value of str to "tired".

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Section 2.5

Precedence Rules
If you use several operators in one expression, and if you don't use parentheses to explicitly indicate the
order of evaluation, then you have to worry about the precedence rules that determine the order of
evaluation. (Advice: don't confuse yourself or the reader of your program; use parentheses liberally.)

Here is a listing of the operators discussed in this section, listed in order from highest precedence (evaluated
first) to lowest precedence (evaluated last):
Unary operators: ++, --, !, unary - and +, type-cast
Multiplication and division: *, /, %
Addition and subtraction: +, -
Relational operators: <, >, <=, >=
Equality and inequality: ==, !=
Boolean and: &&
Boolean or: ||
Conditional operator: ?:
Assignment operators: =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=

Operators on the same line have the same precedence. When they occur together, unary operators and
assignment operators are evaluated right-to-left, and the remaining operators are evaluated left-to-right. For
example, A*B/C means (A*B)/C, while A=B=C means A=(B=C). (Can you see how the expression
A=B=C might be useful, given that the value of B=C as an expression is the same as the value that is
assigned to B?)

End of Chapter 2

[ Next Chapter | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/s5.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:35:33 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 2 Exercises

Programming Exercises
For Chapter 2

THIS PAGE CONTAINS programming exercises based on material from Chapter 2 of this on-line Java
textbook. Each exercise has a link to a discussion of one possible solution of that exercise.

Exercise 2.1: Write a program that will print your initials to standard output in letters that are nine lines
tall. Each big letter should be made up of a bunch of *'s. For example, if your initials were "DJE", then the
output would look something like:

****** ************* **********

** ** ** **
** ** ** **
** ** ** **
** ** ** ********
** ** ** ** **
** ** ** ** **
** ** ** ** **
***** **** **********

See the solution!

Exercise 2.2: Write a program that simulates rolling a pair of dice. You can simulate rolling one die by
choosing one of the integers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 at random. The number you pick represents the number on the
die after it is rolled. As pointed out in Section 5, The expression
(int)(Math.random()*6) + 1

does the computation you need to select a random integer between 1 and 6. You can assign this value to a
variable to represent one of the dice that is being rolled. Do this twice and add the results together to get the
total roll. Your program should report the number showing on each die as well as the total roll. For
example:
The first die comes up 3
The second die comes up 5
Your total roll is 8

(Note: The word "dice" is a plural, as in "two dice." The singuler is "die.")
See the solution!

Exercise 2.3: Write a program that asks the user's name, and then greets the user by name. Before
outputting the user's name, convert it to upper case letters. For example, if the user's name is Fred, then the
program should respond "Hello, FRED, nice to meet you!".
See the solution!

Exercise 2.4: Write a program that helps the user count his change. The program should ask how many
quarters the user has, then how many dimes, then how many nickles, then how many pennies. Then the
program should tell the user how much money he has, expressed in dollars.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/exercises.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:35:34 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 2 Exercises

See the solution!

Exercise 2.5: If you have N eggs, then you have N/12 dozen eggs, with N%12 eggs left over. (This is
essentially the definition of the / and % operators for integers.) Write a program that asks the user how
many eggs she has and then tells the user how many dozen eggs she has and how many extra eggs are left
over.

A gross of eggs is equal to 144 eggs. Extend your program so that it will tell the user how many gross, how
many dozen, and how many left over eggs she has. For example, if the user says that she has 1342 eggs,
then your program would respond with
Your number of eggs is 9 gross, 3 dozen, and 10

since 1342 is equal to 9*144 + 3*12 + 10.

See the solution!

[ Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/exercises.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:35:34 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 2 Quiz

Quiz Questions
For Chapter 2

THIS PAGE CONTAINS A SAMPLE quiz on material from Chapter 2 of this on-line Java textbook. You
should be able to answer these questions after studying that chapter. Sample answers to all the quiz
questions can be found here.

Question 1: Briefly explain what is meant by the syntax and the semantics of a programming language.
Give an example to illustrate the difference between a syntax error and a semantics error.

Question 2: What does the computer do when it executes a variable declaration statement. Give an
example.

Question 3: What is a type, as this term relates to programming?

Question 4: One of the primitive types in Java is boolean. What is the boolean type? Where are boolean
values used? What are its possible values?

Question 5: Give the meaning of each of the following Java operators:

a) ++

b) &&

c) !=

Question 6: Explain what is meant by an assignment statement, and give an example. What are assignment
statements used for?

Question 7: What is meant by precedence of operators?

Question 8: What is a literal?

Question 9: In Java, classes have two fundamentally different purposes. What are they?

Question 10: What is the difference between the statement "x = TextIO.getDouble();" and the
statement "x = TextIO.getlnDouble();"

[ Answers | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c2/quiz.html [5/24/2000 8:35:34 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Index

Chapter 3

Programming in the Small II

Control

THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS of programs -- variables, expressions, assignment statements, and
subroutine call statements -- were covered in the previous chapter. Starting with this chapter, we look at
how these building blocks can be put together to build complex programs with more interesting behavior.

Since we are still working on the level of "programming in the small" in this chapter, we are interested in
the kind of complexity that can occur within a single subroutine. On this level, complexity is provided by
control structures. The two types of control structures, loop and branches, can be used to repeat a sequence
of statements over and over or to choose among two or more possible courses of action. Java includes
several control structures of each type, and we will look at each of them in some detail.

This chapter will also begin the study of program design. Given a problem, how can you come up with a
program to solve that problem? We'll look at a partial answer to this question in Section 2. In the following
sections, we'll apply the techniques from Section 2 to a variety of examples.

Contents of Chapter 3:
● Section 1:Blocks, Loops, and Branches
● Section 2:Algorithm Development
● Section 3:The while and do..while Statements
● Section 4:The for Statement
● Section 5:The if Statement
● Section 6:The switch Statement
● Section 7:Introduction to Applets and Graphics
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

[ First Section | Next Chapter | Previous Chapter | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/ [5/24/2000 8:36:06 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.1

Section 3.1
Blocks, Loops, and Branches

THE ABILITY OF A COMPUTER TO PERFORM complex tasks is built on just a few ways of
combining simple commands into control structures. In Java, there are just six such structures -- and, in
fact, just three of them would be enough to write programs to perform any task. The six control structures
are: the block, the while loop, the do..while loop, the for loop, the if statement, and the switch statement.
Each of these structures is considered to be a single "statement," but each is in fact a structured statement
that can contain one or more other statements inside itself.

The block is the simplest type of structured statement. Its purpose is simply to group a sequence of
statements into a single statement. The format of a block is:
{
statements
}

That is, it consists of a sequence of statements enclosed between a pair of braces, "{" and "}". (In fact, it is
possible for a block to contain no statements at all; such a block is called an empty block, and can actually
be useful at times. An empty block consists of nothing but an empty pair of braces.) Block statements
usually occur inside other statements, where their purpose is to group together several statements into a
unit. However, a block can be legally used wherever a statement can occur. There is one place where a
block is required: As you might have already noticed in the case of the main subroutine of a program, the
definition of a subroutine is a block, since it is a sequence of statements enclosed inside a pair of braces.

I should probably note at this point that Java is what is called a free-format language. There are no syntax
rules about how the language has to be arranged on a page. So, for example, you could write an entire block
on one line if you want. But as a matter of good programming style, you should lay out your program on the
page in a way that will make its structure as clear as possible. In general, this means putting one statement
per line and using indentation to indicate statements that are contained inside control structures. This is the
format that I will generally use in my examples.

Here are two examples of blocks:

{
System.out.print("The answer is ");
System.out.println(ans);
}

{ // This block exchanges the values of x and y

int temp; // A temporary variable for use in this block.
temp = x; // Save a copy of the value of x in temp.
x = y; // Copy the value of y into x.
y = temp; // Copy the value of temp into y.
}

In the second example, a variable, temp, is declared inside the block. This is perfectly legal, and it is good
style to declare a variable inside a block if that variable is used nowhere else but inside the block. A
variable declared inside a block is completely inaccessible and invisible from outside that block. When the
computer executes the variable declaration statement, it allocates memory to hold the value of the variable.
When the block ends, that memory is discarded (that is, made available for reuse). The variable is said to be
local to the block. There is a general concept called the "scope" of an identifier. The scope of an identifier is
the part of the program in which that identifier is valid. The scope of a variable defined inside a block is
limited to that block, and more specifically to the part of the block that comes after the declaration of the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s1.html (1 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:07 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.1

variable.

The block statement by itself really doesn't affect the flow of control in a program. The five remaining
control structures do. They can be divided into two classes: loop statements and branching statements. You
really just need one control structure from each category in order to have a completely general-purpose
programming language. More than that is just convenience. In this section, I'll introduce the while loop
and the if statement. I'll give the full details of these statements and of the other three control structures in
later sections.

A while loop is used to repeat a given statement over and over. Of course, its not likely that you would want
to keep repeating it forever. That would be an infinite loop, which is generally a bad thing. (There is an old
story about computer pioneer Grace Murray Hopper, who read instructions on a bottle of shampoo telling
her to "lather, rinse, repeat." As the story goes, she claims that she tried to follow the directions, but she ran
out of shampoo. (In case you don't get it, this is a joke about the way that computers mindlessly follow
instructions.))

To be more specific, a while loop will repeat a statement over and over, but only so long as a specified
condition remains true. A while loop has the form:
while (boolean-expression)
statement

Since the statement can be, and usually is, a block, many while loops have the form:
while (boolean-expression) {
statements
}

The semantics of this statement go like this: When the computer comes to a while statement, it evaluates
the boolean-expression, which yields either true or false as the value. If the value is false, the
computer skips over the rest of the while loop and proceeds to the next command in the program. If the
value of the expression is true, the computer executes the statement or block of statements inside the
loop. Then it returns to the beginning of the while loop and repeats the process. That is, it re-evaluates the
boolean-expression, ends the loop if the value is false, and continues it if the value is true. This will
continue over and over until the value of the expression is false; if that never happens, then there will be
an infinite loop.

Here is an example of a while loop that simply prints out the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
int number; // The number to be printed.
number = 1; // Start with 1.
while ( number < 6 ) { // Keep going as long as number is < 6.
System.out.println(number);
number = number + 1; // Go on to the next number.
}
System.out.println("Done!");

The variable number is initialized with the value 1. So the first time through the while loop, when the
computer evaluates the expression "number < 6", it is asking whether 1 is less than 6, which is true. The
computer therefor proceeds to execute the two statements inside the loop. The first statement prints out "1".
The second statement adds 1 to number and stores the result back into the variable number; the value of
number has been changed to 2. The computer has reached the end of the loop, so it returns to the
beginning and asks again whether number is less than 6. Once again this is true, so the computer executes
the loop again, this time printing out 2 as the value of number and then changing the value of number to
3. It continues in this way until eventually number becomes equal to 6. At that point, the expression
"number < 6" evaluates to false. So, the computer jumps past the end of the loop to the next statement
and prints out the message "Done!". Note that when the loop ends, the value of number is 6, but the last
value that was printed was 5.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s1.html (2 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:07 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.1

By the way, you should remember that you'll never see a while loop standing by itself in a real program.
It will always be inside a subroutine which is itself defined inside some class. As an example of a while
loop used inside a complete program, here is a little program that computes the interest on an investment
over several years. This is an improvement over examples from the previous chapter that just reported the
results for one year:

public class Interest3 {

/*
This class implements a simple program that
will compute the amount of interest that is
earned on an investment over a period of
5 years. The initial amount of the investment
and the interest rate are input by the user.
The value of the investment at the end of each
year is output.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

double principal; // The value of the investment.

double rate; // The annual interest rate.

/* Get the initial investment and interest rate from the user. */

TextIO.put("Enter the initial investment: ");

principal = TextIO.getlnDouble();

TextIO.put("Enter the annual interest rate: ");

rate = TextIO.getlnDouble();

/* Simulate the investment for 5 years. */

int years; // Counts the number of years that have passed.

years = 0;
while (years < 5) {
double interest; // Interest for this year.
interest = principal * rate;
principal = principal + interest; // Add it to principal.
years = years + 1; // Count the current year.
System.out.print("The value of the investment after ");
System.out.print(years);
System.out.print(" years is $");
System.out.println(principal);
} // end of while loop

} // end of main()

} // end of class Interest3

And here is the applet which simulates this program:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

You should study this program, and make sure that you understand what the computer does step-by-step as
it executes the while loop.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s1.html (3 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:07 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.1

An if statement tells the computer to take one of two alternative courses of action, depending on whether
the value of a given boolean-valued expression is true or false. It is an example of a "branching" or
"decision" statement. An if statement has the form:
if ( boolean-expression )
statement
else
statement

When the computer executes an if statement, it evaluates the boolean expression. If the value is true, the
computer executes the first statement and skips the statement that follows the "else". If the value of the
expression is false, then the computer skips the first statement and executes the second one. Note that in
any case, one and only one of the two statements inside the if statement is executed. The two statements
represent alternative courses of action; the computer decides between these courses of action based on the
value of the boolean expression.

In many cases, you want the computer to choose between doing something and not doing it. You can do this
with an if statement that omits the else part:
if ( boolean-expression )
statement

To execute this statement, the computer evaluates the expression. If the value is true, the computer
executes the statement that is contained inside the if statement; if the value is false, the computer skips
that statement.

Of course, either or both of the statement's in an if statement can be a block, so that an if statement often
looks like:
if ( boolean-expression ) {
statements
}
else {
statements
}

or:
if ( boolean-expression ) {
statements
}

As an example, here is an if statement that exchanges the value of two variables, x and y, but only if x is
greater than y to begin with. After this if statement has been executed, we can be sure that the value of x
is definitely less than or equal to the value of y:
if ( x > y ) {
int temp; // A temporary variable for use in this block.
temp = x; // Save a copy of the value of x in temp.
x = y; // Copy the value of y into x.
y = temp; // Copy the value of temp into y.
}

Finally, here is an example of an if statement that includes an else part. See if you can figure out what it
does, and why it would be used:
if ( years > 1 ) { // handle case for 2 or more years
System.out.print("The value of the investment after ");
System.out.print(years);
System.out.print(" years is $");
}

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s1.html (4 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:07 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.1

else { // handle case for 1 year

System.out.print("The value of the investment after 1 year is $");
} // end of if statement
System.out.println(principal); // this is done in any case

I'll have more to say about control structures later in this chapter. But you already know the essentials. If
you never learned anything more about control structures, you would already know enough to perform any
possible computing task. Simple looping and branching are all you really need!

[ Next Section | Previous Chapter | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s1.html (5 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:07 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

Section 3.2
Algorithm Development

PROGRAMMING IS DIFFICULT (like many activities that are useful and worthwhile -- and like most of
those activities, it can also be rewarding and a lot of fun). When you write a program, you have to tell the
computer every small detail of what to do. And you have to get everything exactly right, since the computer
will blindly follow your program exactly as written. How, then, do people write any but the most simple
programs? It's not a big mystery, actually. It's a matter of learning to think in the right way.

A program is an expression of an idea. A programmer starts with a general idea of a task for the computer
to perform. Presumably, the programmer has some idea of how to perform the task by hand, at least in
general outline. The problem is to flesh out that outline into a complete, unambiguous, step-by-step
procedure for carrying out the task. Such a procedure is called an "algorithm." (Technically, an algorithm is
an unambiguous, step-by-step procedure that terminates after a finite number of steps; we don't want to
count procedures that go on forever.) An algorithm is not the same as a program. A program is written in
some particular programming language. An algorithm is more like the idea behind the program, but it's the
idea of the steps the program will take to perform its task, not just the idea of the task itself. The steps of
the algorithm don't have to be filled in in complete detail, as long as the steps are unambiguous and it's clear
that carrying out the steps will accomplish the assigned task. An algorithm can be expressed in any
language, including English. Of course, an algorithm can only be expressed as a program if all the details
have been filled in.

So, where do algorithms come from? Usually, they have to be developed, often with a lot of thought and
hard work. Skill at algorithm development is something that comes with practice, but there are techniques
and guidelines that can help. I'll talk here about some techniques and guidelines that are relevant to
"programming in the small," and I will return to the subject several times in later chapters.

When programming in the small, you have a few basics to work with: variables, assignment statements, and
input-output routines. You might also have some subroutines, objects, or other building blocks that have
already been written by you or someone else. (Input/output routines fall into this class, actually.) You can
build sequences of these basic instructions, and you can also combine them into more complex control
structures such as while loops and if statements.

Suppose you have a task in mind that you want the computer to perform. One way to proceed is to write a
description of the task, and take that description as an outline of the algorithm you want to develop. Then
you can refine and elaborate that description, gradually adding steps and detail, until you have a complete
algorithm that can be translated directly into programming language. This method is called stepwise
refinement, and it is a type of top-down design. As you proceed through the stages of stepwise refinement,
you can write out descriptions of your algorithm in pseudocode -- informal instructions that imitate the
structure of programming languages without the complete detail and perfect syntax of actual program code.

As an example, let's see how one might develop the program from the previous section, which computes the
value of an investment over five years. The task that you want the program to perform is: "Compute and
display the value of an investment for each of the next five years, where the initial investment and interest
rate are to be specified by the user." You might then write -- or at least think -- that this can be expanded as:
Get the user's input
Compute the value of the investment after 1 year
Display the value
Compute the value after 2 years
Display the value
Compute the value after 3 years
Display the value

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (1 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

Compute the value after 4 years

Display the value
Compute the value after 5 years
Display the value

This is correct, but rather repetitive. And seeing that repetition, you might notice an opportunity to use a
loop. A loop would take less typing. More important, it would be more general: Essentially the same loop
will work no matter how many years you want to process. So, you might rewrite the above sequence of
steps as:
Get the user's input
while there are more years to process:
Compute the value after the next year
Display the value

Now, for a computer, we'll have to be more explicit about how to "Get the user's input," how to "Compute
the value after the next year," and what it means to say "there are more years to process." We can expand
the step, "Get the user's input" into
Ask the user for the initial investment
Read the user's response
Ask the user for the interest rate
Read the user's response

To fill in the details of the step "Compute the value after the next year," you have to know how to do the
computation yourself. (Maybe you need to ask your boss or professor for clarification?) Let's say you know
that the value is computed by adding some interest to the previous value. Then we can refine the while
loop to:
while there are more years to process:
Compute the interest
Add the interest to the value
Display the value

As for testing whether there are more years to process, the only way that we can do that is by counting the
years ourselves. This displays a very common pattern, and you should expect to use something similar in a
lot of programs: We have to start with zero years, add one each time we process a year, and stop when we
reach the desired number of years. So the while loop becomes:
years = 0
while years < 5:
years = years + 1
Compute the interest
Add the interest to the value
Display the value

We still have to know how to compute the interest. Let's say that the interest is to be computed by
multiplying the interest rate by the current value of the investment. Putting this together with the part of the
algorithm that get's the user's inputs, we have the complete algorithm:
Ask the user for the initial investment
Read the user's response
Ask the user for the interest rate
Read the user's response
years = 0
while years < 5:
years = years + 1
Compute interest = value * interest rate
Add the interest to the value
Display the value

Finally, we are at the point where we can translate pretty directly into proper programming-language

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (2 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

syntax. We still have to choose names for the variables, decide exactly what we want to say to the user, and
so forth. Having done this, we could express our algorithm in Java as:
double principal, rate, interest; // declare the variables
int years;
System.out.print("Type initial investment: ");
principal = TextIO.getlnDouble();
System.out.print("Type interest rate: ");
rate = TextIO.getlnDouble();
years = 0;
while (years < 5) {
years = years + 1;
interest = principal * rate;
principal = principal + interest;
System.out.println(principal);
}

This still needs to be wrapped inside a complete program, it still needs to be commented, and it really needs
to print out more information for the user. But it's essentially the same program as the one in the previous
section. (Note that the pseudocode algorithm uses indentation to show which statements are inside the loop.
In Java, indentation is completely ignored by the computer, so you need a pair of braces to tell the computer
which statements are in the loop. If you leave out the braces, the only statement inside the loop would be
"years = years + 1;". The other statements would only be executed once, after the loop ends. The
nasty thing is that the computer won't notice this error for you, like it would if you left out the parentheses
around "(years < 5)". The parentheses are required by the syntax of the while statement. The braces
are only required semantically. The computer can recognize syntax errors but not semantic errors.)

One thing you should have noticed here is that my original specification of the problem -- "Compute and
display the value of an investment for each of the next five years" -- was far from being complete. Before
you start writing a program, you should make sure you have a complete specification of exactly what the
program is supposed to do. In particular, you need to know what information the program is going to input
and output and what computation it is going to perform. Here is what a reasonably complete specification of
the problem might look like in this example:

"Write a program that will compute and display the value of an investment for each of the
next five years. Each year, interest is added to the value. The interest is computed by
multiplying the current value by a fixed interest rate. Assume that the initial value and the
rate of interest are to be input by the user when the program is run."

Let's do another example, working this time with a program that you haven't already seen. The assignment
here is an abstract mathematical problem that is one of my favorite programming exercises. This time, we'll
start with a more complete specification of the task to be performed:

"Given a positive integer, N, define the '3N+1' sequence starting from N as follows: If N is
an even number, then divide N by two; but if N is odd, then multiply N by 3 and add 1.
Continue to generate numbers in this way until N becomes equal to 1. For example, starting
from N = 3, which is odd, we multiply by 3 and add 1, giving N = 3*3+1 = 10. Then, since
N is even, we divide by 2, giving N = 10/2 = 5. We continue in this way, stopping when we
reach 1, giving the complete sequence: 3, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1.

"Write a program that will read a positive integer from the user and will print out the 3N+1
sequence starting from that integer. The program should also count and print out the number
of terms in the sequence."

A general outline of the algorithm for the program we want is:

Get a positive integer N from the user;
Compute, print, and count each number in the sequence;

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (3 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

Output the number of terms;

The bulk of the program is in the second step. We'll need a loop, since we want to keep computing numbers
until we get 1. To put this in terms appropriate for a while loop, we want to continue as long as the
number is not 1. So, we can expand our pseudocode algorithm to:
Get a positive integer N from the user;
while N is not 1:
Compute N = next term;
Output N;
Count this term;
Output the number of terms;

In order to compute the next term, the computer must take different actions depending on whether N is even
or odd. We need an if statement to decide between the two cases:
Get a positive integer N from the user;
while N is not 1:
if N is even:
Compute N = N/2;
else
Compute N = 3 * N + 1;
Output N;
Count this term;
Output the number of terms;

We are almost there. The one problem that remains is counting. Counting means that you start with zero,
and every time you have something to count, you add one. We need a variable to do the counting. (Again,
this is a common pattern that you should expect to see over and over.) With the counter added, we get:
Get a positive integer N from the user;
Let counter = 0;
while N is not 1:
if N is even:
Compute N = N/2;
else
Compute N = 3 * N + 1;
Output N;
Add 1 to counter;
Output the counter;

We still have to worry about the very first step. How can we get a positive integer from the user? If we just
read in a number, it's possible that the user might type in a negative number or zero. If you follow what
happens when the value of N is negative or zero, you'll see that the program will go on forever, since the
value of N will never become equal to 1. This is bad. In this case, the problem is probably no big deal, but
in general you should try to write programs that are foolproof. One way to fix this is to keep reading in
numbers until the user types in a positive number:
Ask user to input a positive number;
Let N be the user's response;
while N is not positive:
Print an error message;
Read another value for N;
Let counter = 0;
while N is not 1:
if N is even:
Compute N = N/2;
else
Compute N = 3 * N + 1;
Output N;
Add 1 to counter;
Output the counter;

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (4 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

The first while loop will end only when N is a positive number, as required. (A common beginning
programmer's error is to use an if statement instead of a while statement here: "If N is not positive, ask
the user to input another value." The problem arises if the second number input by the user is also
non-positive. The if statement is only executed once, so the second input number is never tested. With the
while loop, after the second number is input, the computer jumps back to the beginning of the loop and
tests whether the second number is positive. If not, it asks the user for a third number, and it will continue
asking for numbers until the user enters an acceptable input.)

Here is a Java program implementing this algorithm. It uses the operators <= to mean "is less than or equal
to" and != to mean "is not equal to." To test whether N is even, it uses "N % 2 == 0". All the operators
used here were discussed in Section 2.5.

public class ThreeN {

/* This program prints out a 3N+1 sequence

starting from a positive integer specified
by the user. It also counts the number
of terms in the sequence, and prints out
that number. */

public static void main(String[] args) {

int N; // for computing terms in the sequence

int counter; // for counting the terms

TextIO.put("Starting point for sequence: ");

N = TextIO.getlnInt();
while (N <= 0) {
TextIO.put("The starting point must be positive. "
+ " Please try again: ");
N = TextIO.getlnInt();
}
// At this point, we know that N > 0

counter = 0;
while (N != 1) {
if (N % 2 == 0)
N = N / 2;
else
N = 3 * N + 1;
TextIO.putln(N);
counter = counter + 1;
}

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put("There were ");
TextIO.put(counter);
TextIO.putln(" terms in the sequence.");

} // end of main()

} // end of class ThreeN

As usual, you can try this out in an applet that simulates the program. Try different starting values for N,
including some negative values:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (5 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

Two final notes on this program: First, you might have noticed that the first term of the sequence -- the
value of N input by the user -- is not printed or counted by this program. Is this an error? It's hard to say.
Was the specification of the program careful enough to decide? This is the type of thing that might send you
back to the boss/professor for clarification. The problem (if it is one!) can be fixed easily enough. Just
replace the line "counter = 0" before the while loop with the two lines:
TextIO.putln(N); // print out initial term
counter = 1; // and count it

Second, there is the question of why this problem is at all interesting. Well, it's interesting to
mathematicians and computer scientists because of a simple question about the problem that they haven't
been able to answer: Will the process of computing the 3N+1 sequence finish after a finite number of steps
for all possible starting values of N? Although individual sequences are easy to compute, no one has been
able to answer the general question. (To put this another way, no one knows whether the process of
computing 3N+1 sequences can properly be called an algorithm, since an algorithm is required to terminate
after a finite number of steps!)

Coding, Testing, Debugging

It would be nice if, having developed an algorithm for your program, you could relax, press a button, and
get a perfectly working program. Unfortunately, the process of turning an algorithm into Java source code
doesn't always go smoothly. And when you do get to the stage of a working program, it's often only
working in the sense that it does something. Unfortunately not what you want it to do.

After program design comes coding: translating the design into a program written in Java or some other
language. Usually, no matter how careful you are, a few syntax errors will creep in from somewhere, and
the Java compiler will reject your program with some kind of error message. Unfortunately, while a
compiler will always detect syntax errors, it's not very good about telling you exactly what's wrong.
Sometimes, it's not even good about telling you where the real error is. A spelling error or missing "{" on
line 45 might cause the compiler to choke on line 105. You can avoid lots of errors by making sure that you
really understand the syntax rules of the language and by following some basic programming guidelines.
For example, I never type a "{" without typing the matching "}". Then I go back and fill in the statements
between the braces. A missing or extra brace can be one of the hardest errors to find in large program.
Always, always indent your program nicely. If you change the program, change the indentation to match.
It's worth the trouble. Use a consistent naming scheme, so you don't have to struggle to remember whether
you called that variable interestrate or interestRate. In general, when the compiler gives
multiple error messages, don't try to fix the second error message from the compiler until you've fixed the
first one. Once the compiler hits an error in your program, it can get confused, and the rest of the error
messages might just be guesses. Maybe the best advice is: Take the time to understand the error before you
try to fix it. Programming is not an experimental science.

When your program compiles without error, you are still not done. You have to test the program to make
sure it works correctly. Remember that the goal is not to get the right output for the two sample inputs that
the professor gave in class. The goal is a program that will work correctly for all reasonable inputs. Ideally,
when faced with an unreasonable input, it will respond by gently chiding the user rather than by crashing.
Test your program on a wide variety of inputs. Try to find a set of inputs that will test the full range of
functionality that you've coded into your program. As you begin writing larger programs, write them in
stages and test each stage along the way. You might even have to write some extra code to do the testing --
for example to call a subroutine that you've just written. You don't want to be faced, if you can avoid it,
with 500 newly written lines of code that have an error in there somewhere.

The point of testing is to find bugs -- semantic errors that show up as incorrect behavior rather than as
compilation errors. And the sad fact is that you will probably find them. Again, you can minimize bugs by
careful design and careful coding, but no one has found a way to avoid them altogether. Once you've
detected a bug, it's time for debugging. You have to track down the cause of the bug in the program's source

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (6 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.2

code and eliminate it. Debugging is a skill that, like other aspects of programming, requires practice to
master. So don't be afraid of bugs. Learn from them. One essential debugging skill is the ability to read
source code -- the ability to put aside preconceptions about what you think it does and to follow it the way
the computer does -- mechanically, step-by-step -- to see what it really does. This is hard. I can still
remember the time I spent hours looking for a bug only to find that a line of code that I had looked at ten
times had a "1" where it should have had an "i", or the time when I wrote a subroutine named
WindowClosing which would have done exactly what I wanted except that the computer was looking for
windowClosing (with a lower case "w"). Sometimes it can help to have someone who doesn't share your
preconceptions look at your code.

Often, it's a problem just to find the part of the program that contains the error. Most programming
environments come with a debugger, which is a program that can help you find bugs. Typically, your
program can be run under the control of the debugger. The debugger allows you to set "breakpoints" in your
program. A breakpoint is a point in the program where the debugger will pause the program so you can look
at the values of the program's variables. The idea is to track down exactly when things start to go wrong
during the program's execution. The debugger will also let you execute your program one line at a time, so
that you can watch what happens in detail once you know the general area in the program where the bug is
lurking.

I will confess that I only rarely use debuggers myself. A more traditional approach to debugging is to insert
debugging statements into your program. These are output statements that print out information about the
state of the program. Typically, a debugging statement would say something like
System.out.println("At start of while loop, N = " + N). You need to be able to
tell where in your program the output is coming from, and you want to know the value of important
variables. Sometimes, you will find that the computer isn't even getting to a part of the program that you
think it should be executing. Remember that the goal is to find the first point in the program where the state
is not what you expect it to be. That's where the bug is.

And finally, remember the golden rule of debugging: If you are absolutely sure that everything in your
program is right, and if it still doesn't work, then one of the things that you are absolutely sure of is wrong.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s2.html (7 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:08 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

Section 3.3
The while and do..while Statements

STATEMENTS IN JAVA CAN BE either simple statements or compound statements. Simple statements,
such as assignments statements and subroutine call statements, are the basic building blocks of a program.
Compound statements, such as while loops and if statements, are used to organize simple statements
into complex structures, which are called control structures because they control the order in which the
statements are executed. The next four sections explore the details of all the control structures that are
available in Java, starting with the while statement and the do..while statement in this section. At the
same time, we'll look at examples of programming with each control structure and apply the techniques for
designing algorithms that were introduced in the previous section.

The while Statement

The while statement was already introduced in Section 1. A while loop has the form
while ( boolean-expression )
statement

The statement can, of course, be a block statement consisting of several statements grouped together
between a pair of braces. This statement is called the body of the loop. The body of the loop is repeated as
long as the boolean-expression is true. This boolean expression is called the continuation condition, or
more simply the test, of the loop. There are a few points that might need some clarification. What happens
if the condition is false in the first place, before the body of the loop is executed even once? In that case, the
body of the loop is never executed at all. The body of a while loop can be executed any number of times,
including zero. What happens if the condition is true, but it becomes false somewhere in the middle of the
loop body? Does the loop end as soon as this happens? It does not, because the computer continues
executing the body of the loop until it gets to the end. Only then does it jump back to the beginning of the
loop and test the condition, and only then can the loop end.

Let's look at a typical problem that can be solved using a while loop: finding the average of a set of
positive integers entered by the user. The average is the sum of the integers, divided by the number of
integers. The program will ask the user to enter one integer at a time. It will keep count of the number of
integers entered, and it will keep a running total of all the numbers it has read so far. Here is a pseudocode
algorithm for the program:
Let sum = 0
Let count = 0
while there are more integers to process:
Read an integer
Add it to the sum
Count it
Divide sum by count to get the average
Print out the average

But how can we test whether there are more integers to process? A typical solution is to tell the user to type
in zero after all the data have been entered. This will work because we are assuming that all the data are
positive numbers, so zero is not a legal data value. The zero is not itself part of the data to be averaged. It's
just there to mark the end of the real data. A data value used in this way is sometimes called a sentinel
value. So now the test in the while loop becomes "while the input integer is not zero". But there is another
problem! The first time the test is evaluated, before the body of the loop has ever been executed, no integer
has yet been read. There is no "input integer" yet, so testing whether the input integer is zero doesn't make
sense. So, we have to do something before the while loop to make sure that the test makes sense. Setting

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

things up so that the test in a while loop makes sense the first time it is executed is called priming the
loop. In this case, we can simply read the first integer before the beginning of the loop. Here is a revised
algorithm:
Let sum = 0
Let count = 0
Read an integer
while the integer is not zero:
Add the integer to the sum
Count it
Read an integer
Divide sum by count to get the average
Print out the average

Notice that I've rearranged the body of the loop. Since an integer is read before the loop, the loop has to
begin by processing that integer. At the end of the loop, the computer reads a new integer. The computer
then jumps back to the beginning of the loop and tests the integer that it has just read. Note that when the
computer finally reads the sentinel value, the loop ends before the sentinel value is processed. It is not
added to the sum, and it is not counted. This is the way it's supposed to work. The sentinel is not part of the
data. The original algorithm, even if it could have been made to work without priming, was incorrect since
it would have summed and counted all the integers, including the sentinel. (Since the sentinel is zero, the
sum would still be correct, but the count would be off by one. Such so-called off-by-one errors are very
common. Counting turns out to be harder than it looks!)

We can easily turn the algorithm into a complete program. Note that the program cannot use the statement
"average = sum/count;" to compute the average. Since sum and count are both variables of type
int, the value of sum/count is an integer. The average should be a real number. We've seen this
problem before: we have to covert one of the int values to a double to force the computer to compute
the quotient as a real number. This can be done by type-casting one of the variables to type double. The
type cast "(double)sum" converts the value of sum to a real number, so in the program the average is
computed as "average = ((double)sum) / count;". Another solution in this case would have
been to declare sum to be a variable of type double in the first place.

One other issue is addressed by the program: If the user enters zero as the first input value, there are no data
to process. We can test for this case by checking whether count is still equal to zero after the while loop.
This might seem like a minor point, but a careful programmer should cover all the bases.

Here is the program and an applet that simulates it:

public class ComputeAverage {

/* This program reads a sequence of positive integers input

by the user, and it will print out the average of those
integers. The user is prompted to enter one integer at a
time. The user must enter a 0 to mark the end of the
data. (The zero is not counted as part of the data to
be averaged.) The program does not check whether the
user's input is positive, so it will actually work for
both positive and negative input values.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

int inputNumber; // One of the integers input by the user.

int sum; // The sum of the positive integers.
int count; // The number of positive integers.
double average; // The average of the positive integers.

/* Initialize the summation and counting variables. */

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

sum = 0;
count = 0;

/* Read and process the user's input. */

TextIO.put("Enter your first positive integer: ");

inputNumber = TextIO.getlnInt();

while (inputNumber != 0) {
sum += inputNumber; // Add inputNumber to running sum.
count++; // Count the input by adding 1 to count.
TextIO.put("Enter your next positive integer, or 0 to end: ");
inputNumber = TextIO.getlnInt();
}

/* Display the result. */

if (count == 0) {
TextIO.putln("You didn't enter any data!");
}
else {
average = ((double)sum) / count;
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("You entered " + count + " positive integers.");
TextIO.putln("Their average is " + average + ".");
}

} // end main()

} // end class ComputeAverage

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

The do..while Statement

Sometimes it is more convenient to test the continuation condition at the end of a loop, instead of at the
beginning, as is done in the while loop. The do..while statement is very similar to the while
statement, except that the word "while," along with the condition that it tests, has been moved to the end.
The word "do" is added to mark the beginning of the loop. A do..while statement has the form
do
statement
while ( boolean-expression );

or, since, as usual, the statement can be a block,

do {
statements
} while ( boolean-expression );

Note the semicolon, ';', at the end. This semicolon is part of the statement, just as the semicolon at the end
of an assignment statement or declaration is part of the statement. Omitting it is a syntax error. (More
generally, every statement in Java ends either with a semicolon or a right brace, '}'.)

To execute a do loop, the computer first executes the body of the loop -- that is, the statement or statements
inside the loop -- and then it evaluates the boolean expression. If the value of the expression is true, the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

computer returns to the beginning of the do loop and repeats the process; if the value is false, it ends the
loop and continues with the next part of the program. Since the condition is not tested until the end of the
loop, the body of a do loop is executed at least once.

For example, consider the following pseudocode for a game-playing program. The do loop makes sense
here instead of a while loop because with the do loop, you know there will be at least one game. Also, the
test that is used at the end of the loop wouldn't even make sense at the beginning:
do {
Play a Game
Ask user if he wants to play another game
Read the user's response
} while ( the user's response is yes );

Let's convert this into proper Java code. Since I don't want to talk about game playing at the moment, let's
say that we have a class named Checkers, and that the Checkers class contains a static member
subroutine named playGame() that plays one game of checkers against the user. Then, the pseudocode
"Play a game" can be expressed as the subroutine call statement "Checkers.playGame();". We need a
variable to store the user's response. The TextIO class makes it convenient to use a boolean variable to
store the answer to a yes/no question. The input function TextIO.getlnBoolean() allows the user to
enter the value as "yes" or "no". "Yes" is considered to be true, and "no" is considered to be false. So,
the algorithm can be coded as
boolean wantsToContinue; // True if user wants to play again.
do {
Checkers.playGame();
TextIO.put("Do you want to play again? ");
wantsToContinue = TextIO.getlnBoolean();
} while (wantsToContinue == true);

When the value of the boolean variable is set to true, it is a signal that the loop should end. When a
boolean variable is used in this way -- as a signal that is set in one part of the program and tested in
another part -- it is sometimes called a flag or flag variable (in the sense of a signal flag).

By the way, a more-than-usually-pedantic programmer would sneer at the test "while

(wantsToContinue == true)". This test is exactly equivalent to "while
(wantsToContinue)". Testing whether "wantsToContinue == true" is true amounts to the
same thing as testing whether "wantsToContinue" is true. A little less offensive is an expression of the
form "flag == false", where flag is a boolean variable. The value of "flag == false" is
exactly the same as the value of "!flag", where ! is the boolean negation operator. So you can write
"while (!flag)" instead of "while (flag == false)", and you can write "if (!flag)"
instead of "if (flag == false)".

Although a do..while statement is sometimes more convenient than a while statement, having two
kinds of loops does not make the language more powerful. Any problem that can be solved using
do..while loops can also be solved using only while statements, and vice versa. In fact, if
doSomething represents any block of program code, then
do {
doSomething
} while ( boolean-expression );

has exactly the same effect as

doSomething
while ( boolean-expression ) {
doSomething
}

Similarly,

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

while ( boolean-expression ) {
doSomething
}

can be replaced by
if ( boolean-expression ) {
do {
doSomething
} while ( boolean-expression );
}

without changing the meaning of the program in any way.

The break and continue Statements

The syntax of the while and do..while loops allows you to test the continuation condition at either the
beginning of a loop or at the end. Sometimes, it is more natural to have the test in the middle of the loop, or
to have several tests at different places in the same loop. Java provides a general method for breaking out of
the middle of any loop. It's called the break statement, which takes the form
break;

When the computer executes a break statement in a loop, it will immediately jump out of the loop. It then
continues on to whatever follows the loop in the program. Consider for example:
while (true) { // looks like it will run forever!
TextIO.put("Enter a positive number: ");
N = TextIO.getlnlnt();
if (N > 0) // input is OK; jump out of loop
break;
TextIO.putln("Your answer must be > 0.");
}
// continue here after break

If the number entered by the user is greater than zero, the break statement will be executed and the
computer will jump out of the loop. Otherwise, the computer will print out "Your answer must be > 0." and
will jump back to the start of the loop to read another input value.
(The first line of the loop, "while (true)" might look a bit strange, but it's perfectly legitimate. The
condition in a while loop can be any boolean-valued expression. The computer evaluates this expression
and checks whether the value is true or false. The boolean literal "true" is just a boolean expression
that always evaluates to true. So "while (true)" can be used to write an infinite loop, or one that can
be terminated only by a break statement.)

A break statement terminates the loop that immediately encloses the break statement. It is possible to
have nested loops, where one loop statement is contained inside another. If you use a break statement
inside a nested loop, it will only break out of that loop, not out of the loop that contains the nested loop.
There is something called a "labeled break" statement that allows you to specify which loop you want to
break. I won't give the details here; you can look them up if you ever need them.
The continue statement is related to break, but less commonly used. A continue statement tells the
computer to skip the rest of the current iteration of the loop. However, instead of jumping out of the loop
altogether, it jumps back to the beginning of the loop and continues with the next iteration (after evaluating
the loop's continuation condition to see whether any further iterations are required).

break and continue can be used in while loops and do..while loops. They can also be used in
for loops, which are covered in the next section. In Section 6, we'll see that break can also be used to

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.3

break out of a switch statement. Note that when a break occurs inside an if statement, it breaks out of
the loop or switch statement that contains the if statement. If the if statement is not contained inside a
loop or switch, then the if statement cannot legally contain a break statement. A similar consideration
applies to continue statements.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s3.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:09 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

Section 3.4
The for Statement

WE TURN IN THIS SECTION to another type of loop, the for statement. Any for loop is equivalent
to some while loop, so the language doesn't get any additional power by having for statements. But for a
certain type of problem, a for loop can be easier to construct and easier to read than the corresponding
while loop. It's quite possible that in real programs, for loops actually outnumber while loops.

The for statement makes a common type of while loop easier to write. Many while loops have the general
form:
initialization
while ( continuation-condition ) {
statements
update
}

For example, consider this example, copied from an example in Section 2:

years = 0; // initialize the variable years
while ( years < 5 ) { // condition for continuing loop

interest = principal * rate; //

principal += interest; // do three statements
System.out.println(principal); //

years++; // update the value of the variable, years

}

This loop can be written as the following equivalent for statement:

for ( years = 0; years < 5; years++ ) {
interest = principal * rate;
principal += interest;
System.out.println(principal);
}

The initialization, continuation condition, and updating have all been combined in the first line of the for
loop. This keeps everything involved in the "control" of the loop in one place, which helps makes the loop
easier to read and understand. The for loop is executed in exactly the same way as the original code: The
initialization part is executed once, before the loop begins. The continuation condition is executed before
each execution of the loop, and the loop ends when this condition is false. The update part is executed at
the end of each execution of the loop, just before jumping back to check the condition.

The formal syntax of the for statement is as follows:

for ( initialization; continuation-condition; update )
statement

or, using a block statement:

for ( initialization; continuation-condition; update ) {
statements
}

The continuation-condition must be a boolean-valued expression. The initialization can be any

expression, as can the update. Any of the three can be empty. If the continuation condition is empty, it is

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (1 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

treated as if it were "true," so the loop will be repeated forever or until it ends for some other reason, such
as a break statement. (Some people like to begin an infinite loop with "for (;;)" instead of "while
(true)".)

Usually, the initialization part of a for statement assigns a value to some variable, and the update changes
the value of that variable with an assignment statement or with an increment or decrement operation. The
value of the variable is tested in the continuation condition, and the loop ends when this condition evaluates
to false. A variable used in this way is called a loop control variable. In the for statement given above,
the loop control variable is years.

Certainly, the most common type of for loop is the counting loop, where a loop control variable takes on
all integer values between some minimum and some maximum value. A counting loop has the form
for ( variable = min; variable <= max; variable++ ) {
statements
}

where min and max are integer-valued expressions (usually constants). The variable takes on the values
min, min+1, min+2, ...,max. The value of the loop control variable is often used in the body of the loop.
The for loop at the beginning of this section is a counting loop in which the loop control variable, years,
takes on the values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Here is an even simpler example, in which the numbers 1, 2, ..., 10 are
displayed on standard output:
for ( N = 1 ; N <= 10 ; N++ )
System.out.println( N );

For various reasons, Java programmers like to start counting at 0 instead of 1, and they tend to use a "<" in
the condition, rather than a "<=". The following variation of the above loop prints out the ten numbers 0, 1,
2, ..., 9:
for ( N = 0 ; N < 10 ; N++ )
System.out.println( N );

Using < instead of <= in the test, or vice versa, is a common source of off-by-one errors in programs. You
should always stop and think, do I want the final value to be processed or not?

It's easy to count down from 10 to 1 instead of counting up. Just start with 10, decrement the loop control
variable instead of incrementing it, and continue as long as the variable is greater than or equal to one.
for ( N = 10 ; N >= 1 ; N-- )
System.out.println( N );

Now, in fact, the official syntax of a for statemenent actually allows both the initialization part and the
update part to consist of several expressions, separated by commas. So we can even count up from 1 to 10
and count down from 10 to 1 at the same time!
for ( i=1, j=10; i <= 10; i++, j-- ) {
TextIO.put(i,5); // Output i in a 5-character wide column.
TextIO.putln(j,5); // Output j in a 5-character column
// and end the line.
}

As a final example, let's say that we want to use a for loop print out just the even numbers between 2 and
20, that is: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. There are several ways to do this. Just to show how even a very
simple problem can be solved in many ways, here are four different solutions (three of which would get full
credit):

(1) // There are 10 numbers to print.

// Use a for loop to count 1, 2,
// ..., 10. The numbers we want
// to print are 2*1, 2*2, ... 2*10.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (2 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

for (N = 1; N <= 10; N++) {

System.out.println( 2*N );
}

(2) // Use a for loop that counts

// 2, 4, ..., 20 directly by
// adding 2 to N each time through
// the loop.

for (N = 2; N <= 20; N = N + 2) {

System.out.println( N );
}

(3) // Count off all the numbers

// 2, 3, 4, ..., 19, 20, but
// only print out the numbers
// that are even.

for (N = 2; N <= 20; N++) {

if ( N % 2 == 0 ) // is N even?
System.out.println( N );
}

(4) // Irritate the professor with

// a solution that follows the
// letter of this silly assignment
// while making fun of it.

for (N = 1; N <= 1; N++) {

System.out.print("2 4 6 8 10 12 ");
System.out.println("14 16 18 20");
}

Perhaps it is worth stressing one more time that a for statement, like any statement, never occurs on its
own in a real program. A statement must be inside the main routine of a program or inside some other
subroutine. And that subroutine must be defined inside a class. I should also remind you that every variable
must be declared before it can be used, and that includes the loop control variable in a for statement. In all
the examples that you have seen so far in this section, the loop control variables should be declared to be of
type int. It is not required that a loop control variable be an integer. Here, for example, is a for loop in
which the variable, ch, is of type char:
// Print out the alphabet on one line of output.
char ch; // The loop control variable;
// one of the letters to be printed.
for ( char ch = 'A'; ch <= 'Z'; ch++ )
System.out.print(ch);
System.out.println();

Let's look at a less trivial problem that can be solved with a for loop. If N and D are positive integers, we
say that D is a divisor of N if the remainder when D is divided into N is zero. (Equivalently, we could say
that N is an even multiple of D.) In terms of Java programming, D is a divisor of N if D % N is zero.

Let's write a program that inputs a positive integer, N, from the user and computes how many different
divisors N has. The numbers that could possibly be divisors of N are 1, 2, ...,N. To compute the number of

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (3 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

divisors of N, we can just test each possible divisor of N and count the ones that actually do divide N evenly.
In pseudocode, the algorithm takes the form
Get a positive integer, N, from the user
Let divisorCount = 0
for each number, testDivisor, in the range from 1 to N:
if testDivisor is a divisor of N:
Count it by adding 1 to divisorCount
Output the count

This algorithm displays a common programming pattern that is used when some, but not all, of a sequence
of items are to be processed. The general pattern is
for each item in the sequence:
if the item passes the test:
process it

The for loop in our divisor-counting algorithm can be translated into Java code as
for (testDivisor = 1; testDivisor <= N; testDivisor++) {
if ( N % testDivisor == 0 )
divisorCount++;
}

On a modern computer, this loop can be executed very quickly. It is not impossible to run it even for the
largest legal int value, 2147483647. (If you wanted to run it for even larger values, you could use
variables of type long rather than int.) However, it does take a noticeable amount of time for very large
numbers. So when I implemented this algorithm, I decided to output a period every time the computer has
tested one million possible divisors. In the improved version of the program, there are two types of counting
going on. We have to count the number of divisors and we also have to count the number of possible
divisors that have been tested. So the program needs two counters. When the second counter reaches
1000000, we output a '.' and reset the counter to zero so that we can start counting the next group of one
million. Reverting to pseudocode, the algorithm now looks like
Get a positive integer, N, from the user
Let divisorCount = 0 // Number of divisors found.
Let numberTested = 0 // Number of possible divisors tested
// since the last period was output.
for each number, testDivisor, in the range from 1 to N:
if testDivisor is a divisor of N:
Count it by adding 1 to divisorCount
Add 1 to numberTested
if numberTested is 1000000:
print out a '.'
Let numberTested = 0
Output the count

Finally, we can translate the algorithm into a complete Java program. Here it is, followed by an applet that
simulates it:

public class CountDivisors {

/* This program reads a positive integer from the user.

It counts how many divisors that number has, and
then it prints the result.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

int N; // A positive integer entered by the user.

// Divisors of this number will be counted.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (4 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

int testDivisor; // A number between 1 and N that is a

// possible divisor of N.

int divisorCount; // Number of divisors of N that have been found.

int numberTested; // Used to count how many possible divisors

// of N have been tested. When the number
// reaches 1000000, a period is output and
// the value of numberTested is reset to zero.

/* Get a positive integer from the user. */

while (true) {
TextIO.put("Enter a positive integer: ");
N = TextIO.getlnInt();
if (N > 0)
break;
TextIO.putln("That number is not positive. Please try again.");
}

/* Count the divisors, printing a "." after every 1000000 tests. */

divisorCount = 0;
numberTested = 0;

for (testDivisor = 1; testDivisor <= N; testDivisor++) {

if ( N % testDivisor == 0 )
divisorCount++;
numberTested++;
if (numberTested == 1000000) {
TextIO.put('.');
numberTested = 0;
}
}

/* Display the result. */

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("The number of divisors of " + N
+ " is " + divisorCount);

} // end main()

} // end class CountDivisors

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

Nested Loops
Control structures in Java are statements that contain statements. In particular, control structures can contain
control structures. You've already seen several examples of if statements inside loops, but any
combination of one control structure inside another is possible. We say that one structure is nested inside
another. You can even have multiple levels of nesting, such as a while loop inside an if statement inside
another while loop. The syntax of Java does not set a limit on the number of levels of nesting. As a
practical matter, though, it's difficult to understand a program that has more than a few levels of nesting.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (5 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

Nested for loops arise naturally in many algorithms, and it is important to understand how they work.
Let's look at a couple of examples. First, consider the problem of printing out a multiplication table like this
one:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36
4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72
7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84
8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96
9 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90 99 108
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 110 121 132
12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96 108 120 132 144

The data in the table are arranged into 12 rows and 12 columns. The process of printing them out can be
expressed in a pseudocode algorithm as
for each rowNumber = 1, 2, 3, ..., 12:
Print the first twelve multiples of rowNumber on one line
Output a carriage return

The first step in the for loop can itself be expressed as a for loop:
for N = 1, 2, 3, ..., 12:
Print N * rowNumber

so a refined algorithm for printing the table has one for loop nested inside another:
for each rowNumber = 1, 2, 3, ..., 12:
for N = 1, 2, 3, ..., 12:
Print N * rowNumber
Output a carriage return

Assuming that rowNumber and N have been declared to be variables of type int, this can be expressed in
Java as

for ( rowNumber = 1; rowNumber <= 12; rowNumber++ ) {

for ( N = 1; N <= 12; N++ ) {
// print in 4-character columns
TextIO.put( N * rowNumber, 4 );
}
TextIO.putln();
}

This section has been weighed down with lots of examples of numerical processing. For our final example,
let's do some text processing. Consider the problem of finding which of the 26 letters of the alphabet occur
in a given string. For example, the letters that occur in "Hello World" are D, E, H, L, O, R, and W. More
specifically, we will write a program that will list all the letters contained in a string and will also count the
number of different letters. The string will be input by the user. Let's start with a pseudocode algorithm for
the program.
Ask the user to input a string
Read the response into a variable, str
Let count = 0 (for counting the number of different letters)
for each letter of the alphabet:
if the letter occurs in str:
Print the letter
Add 1 to count
Output the count

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (6 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

Since we want to process the entire line of text that is entered by the user, we'll use TextIO.getln() to
read it. The line that reads "for each letter of the alphabet" can be expressed as "for (letter='A';
letter<='Z'; letter++)". But the body of this for loop needs more thought. How do we check
whether the given letter, letter, occurs in str? One idea is to look at each letter in the string in turn, and
check whether that letter is equal to letter. We can get the i-th character of str with the function call
str.charAt(i), where i ranges from 0 to str.length() - 1. One more difficulty: A letter such
as 'A' can occur in str in either upper or lower case, 'A' or 'a'. We have to check for both of these. But we
can avoid this difficulty by converting str to upper case before processing it. Then, we only have to check
for the upper case letter. We can now flesh out the algorithm fully. Note the use of break in the nested
for loop. It is required to avoid printing or counting a given letter more than once. The break statement
breaks out of the inner for loop, but not the outer for loop. Upon executing the break, the computer
continues the outer loop with the next value of letter.

Ask the user to input a string

Read the response into a variable, str
Convert str to upper case
Let count = 0
for letter = 'A', 'B', ..., 'Z':
for i = 0, 1, ..., str.length()-1:
if letter == str.charAt(i):
Print letter
Add 1 to count
break // jump out of the loop
Output the count

Here is the complete program and an applet to simulate it:

public class ListLetters {

/* This program reads a line of text entered by the user.

It prints a list of the letters that occur in the text,
and it reports how many different letters were found.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

String str; // Line of text entered by the user.

int count; // Number of different letters found in str.
char letter; // A letter of the alphabet.

TextIO.putln("Please type in a line of text.");

str = TextIO.getln();

str = str.toUpperCase();

count = 0;
TextIO.putln("Your input contains the following letters:");
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put(" ");
for ( letter = 'A'; letter <= 'Z'; letter++ ) {
int i; // Position of a character in str.
for ( i = 0; i < str.length(); i++ ) {
if ( letter == str.charAt(i) ) {
TextIO.put(letter);
TextIO.put(' ');
count++;
break;

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (7 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.4

}
}
}

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("There were " + count + " different letters.");

} // end main()

} // end class ListLetters

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

In fact, there is an easier way to determine whether a given letter occurs in a string, str. The built-in
function str.indexOf(letter) will return -1 if letter does not occur in the string. It returns a
number greater than or equal to zero if it does occur. So, we could check whether letter occurs in str
simply by checking "if (str.indexOf(letter) >= 0)". If we used this technique in the above
program, we wouldn't need a nested for loop. This gives you preview of how subroutines can be used to
deal with complexity.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s4.html (8 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:10 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

Section 3.5
The if Statement

THE FIRST OF THE TWO BRANCHING STATEMENTS in Java is the if statement, which you have
already seen in Section 1. It takes the form
if (boolean-expression)
statement-1
else
statement-2

As usual, the statements inside an if statements can be blocks. The if statement represents a two-way
branch. The else part of an if statement -- consisting of the word "else" and the statement that follows it
-- can be omitted.

Now, an if statement is, in particular, a statement. This means that either statement-1 or statement-2 in
the above if statement can itself be an if statement. A problem arises, however, if statement-1 is an if
statement that has no else part. This special case is effectively forbidden by the syntax of Java. Suppose,
for example, that you type
if ( x > 0 )
if (y > 0)
System.out.println("First case");
else
System.out.println("Second case");

Now, remember that the way you've indented this doesn't mean anything at all to the computer. You might
think that the else part is the second half of your "if (x > 0)" statement, but the rule that the
computer follows attaches the else to "if (y > 0)", which is closer. That is, the computer reads your
statement as if it were formatted:
if ( x > 0 )
if (y > 0)
System.out.println("First case");
else
System.out.println("Second case");

You can force the computer to use the other interpretation by enclosing the nested if in a block:
if ( x > 0 ) {
if (y > 0)
System.out.println("First case");
}
else
System.out.println("Second case");

You can check that these two statements have different meanings. If x <= 0, the first statement doesn't
print anything, but the second statement prints "Second case.".

Much more interesting than this technicality is the case where statement-2, the else part of the if
statement, is itself an if statement. The statement would look like this (perhaps without the final else part):
if (boolean-expression-1)
statement-1
else
if (boolean-expression-2)
statement-2
else

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

statement-3

However, since the computer doesn't care how a program is laid out on the page, this is almost always
written in the format:
if (boolean-expression-1)
statement-1
else if (boolean-expression-2)
statement-2
else
statement-3

You should think of this as a single statement representing a three-way branch. When the computer
executes this, one and only one of the three statements -- statement-1, statement-2, or statement-3 -- will
be executed. The computer starts by evaluating boolean-expression-1. If it is true, the computer executes
statement-1 and then jumps all the way to the end of the outer if statement, skipping the other two
statement's. If boolean-expression-1 is false, the computer skips statement-1 and executes the second,
nested if statement. To do this, it tests the value of boolean-expression-2 and uses it to decide between
statement-2 and statement-3.

Here is an example that will print out one of three different messages, depending on the value of a variable
named temperature:
if (temperature < 50)
System.out.println("It's cold.");
else if (temperature < 80)
System.out.println("It's nice.");
else
System.out.println("It's hot.");

If temperature is, say, 42, the first test is true. The computer prints out the message "It's cold", and
skips the rest -- without even evaluating the second condition. For a temperature of 75, the first test is
false, so the computer goes on to the second test. This test is true, so the computer prints "It's nice" and
skips the rest. If the temperature is 173, both of the tests evaluate to false, so the computer says "It's hot"
(unless its circuits have been fried by the heat, that is).

You can go on stringing together "else-if's" to make multi-way branches with any number of cases:
if (boolean-expression-1)
statement-1
else if (boolean-expression-2)
statement-2
else if (boolean-expression-3)
statement-3
.
. // (more cases)
.
else if (boolean-expression-N)
statement-N
else
statement-(N+1)

The computer evaluates boolean expressions one after the other until it comes to one that is true. It
executes the associated statement and skips the rest. If none of the boolean expressions evaluate to true,
then the statement in the else part is executed. This statement is called a multi-way branch because only
one of the statements will be executed. The final else part can be omitted. In that case, if all the boolean
expressions are false, none of the statements is executed. Of course, each of the statements can be a block,
consisting of a number of statements enclosed between { and }. (Admittedly, there is lot of syntax here; as
you study and practice, you'll become comfortable with it.)

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

As an example of using if statements, lets suppose that x, y, and z are variables of type int, and that
each variable has already been assigned a value. Consider the problem of printing out the values of the three
variables in increasing order. For examples, if the values are 42, 17, and 20, then the output should be in the
order 17, 20, 42.

One way to approach this is to ask, where does x belong in the list? It comes first if it's less than both y and
z. It comes last if it's greater than both y and z. Otherwise, it comes in the middle. We can express this with
a 3-way if statement, but we still have to worry about the order in which y and z should be printed. In
pseudocode,
if (x < y && x < z) {
output x, followed by y and z in their correct order
}
else if (x > y && x > z) {
output y and z in their correct order, followed by x
}
else {
output x in between y and z in their correct order
}

Determining the relative order of y and z requires another if statement, so this becomes
if (x < y && x < z) { // x comes first
if (y < z)
System.out.println( x + " " + y + " " + z );
else
System.out.println( x + " " + z + " " + y );
}
else if (x > y && x > z) { // x comes last
if (y < z)
System.out.println( y + " " + z + " " + x );
else
System.out.println( z + " " + y + " " + x );
}
else { // x in the middle
if (y < z)
System.out.println( y + " " + x + " " + z);
else
System.out.println( z + " " + x + " " + y);
}

You might check that this code will work correctly even if some of the values are the same. If the values of
two variables are the same, it doesn't matter which order you print them in.

Note, by the way, that even though you can say in English "if x is less than y and z,", you can't say in Java
"if (x < y && z)". The && operator can only be used between boolean values, so you have to make
separate tests, x<y and x<z, and then combine the two tests with &&.

There is an alternative approach to this problem that begins by asking, "which order should x and y be
printed in?" Once that's known, you only have to decide where to stick in z. This line of thought leads to
different Java code:
if ( x < y ) { // x comes before y
if ( z < x )
System.out.println( z + " " + x + " " + y);
else if ( z > y )
System.out.println( x + " " + y + " " + z);
else
System.out.println( x + " " + z + " " + y);
}
else { // y comes before x

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

if ( z < y )
System.out.println( z + " " + y + " " + x);
else if ( z > x )
System.out.println( y + " " + x + " " + z);
else
System.out.println( y + " " + z + " " + x);
}

Once again, we see how the same problem can be solved in many different ways. The two approaches to
this problem have not exhausted all the possibilities. For example, you might start by testing whether x is
greater than y. If so, you could swap their values. Once you've done that, you know that x should be printed
before y.

Finally, let's write a complete program that uses an if statement in an interesting way. I want a program
that will convert measurements of length from one unit of measurement to another, such as miles to yards
or inches to feet. So far, the problem is extremely under-specified. Let's say that the program will only deal
with measurements in inches, feet, yards, and miles. It would be easy to extend it later to deal with other
units. The user will type in a measurement in one of these units, such as "17 feet" or "2.73 miles". The
output will show the length in terms of each of the four units of measure. (This is easier than asking the
user which units to use in the output.) An outline of the process is
Read the user's input measurement and units of measure
Express the measurement in inches, feet, yards, and miles
Display the four results

The program can read both parts of the user's input from the same line by using TextIO.getDouble()
to read the numerical measurement and TextIO.getlnWord() to read the units of measure. The
conversion into different units of measure can be simplified by first converting the user's input into inches.
From there, it can be converted into feet, yards, and miles. We still have to test the input to determine which
unit of measure the user has specified:
Let measurement = TextIO.getDouble()
Let units = TextIO.getlnWord()
if the units are inches
Let inches = measurement
else if the units are feet
Let inches = measurement * 12 // 12 inches per foot
else if the units are yards
Let inches = measurement * 36 // 36 inches per yard
else if the units are miles
Let inches = measurement * 12 * 5280 // 5280 feet per mile
else
The units are illegal!
Print an error message and stop processing
Let feet = inches / 12.0
Let yards = inches / 36.0
Let miles = inches / (12.0 * 5280.0)
Display the results

Since units is a String, we can use units.equals("inches") to check whether the specified
unit of measure is "inches". However, it would be nice to allow the units to be specified as "inch" or
abbreviated to "in". To allow these three possibilities, we can check if (units.equals("inches")
|| units.equals("inch") || units.equals("in")). It would also be nice to allow upper
case letters, as in "Inches" or "IN". We can do this by converting units to lower case before testing it or
by substituting the function units.equalsIgnoreCase for units.equals.

In my final program, I decided to make things more interesting by allowing the user to enter a whole
sequence of measurements. The program will end only when the user inputs 0. To do this, I just have to
wrap the above algorithm inside a while loop, and make sure that the loop ends when the user inputs a 0.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

Here's the complete program, followed by an applet that simulates it.

public class LengthConverter {

/* This program will convert measurements expressed in inches,

feet, yards, or miles into each of the possible units of
measure. The measurement is input by the user, followed by
the unit of measure. For example: "17 feet", "1 inch",
"2.73 mi". Abbreviations in, ft, yd, and mi are accepted.
The program will continue to read and convert measurements
until the user enters an input of 0.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

double measurement; // Numerical measurement, input by user.

String units; // The unit of measure for the input, also
// specified by the user.

double inches, feet, yards, miles; // Measurement expressed in

// each possible unit of
// measure.

TextIO.putln("Enter measurements in inches, feet, yards, or miles.");

TextIO.putln("For example: 1 inch 17 feet 2.73 miles");
TextIO.putln("You can use abbreviations: in ft yd mi");
TextIO.putln("I will convert your input into the other units");
TextIO.putln("of measure.");
TextIO.putln();

while (true) {

/* Get the user's input, and convert units to lower case. */

TextIO.put("Enter your measurement, or 0 to end: ");

measurement = TextIO.getDouble();
if (measurement == 0)
break; // terminate the while loop
units = TextIO.getlnWord();
units = units.toLowerCase();

/* Convert the input measurement to inches. */

if (units.equals("inch") || units.equals("inches")
|| units.equals("in")) {
inches = measurement;
}
else if (units.equals("foot") || units.equals("feet")
|| units.equals("ft")) {
inches = measurement * 12;
}
else if (units.equals("yard") || units.equals("yards")
|| units.equals("yd")) {
inches = measurement * 36;
}
else if (units.equals("mile") || units.equals("miles")
|| units.equals("mi")) {
inches = measurement * 12 * 5280;
}

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.5

else {
TextIO.putln("Sorry, but I don't understand \""
+ units + "\".");
continue; // back to start of while loop
}

/* Convert measurement in inches to feet, yards, and miles. */

feet = inches / 12;

yards = inches / 36;
miles = inches / (12*5280);

/* Output measurement in terms of each unit of measure. */

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("That's equivalent to:");
TextIO.put(inches, 15);
TextIO.putln(" inches");
TextIO.put(feet, 15);
TextIO.putln(" feet");
TextIO.put(yards, 15);
TextIO.putln(" yards");
TextIO.put(miles, 15);
TextIO.putln(" miles");
TextIO.putln();

} // end while

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("OK! Bye for now.");

} // end main()

} // end class LengthConverter

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s5.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:11 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.6

Section 3.6
The switch Statement

THE SECOND BRANCHING STATEMENT in Java is the switch statement, which is introduced in
this section. The switch is used far less often than the if statement, but it is sometimes useful for
expressing a certain type of multi-way branch. Since this section wraps up coverage of all of Java's control
statements, I've included a complete list of Java's statement types at the end of the section.

A switch statement allows you to test the value of an expression and, depending on that value, to jump to
some location within the switch statement. The expression must be either integer-valued or
character-valued. It cannot be a String or a real number. The positions that you can jump to are marked
with "case labels" that take the form: "case constant:". This marks the position the computer jumps to when
the expression evaluates to the given constant. As the final case in a switch statement you can, optionally,
use the label "default:", which provides a default jump point that is used when the value of the expression is
not listed in any case label.

A switch statement has the form:

switch (expression) {
case constant-1:
statements-1
break;
case constant-2:
statements-2
break;
.
. // (more cases)
.
case constant-N:
statements-N
break;
default: // optional default case
statements-(N+1)
} // end of switch statement

The break statements are technically optional. The effect of a break is to make the computer jump to the
end of the switch statement. If you leave out the break statement, the computer will just forge ahead after
completing one case and will execute the statements associated with the next case label. This is rarely what
you want, but it is legal. (I will note here -- although you won't understand it until you get to the next
chapter -- that inside a subroutine, the break statement is sometimes replaced by a return statement.)

Note that you can leave out one of the groups of statements entirely (including the break). You then have
two case labels in a row, containing two different constants. This just means that the computer will jump to
the same place and perform the same action for each of the two constants.

Here is an example of a switch statement. This is not a useful example, but it should be easy for you to
follow. Note, by the way, that the constants in the case labels don't have to be in any particular order, as
long as they are all different:
switch (N) { // assume N is an integer variable
case 1:
System.out.println("The number is 1.");
break;
case 2:
case 4:
case 8:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s6.html (1 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:12 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.6

System.out.println("The number is 2, 4, or 8.");

System.out.println("(That's a power of 2!)");
break;
case 3:
case 6:
case 9:
System.out.println("The number is 3, 6, or 9.");
System.out.println("(That's a multiple of 3!)");
break;
case 5:
System.out.println("The number is 5.");
break;
default:
System.out.println("The number is 7,");
System.out.println(" or is outside the range 1 to 9.");
}

The switch statement is pretty primitive as control structures go, and it's easy to make mistakes when you
use it. Java takes all its control structures directly from the older programming languages C and C++. The
switch statement is certainly one place where the designers of Java should have introduced some
improvements.

One application of switch statements is in processing menus. A menu is a list of options. The user selects
one of the options. The computer has to respond to each possible choice in a different way. If the options
are numbered 1, 2, ..., then the number of the chosen option can be used in a switch statement to select
the proper response.

In a TextIO-based program, the menu can be presented as a numbered list of options, and the user can
choose an option by typing in its number. Here is an example that could be used in a variation of the
LengthConverter example from the previous section:

int optionNumber; // Option number from menu, selected by user.

double measurement; // A numerical measurement, input by the user.
// The unit of measurement depends on which
// option the user has selected.
double inches; // The same measurement, converted into inches.

/* Display menu and get user's selected option number. */

TextIO.putln("What unit of measurement does your input use?");

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln(" 1. inches");
TextIO.putln(" 2. feet");
TextIO.putln(" 3. yards");
TextIO.putln(" 4. miles");
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("Enter the number of your choice: ");
optionNumber = TextIO.getlnInt();

/* Read user's measurement and convert to inches. */

switch ( optionNumber ) {
case 1:
TextIO.putln("Enter the number of inches: );
measurement = TextIO.getlnDouble();
inches = measurement;
break;
case 2:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s6.html (2 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:12 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.6

TextIO.putln("Enter the number of feet: );

measurement = TextIO.getlnDouble();
inches = measurement * 12;
break;
case 3:
TextIO.putln("Enter the number of yards: );
measurement = TextIO.getlnDouble();
inches = measurement * 36;
break;
case 4:
TextIO.putln("Enter the number of miles: );
measurement = TextIO.getlnDouble();
inches = measurement * 12 * 5280;
break;
default:
TextIO.putln("Error! Illegal option number! I quit!");
System.exit(1);
} // end switch

/* Now go on to convert inches to feet, yards, and miles... */

The Empty Statement

As a final note in this section, I will mention one more type of statement in Java: the empty statement. This
is a statement that consists simply of a semicolon. The existence of the empty statement makes the
following legal, even though you would not ordinarily see a semicolon after a }.
if (x < 0) {
x = -x;
};

The semicolon is legal after the }, but the computer considers it to be an empty statement, not part of the if
statement. Occasionally, you might find yourself using the empty statement when what you mean is, in fact,
"do nothing". I prefer, though, to use an empty block, consisting of { and } with nothing between, for such
cases.

Occasionally, stray empty statements can cause annoying, hard-to-find errors in a program. For example,
the following program segment prints out "Hello" just once, not ten times:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++);
System.out.println("Hello");

Why? Because the ";" at the end of the first line is a statement, and it is this statement that is executed ten
times. The System.out.println statement is not really inside the for statement at all, so it is
executed just once, after the for loop has completed.

A List of Java Statement Types

I mention the empty statement here mainly for completeness. You've now seen just about every type of Java
statement. A complete list is given below for reference. The only new items in the list are the
try..catch, throw, and synchronized statements, which are related to advanced aspects of Java
known as exception-handling and multi-threading, and the return statement, which is used in
subroutines. These will be covered in later sections.

Another possible surprise is what I've listed as "other expression statement," which reflects the fact that any

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s6.html (3 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:12 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.6

expression followed by a semicolon can be used as a statement. To execute such a statement, the computer
simply evaluates the expression, and then ignores the value. Of course, this only makes sense when the
evaluation has a side effect that makes some change in the state of the computer. An example of this is the
expression statement "x++;", which has the side effect of adding 1 to the value of x. Similarly, the function
call "TextIO.getln()", which reads a line of input, can be used as a stand-alone statement if you want
to read a line of input and discard it. Note that, technically, assignment statements and subroutine call
statements are also considered to be expression statements.

Java statement types:

● declaration statement (for declaring variables)

● assignment statement
● subroutine call statement (including input/output routines)
● other expression statement (such as "x++;")
● empty statement
● block statement
● while statement
● do..while statement
● if statement
● for statement
● switch statement
● break statement (found in loops and switch statements only)
● continue statement (found in loops only)
● return statement (found in subroutine definitions only)
● try..catch statement
● throw statement
● synchronized statement

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s6.html (4 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:12 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

Section 3.7
Introduction to Applets and Graphics

FOR THE PAST TWO CHAPTERS, you've been learning the sort of programming that is done inside a
single subroutine. In the rest of the text, we'll be more concerned with the larger scale structure of
programs, but the material that you've already learned will be an important foundation for everything to
come.

In this section, before moving on to programming-in-the-large, we'll take a look at how

programming-in-the-small can be used in other contexts besides text-based, command-line-style programs.
We'll do this by taking a short, introductory look at applets and graphical programming.

An applet is a Java program that runs on a Web page. An applet is not a stand-alone application, and it does
not have a main() routine. In fact, an applet is an object rather than a class. When an applet is placed on a
Web page, it is assigned a rectangular area on the page. It is the job of the applet to draw the contents of
that rectangle. When the region needs to be drawn, the Web page calls a subroutine in the applet to do so.
This is not so different from what happens with stand-alone programs. When a program needs to be run, the
system calls the main() routine of the program. Similarly, when an applet needs to be drawn, the Web
page calls the paint() routine of the applet. The programmer specifies what happens when these routines
are called by filling in the bodies of the routines. Programming in the small! Applets can do other things
besides draw themselves, such as responding when the user clicks the mouse on the applet. Each of the
applet's behaviors is defined by a subroutine in the applet object. The programmer specifies how the applet
behaves by filling in the bodies of the appropriate subroutines.

A very simple applet, which does nothing but draw itself, can be defined by a class that contains nothing
but a paint() routine. The source code for the class would have the form:
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;

public class name-of-applet extends Applet {

public void paint(Graphics g) {

statements
}

where name-of-applet is an identifier that names the class, and the statements are the code that actually
draws the applet. This looks similar to the definition of a stand-alone program, but there are a few things
here that need to be explained, starting with the first two lines.

When you write a program, there are certain built-in classes that are available for you to use. These built-in
classes include System and Math. If you want to use one of these classes, you don't have to do anything
special. You just go ahead and use it. But Java also has a large number of standard classes that are there if
you want them but that are not automatically available to your program. (There are just too many of them.)
If you want to use these classes in your program, you have to ask for them first. The standard classes are
grouped into so-called "packages." Two of these packages are called "java.awt" and "java.applet". The
directive "import java.awt.*;" makes all the classes from the package java.awt available for use in your
program. The java.awt package contains classes related to graphical user interface programming, including
a class called Graphics. The Graphics class is referred to in the paint() routine above. The
java.applet package contains classes specifically related to applets, including the class named Applet.

The first line of the class definition above says that the class "extends Applet." Applet is the standard
class from the java.applet package. It defines the all the basic properties and behaviors of applet objects. By

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (1 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

extending the Applet class, the new class we are defining inherits all those properties and behaviors. We
only have to define the ways in which our class differs from the basic Applet class. In our case, the only
difference is that our applet will draw itself differently, so we only have to define the paint() routine.
This is one of the main advantages of object-oriented programming.

One more thing needs to be mentioned -- and this is a point where Java's syntax gets unfortunately
confusing. Applets are objects, not classes. Instead of being static members of a class, the subroutines that
define the applet's behavior are part of the applet object. We say that they are "non-static" subroutines. Of
course, objects are related to classes because every object is described by a class. Now here is the part that
can get confusing: Even though a non-static subroutine is not actually part of a class (in the sense of being
part of the behavior of the class), it is nevertheless defined in a class (in the sense that the Java code that
defines the subroutine is part of the Java code that defines the class). Many objects can be described by the
same class. Each object has its own non-static subroutine. But the common definition of those subroutines
-- the actual Java source code -- is physically part of the class that describes all the objects. To put it briefly:
static subroutines in a class definition say what the class does; non-static subroutines say what all the
objects described by the class do. An applet's paint() routine is a an example non-static subroutine. A
stand-alone program's main() routine is an example of a static subroutine. The distinction doesn't really
matter too much at this point: When working with stand-alone programs, mark everything with the reserved
word, "static"; leave it out when working with applets. However, the distinction between static and
non-static will become more important later in the course.

Let's write an applet that draws something. In order to write an applet that draws something, you need to
know what subroutines are available for drawing, just as in writing text-oriented programs you need to
know what subroutines are available for reading and writing text. In Java, the built-in drawing subroutines
are found in objects of the class Graphics, one of the classes in the java.awt package. In an applet's
paint() routine, you can use the Graphics object g for drawing. (This object is provided as a
parameter to the paint() routine when that routine is called.) Graphics objects contain many
subroutines. I'll mention just three of them here. You'll find more listed in Section 6.3.

g.setColor(c), is called to set the color that is used for drawing. The parameter, c is an
object belonging to a class named Color, another one of the classes in the java.awt
package. About a dozen standard colors are available as static member variables in the
Color class. These standard colors include Color.black, Color.white,
Color.red, Color.green, and Color.blue. For example, if you want to draw in
red, you would say "g.setColor(Color.red);". The specified color is used for all
drawing operations up until the next time setColor is called.

g.drawRect(x,y,w,h) draws the outline of a rectangle. The parameters x, y, w, and h

must be integers. This draws the outline of the rectangle whose top-left corner is x pixels
from the left edge of the applet and y pixels down from the top of the applet. The width of
the rectangle is w pixels, and the height is h pixels.

g.fillRect(x,y,w,h) is similar to drawRect except that it fills in the inside of the

rectangle instead of just drawing an outline.

This is enough information to write the applet shown here:

Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java.
But here's the picture that the applet draws:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (2 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

This applet first fills its entire rectangular area with red. Then it changes the drawing color to black and
draws a sequence of rectangles where each rectangle is nested inside the previous one. The rectangles can
be drawn with a while loop. Each time through the loop, the rectangle gets smaller and it moves down and
over a bit. We'll need variables to hold the width and height of the rectangle and a variable to record how
far the top-left corner of the rectangle is inset from the edges of the applet. The while loop ends when the
rectangle shrinks to nothing. In general outline, the algorithm for drawing the applet is
Set the drawing color to red (using the g.setColor subroutine)
Fill in the entire applet (using the g.fillRect subroutine)
Set the drawing color to black
Set the top-left corner inset to be 0
Set the rectangle width and height to be as big as the applet
while the width and height are greater than zero:
draw a rectangle (using the g.drawRect subroutine)
increase the inset
decrease the width and the height

In my applet, each rectangle is 15 pixels away from the rectangle that surrounds it, so the inset is
increased by 15 each time through the while loop. The rectangle shrinks by 15 pixels on the left and by
15 pixels on the right, so the width of the rectangle shrinks by 30 each time through the loop. The height
also shrinks by 30 pixels each time through the loop.

It is not hard to code this algorithm into Java and use it to define the paint() method of an applet. I've
assumed that the applet has a height of 160 pixels and a width of 300 pixels. The size is actually set in the
source code of the Web page where the applet appears. In order for an applet to appear on a page, the
source code for the page must include a command that specifies which applet to run and how big it should
be. (The commands that can be used on a Web page are discussed in Section 6.2.) It's not a great idea to
assume that we know how big the applet is going to be. On the other hand, it's also not a great idea to write
an applet that does nothing but draw a static picture. I'll address both these issues before the end of this
section. But for now, here is the source code for the applet:
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;

public class StaticRects extends Applet {

public void paint(Graphics g) {

// Draw a set of nested black rectangles on a red background.

// Each nested rectangle is separated by 15 pixels on
// all sides from the rectangle that encloses it.

int inset; // Gap between borders of applet

// and one of the rectangles.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (3 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

int rectWidth, rectHeight; // The size of one of the rectangles.

g.setColor(Color.red);
g.fillRect(0,0,300,160); // Fill the entire applet with red.

g.setColor(Color.black); // Draw the rectangles in black.

inset = 0;

rectWidth = 299; // Set size of first rect to size of applet

rectHeight = 159;

while (rectWidth >= 0 && rectHeight >= 0) {

g.drawRect(inset, inset, rectWidth, rectHeight);
inset += 15; // Rects are 15 pixels apart.
rectWidth -= 30; // Width decreases by 15 pixels
// on left and 15 on right.
rectHeight -= 30; // Height decreases by 15 pixels
// on top and 15 on bottom
}

} // end paint()

} // end class StaticRects

(You might wonder why the initial rectWidth is set to 299, instead of to 300, since the width of the
applet is 300 pixels. It's because rectangles are drawn as if with a pen whose nib hangs below and to the
right of the point where the pen is placed. If you run the pen exactly along the right edge of the applet, the
line it draws is actually outside the applet and therefor is not seen. So instead, we run the pen along a line
one pixel to the left of the edge of the applet. The same reasoning applies to rectHeight. Careful
graphics programming demands attention to details like these.)

When you write an applet, you get to build on the work of the people who wrote the Applet class. The
Applet class provides a framework on which you can hang your own work. Any programmer can create
additional frameworks that can be used by other programmers as a basis for writing specific types of applets
or stand-alone programs. One example is the applets in previous sections that simulate text-based programs.
All these applets are based on a class called ConsoleApplet, which itself is based on the standard
Applet class. You can write your own console applet by filling in this simple framework (which leaves
out just a couple of bells and whistles):
public class name-of-applet extends ConsoleApplet {

public void program() {

statements
}

The statements in the program() subroutine are executed when the user of the applet clicks the applet's
"Run Program" button. This "program" can't use TextIO or System.out to do input and output.
However, the ConsoleApplet framework provides an object named console for doing text
input/output. This object contains exactly the same set of subroutines as the TextIO class. For example,
where you would say TextIO.putln("Hello World") in a stand-alone program, you could say
console.putln("Hello World") in a console applet. The console object just displays the output
on the applet instead of on standard output. Similarly, you can substitute x = console.getInt() for x
= TextIO.getInt(), and so on. As a simple example, here's a console applet that gets two numbers
from the user and prints their product:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (4 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

public class PrintProduct extends ConsoleApplet {

public void program() {

double x,y; // Numbers input by the user.

double prod; // The product, x*y.

console.put("What is your first number? ");

x = console.getlnDouble();
console.put("What is your second number? ");
y = console.getlnDouble();

prod = x * y;
console.putln();
console.put("The product is ");
console.putln(prod);

} // end program()

} // end class PrintProduct

And here's what this applet looks like on a Web page:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

Now, any console-style applet that you write depends on the ConsoleApplet class, which is not a
standard part of Java. This means that the compiled class file, ConsoleApplet.class must be
available to your applet when it is run. As a matter of fact, ConsoleApplet uses two other non-standard
classes, ConsolePanel and ConsoleCanvas, so the compiled class files ConsolePanel.class
and ConsoleCanvas.class must also be available to your applet. This just means that all four class
files -- your own class and the three classes it depends on -- must be in the same directory with the source
code for the Web page on which your applet appears.

I've written another framework that makes it possible to write applets that display simple animations. An
example is given by the applet at the bottom of this page, which is an animated version of the nested
squares applet from earlier in this section.

A computer animation is really just a sequence of still images. The computer displays the images one after
the other. Each image differs a bit from the preceding image in the sequence. If the differences are not too
big and if the sequence is displayed quickly enough, the eye is tricked into perceiving continuous motion.

In the example, rectangles shrink continually towards the center of the applet, while new rectangles appear
at the edge. The perpetual motion is, of course, an illusion. If you think about it, you'll see that the applet
loops through the same set of images over and over. In each image, there is a gap between the borders of
the applet and the outermost rectangle. This gap gets wider and wider until a new rectangle appears at the
border. Only it's not a new rectangle. What has really happened is that the applet has started over again with
the first image in the sequence.

The problem of creating an animation is really just the problem of drawing each of the still images that
make up the animation. Each still image is called a frame. In my framework for animation, which is based
on a non-standard class called SimpleAnimationApplet, all you have to do is fill in the code that says
how to draw one frame. The basic format is as follows:
import java.awt.*;

public class name-of-class extends SimpleAnimationApplet {

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (5 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

public void drawFrame(Graphics g) {

statements // to draw one frame of the animation
}

The "import java.awt.*;" is required to get access to graphics-related classes such as Graphics
and Color. You get to fill in any name you want for the class, and you get to fill in the statements inside
the subroutine. The drawFrame() subroutine will be called by the system each time a frame needs to be
drawn. All you have to do is say what happens when this subroutines is called. Of course, you have to draw
a different picture for each frame, and to do that you need to know which frame you are drawing. The
SimpleAnimationApplet provides a function named getFrameNumber() that you can call to find
out which frame to draw. This function returns an integer value that represents the frame number. If the
value returned is 0, you are supposed to draw the first frame; if the value is 1, you are supposed to draw the
second frame, and so in.

In the sample applet, the thing that differs from one frame to another is the distance between the edges of
the applet and the outermost rectangle. Since the rectangles are 15 pixels apart, this distance increases from
0 to 14 and then jumps back to 0 when a "new" rectangle appears. The appropriate value can be computed
very simply from the frame number, with the statement "inset = getFrameNumber() % 15;". The
value of the expression getFrameNumber() % 15 is between 0 and 14. When he frame number
reaches 15, the value of getFrameNumber() % 15 jumps back to 0.

Drawing one frame in the sample animated applet is very similar to drawing the single image of the
StaticRects applet, as given above. The paint() method in the StaticRects applet becomes,
with only minor modification, the drawFrame() method of my MovingRects animation applet. I've
chosen to make one improvement: The StaticRects applet assumes that the applet is 300 by 160 pixels.
The MovingRects applet will work for any applet size. To implement this, the drawFrame routine has
to know how big the applet is. My animation framework provides two functions that can be called to get
this information. The function getWidth() returns an integer value representing the width of the applet,
and the function getHeight() returns the height. The width and height, together with the frame number,
are used to compute the size of the first rectangle that is drawn. Here is the complete source code:

import java.awt.*;

public class MovingRects extends SimpleAnimationApplet {

public void drawFrame(Graphics g) {

// Draw one frame in the animation by filling in the background

// with a solid red and then drawing a set of nested black
// rectangles. The frame number tells how much the first
// rectangle is to be inset from the borders of the applet.

int width; // Width of the applet, in pixels.

int height; // Height of the applet, in pixels.

int inset; // Gap between borders of applet and a rectangle.

// The inset for the outermost rectangle goes
// from 0 to 14 then back to 0, and so on,
// as the frameNumber varies.

int rectWidth, rectHeight; // The size of one of the rectangles.

width = getWidth(); // Find out the size of the drawing area.

height = getHeight();

g.setColor(Color.red); // Fill the frame with red.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (6 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Section 3.7

g.fillRect(0,0,width,height);

g.setColor(Color.black); // Switch color to black.

inset = getFrameNumber() % 15; // Get the inset for the

// outermost rect.

rectWidth = width - 2*inset - 1; // Set size of outermost rect.

rectHeight = height - 2*inset - 1;

while (rectWidth >= 0 && rectHeight >= 0) {

g.drawRect(inset,inset,rectWidth,rectHeight);
inset += 15; // Rects are 15 pixels apart.
rectWidth -= 30; // Width decreases by 15 pixels
// on left and 15 on right.
rectHeight -= 30; // Height decreases by 15 pixels
// on top and 15 on bottom.
}

} // end drawFrame()

} // end class MovingRects

The point here is that by building on an existing framework, you can do interesting things using the type of
local, inside-a-subroutine programming that was covered in Chapters 2 and 3. As you learn more about
programming and more about Java, you'll be able to do more on your own -- but no matter how much you
learn, you'll always be dependent on other people's work to some extent.

End of Chapter 3

[ Next Chapter | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/s7.html (7 of 7) [5/24/2000 8:36:13 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Exercises

Programming Exercises
For Chapter 3

THIS PAGE CONTAINS programming exercises based on material from Chapter 3 of this on-line Java
textbook. Each exercise has a link to a discussion of one possible solution of that exercise.

Exercise 3.1: How many times do you have to roll a pair of dice before they come up snake eyes? You
could do the experiment by rolling the dice by hand. Write a computer program that simulates the
experiment. The program should report the number of rolls that it makes before the dice come up snake
eyes. (Note: "Snake eyes" means that both dice show a value of 1.) Exercise 2.2 explained how to simulate
rolling a pair of dice.
See the solution!

Exercise 3.2: Which integer between 1 and 10000 has the largest number of divisors, and how many
divisors does it have? Write a program to find the answers and print out the results. It is possible that
several integers in this range have the same, maximum number of divisors. Your program only has to print
out one of them. One of the examples from Section 3.4 discussed divisors. The source code for that
example is CountDivisors.java.

You might need some hints about how to find a maximum value. The basic idea is to go through all the
integers, keeping track of the largest number of divisors that you've seen so far. Also, keep track of the
integer that had that number of divisors.
See the solution!

Exercise 3.3: Write a program that will evaluate simple expressions such as 17 + 3 and 3.14159 * 4.7. The
expressions are to be typed in by the user. The input always consist of a number, followed by an operator,
followed by another number. The operators that are allowed are +, -, *, and /. You can read the numbers
with TextIO.getDouble() and the operator with TextIO.getChar(). Your program should read
an expression, print its value, read another expression, print its value, and so on. The program should end
when the user enters 0 as the first number on the line.
See the solution!

Exercise 3.4: Write a program that reads one line of input text and breaks it up into words. The words
should be output one per line. A word is defined to be a sequence of letters. Any characters in the input that
are not letters should be discarded. For example, if the user inputs the line
He said, "That's not a good idea."

then the output of the program should be

He
said
that
s
not
a
good

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/exercises.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:14 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Exercises

idea

(An improved version of the program would list "that's" as a word. An apostrophe can be considered to be
part of a word if there is a letter on each side of the apostrophe. But that's not part of the assignment.)

To test whether a character is a letter, you might use (ch >= 'a' && ch <= 'z') || (ch >=
'A' && ch <= 'Z'). However, this only works in English and similar languages. A better choice is to
call the standard function Character.isLetter(ch), which returns a boolean value of true if ch is
a letter and false if it is not. This works for any Unicode character. For example, it counts an accented e,
é, as a letter.
See the solution!

Exercise 3.5: Write an applet that draws a checkerboard. Assume that the size of the applet is 160 by 160
pixels. Each square in the checkerboard is 20 by 20 pixels. The checkerboard contains 8 rows of squares
and 8 columns. The squares are red and black. Here is a tricky way to determine whether a given square is
red or black: If the row number and the column number are either both even or both odd, then the square is
red. Otherwise, it is black. Note that a square is just a rectangle in which the height is equal to the width, so
you can use the subroutine g.fillRect() to draw the squares. Here is an image of the checkerboard:

(To run an applet, you need a Web page to display it. A very simple page will do. Assume that your applet
class is called Checkerboard, so that when you compile it you get a class file named
Checkerboard.class Make a file that contains only the lines:
<applet code="Checkerboard.class" width=160 height=160>
</applet>

Call this file Checkerboard.html. This is the source code for a simple Web page that shows nothing
but your applet. You can open the file in a Web browser or with Sun's appletviewer program. The compiled
class file, Checkerboard.class, must be in the same directory with the Web-page file,
Checkerboard.html.)
See the solution!

Exercise 3.6: Write an animation applet that shows a checkerboard pattern in which the even numbered
rows slide to the left while the odd numbered rows slide to the right. You can assume that the applet is 160
by 160 pixels. Each row should be offset from its usual position by the amount getFrameNumber() %
40. Hints: Anything you draw outside the boundaries of the applet will be invisible, so you can draw more
than 8 squares in a row. You can use negative values of x in g.fillRect(x,y,w,h). Here is a working
solution to this exercise:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/exercises.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:14 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Exercises

Your applet will extend the non-standard class, SimpleAnimationApplet, which was introduced in
Section 7. When you run your applet, the compiled class file, SimpleAnimationApplet.class,
must be in the same directory as your Web-page source file and the compiled class file for your own class.
Assuming that the name of your class is SlidingCheckerboard, then the source file for the Web page
should contain the lines:
<applet code="SlidingCheckerboard.class" width=160 height=160>
</applet>

See the solution!

[ Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/exercises.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:14 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Quiz

Quiz Questions
For Chapter 3

THIS PAGE CONTAINS A SAMPLE quiz on material from Chapter 3 of this on-line Java textbook. You
should be able to answer these questions after studying that chapter. Sample answers to all the quiz
questions can be found here.

Question 1: Explain briefly what is meant by "pseudocode" and how is it useful in the development of
algorithms.

Question 2: What is a block statement? How are block statements used in Java programs.

Question 3: What is the main difference between a while loop and a do..while loop?

Question 4: What does it mean to prime a loop?

Question 5: Explain what is meant by an animation and how a computer displays an animation.

Question 6: Write a for loop that will print out all the multiples of 3 from 3 to 36, that is: 3 6 9 12 15 18
21 24 27 30 33 36.

Question 7: Fill in the following main() routine so that it will ask the user to enter an integer, read the
user's response, and tell the user whether the number entered is even or odd. (You can use
TextIO.getInt() to read the integer. Recall that an integer n is even if n % 2 == 0.)
public static void main(String[] args) {

// Fill in the body of this subroutine!

Question 8: Show the exact output that would be produced by the following main() routine:
public static void main(String[] args) {
int N;
N = 1;
while (N <= 32) {
N = 2 * N;
System.out.println(N);
}
}

Question 9: Show the exact output produced by the following main() routine:
public static void main(String[] args) {
int x,y;
x = 5;
y = 1;
while (x > 0) {
x = x - 1;
y = y * x;
System.out.println(y);
}
}

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/quiz.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:36:14 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 3 Quiz

Question 10: What output is produced by the following program segment? Why? (Recall that
name.charAt(i) is the i-th character in the string, name.)
String name;
int i;
boolean startWord;

name = "Richard M. Nixon";

startword = true;
for (i = 0; i < name.length(); i++) {
if (startWord)
System.out.println(name.charAt(i));
if (name.charAt(i) == ' ')
startWord = true;
else
startWord = false;
}

[ Answers | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c3/quiz.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:36:14 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 4 Index

Chapter 4

Programming in the Large I

Subroutines

ONE WAY TO BREAK UP A COMPLEX PROGRAM into manageable pieces is to use subroutines. A
subroutine consists of the instructions for carrying out a certain task, grouped together and given a name.
Elsewhere in the program, that name can be used as a stand-in for the whole set of instructions. As a
computer executes a program, whenever it encounters a subroutine name, it executes all the instructions
necessary to carry out the task associated with that subroutine.

Subroutines can be used over and over, at different places in the program. A subroutine can even be used
inside another subroutine. This allows you to write simple subroutines and then use them to help write more
complex subroutines, which can then be used in turn in other subroutines. In this way, very complex
programs can be built up step-by-step, where each step in the construction is reasonably simple.

As mentioned in Section 3.7, subroutines in Java can be either static or non-static. This chapter covers static
subroutines only. Non-static subroutines, which are used in true object-oriented programming, will be
covered in the next chapter.

Contents of Chapter 4:
● Section 1: Black Boxes
● Section 2: Static Subroutines and Static Variables
● Section 3: Parameters
● Section 4: Return Values
● Section 5: Toolboxes, API's, and Packages
● Section 6: More on Program Design
● Section 7: The Truth about Declarations
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

[ First Section | Next Chapter | Previous Chapter | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/ [5/24/2000 8:36:46 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.1

Section 4.1
Black Boxes

A SUBROUTINE CONSISTS OF INSTRUCTIONS for performing some task, chunked together and
given a name. "Chunking" allows you to deal with a potentially very complicated task as a single concept.
Instead of worrying about the many, many steps that the computer might have to go though to perform that
task, you just need to remember the name of the subroutine. Whenever you want your program to perform
the task, you just call the subroutine. Subroutines are a major tool for dealing with complexity.

A subroutine is sometimes said to be a "black box" because you can't see what's "inside" it (or, to be more
precise, you usually don't want to see inside it, because then you would have to deal with all the complexity
that the subroutine is meant to hide). Of course, a black box that has no way of interacting with the rest of
the world would be pretty useless. A black box needs some kind of interface with the rest of the world,
which allows some interaction between what's inside the box and what's outside. A physical black box
might have buttons on the outside that you can push, dials that you can set, and slots that can be used for
passing information back and forth. Since we are trying to hide complexity, not create it, we have the first
rule of black boxes:
The interface of a black box should be fairly straightforward, well-defined, and easy to
understand.

Are there any examples of black boxes in the real world? Yes; in fact, you are surrounded by them. Your
television, your car, your VCR, your refrigerator... You can turn your television on and off, change
channels, and set the volume by using elements of the television's interface -- dials, remote control, don't
forget to plug in the power -- without understand anything about how the thing actually works. The same
goes for a VCR, although if stories about how hard people find it to set the time on a VCR are true, maybe
the VCR violates the simple interface rule.

Now, a black box does have an inside -- the code in a subroutine that actually performs the task, all the
electronics inside your television set. The inside of a black box is called its implementation. The second
rule of black boxes is that
To use a black box, you shouldn't need to know anything about its implementation; all
you need to know is its interface.

In fact, it should be possible to change the implementation, as long as the behavior of the box, as seen from
the outside, remains unchanged. For example, when the insides of TV sets went from using vacuum tubes to
using transistors, the users of the sets didn't even need to know about it -- or even know what it means.
Similarly, it should be possible to rewrite the inside of a subroutine, to use more efficient code, for example,
without affecting the programs that use that subroutine.

Of course, to have a black box, someone must have designed and built the implementation in the first place.
The black box idea works to the advantage of the implementor as well as of the user of the black box. After
all, the black box might be used in an unlimited number of different situations. The implementor of the
black box doesn't need to know about any of that. The implementor just needs to make sure that the box
performs its assigned task and interfaces correctly with the rest of the world. This is the third rule of black
boxes:
The implementor of a black box should not need to know anything about the larger
systems in which the box will be used.

In a way, a black box divides the world into two parts: the inside (implementation) and the outside. The
interface is at the boundary, connecting those two parts.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s1.html (1 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:36:47 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.1

By the way, you should not think of an interface as just the physical connection between the box and the
rest of the world. The interface also includes a specification of what the box does and how it can be
controlled by using the elements of the physical interface. It's not enough to say that a TV set has a power
switch; you need to specify that the power switch is used to turn the TV on and off!

To put this in computer science terms, the interface of a subroutine has a semantic as well as a syntactic
component. The syntactic part of the interface tells you just what you have to type in order to call the
subroutine. The semantic component specifies exactly what task the subroutine will accomplish. To write a
legal program, you need to know the syntactic specification of the subroutine. To understand the purpose of
the subroutine and to use it effectively, you need to know the subroutine's semantic specification. I will
refer to both parts of the interface -- syntactic and semantic -- collectively as the contract of the subroutine.

The contract of a subroutine says, essentially, "Here is what you have to do to use me, and here is what I
will do for you, guaranteed." When you write a subroutine, the comments that you write for the subroutine
should make the contract very clear. (I should admit that in practice, subroutines' contracts are often
inadequately specified, much to the regret and annoyance of the programmers who have to use them.)

For the rest of this chapter, I turn from general ideas about black boxes and subroutines in general to the
specifics of writing and using subroutines in Java. But keep the general ideas and principles in mind. They
are the reasons that subroutines exist in the first place, and they are your guidelines for using them. This
should be especially clear in Section 6, where I will discuss subroutines as a tool in program development.

You should keep in mind that subroutines are not the only example of black boxes in programming. For
example, a class is also a black box. We'll see that a class can have a "public" part, representing its
interface, and a "private" part that is entirely inside its hidden implementation. All the principles of black
boxes apply to classes as well as to subroutines.

[ Next Section | Previous Chapter | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s1.html (2 of 2) [5/24/2000 8:36:47 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

Section 4.2
Static Subroutines and Static Variables

EVERY SUBROUTINE IN JAVA MUST BE DEFINED inside some class. This makes Java rather
unusual among programming languages, since most languages allow free-floating, independent subroutines.
One purpose of a class is to group together related subroutines and variables. Perhaps the designers of Java
felt that everything must be related to something. As a less philosophical motivation, Java's designers
wanted to place firm controls on the ways things are named, since a Java program potentially has access to
a huge number of subroutines scattered all over the Internet. The fact that those subroutines are grouped
into named classes (and classes are grouped into named "packages") helps control the confusion that might
result from so many different names.

A subroutine that is a member of a class is often called a method, and "method" is the term that most people
prefer for subroutines in Java. I will start using the term "method" occasionally; however, I will continue to
prefer the term "subroutine" for static subroutines. I will use the term "method" most often to refer to
non-static subroutines, which belong to objects rather than to classes. This chapter will deal with static
subroutines almost exclusively. We'll turn to non-static methods and object-oriented programming in the
next chapter.

A subroutine definition in Java takes the form:

modifiers return-type subroutine-name ( parameter-list ) {
statements
}

It will take us a while -- most of the chapter -- to get through what all this means in detail. Of course, you've
already seen examples of subroutines in previous chapters, such as the main() routine of a program and
the paint() routine of an applet. So you are familiar with the general format.

The statements between the braces, { and }, make up the body of the subroutine. These statements are the
inside, or implementation part, of the "black box", as discussed in the previous section. They are the
instructions that the computer executes when the method is called. Subroutines can contain any of the
statements discussed in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

The modifiers that can occur at the beginning of a subroutine definition are words that set certain
characteristics of the method, such as whether it is static or not. The modifiers that you've seen so far are
"static" and "public". There are only about a half-dozen possible modifiers altogether.

If the subroutine is a function, whose job is to compute some value, then the return-type is used to specify
the type of value that is returned by the function. We'll be looking at functions and return types in some
detail in Section 4. If the subroutine is not a function, then the return-type is replaced by the special value
void, which indicates that no value is returned. The term "void" is meant to indicate that the return value is
empty or non-existent.

Finally, we come to the parameter-list of the method. Parameters are part of the interface of a subroutine.
They represent information that is passed into the subroutine from outside, to be used by the subroutine's
internal computations. For a concrete example, imagine a class named Television that includes a
method named changeChannel(). The immediate question is: What channel should it change to? A
parameter can be used to answer this question. Since the channel number is an integer, the type of the
parameter would be int, and the declaration of the changeChannel() method might look like

public void changeChannel(int channelNum) {...}

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (1 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

This declaration specifies that changeChannel() has a parameter named channelNum of type int.
However, channelNum does not yet have any particular value. A value for channelNum is provided
when the subroutine is called; for example: changeChannel(17);

The parameter list in a subroutine can be empty, or it can consist of one or more parameter declarations of
the form type parameter-name. If there are several declarations, they are separated by commas. Note
that each declaration can name only one parameter. For example, if you want two parameters of type
double, you have to say "double x, double y", rather than "double x, y".

Parameters are covered in more detail in the next section.

Here are a few examples of subroutine definitions, leaving out the statements that define what the
subroutines do:

public static void playGame() {

// "public" and "static" are modifiers; "void" is the
// return-type; "playGame" is the subroutine-name;
// the parameter-list is empty
. . . // statements that define what playGame does go here
}

int getNextN(int N) {
// there are no modifiers; "int" in the return-type
// "getNextN" is the subroutine-name; the parameter-list
// includes one parameter whose name is "N" and whose
// type is "int"
. . . // statements that define what getNextN does go here
}

static boolean lessThan(double x, double y) {

// "static" is a modifier; "boolean" is the
// return-type; "lessThan" is the subroutine-name; the
// parameter-list includes two parameters whose names are
// "x" and "y", and the type of each of these parameters
// is "double"
. . . // statements that define what lessThan does go here
}

In the second example given here, getNextN, is a non-static method, since its definition does not include
the modifier "static" -- and so its not an example that we should be looking at in this chapter! The other
modifier shown in the examples is "public". This modifier indicates that the method can be called from
anywhere in a program, even from outside the class where the method is defined. There is another modifier,
"private", which indicates that the method can be called only from inside the same class. The modifiers
public and private are called access specifiers. If no access specifier is given for a method, then by
default, that method can be called from anywhere in the "package" that contains the class, but not from
outside that package. (Packages were mentioned in Section 3.7, and you'll learn more about packages in this
chapter, in Section 5.) There is one other access modifier, protected, which will only become relevant
when we turn to object-oriented programming in Chapter 5.

Note, by the way, that the main() routine of a program follows the usual syntax rules for a subroutine. In
public static void main(String[] args) { .... }

the modifiers are public and static, the return type is void, the subroutine name is main, and the
parameter list is "String[] args". The only question might be about "String[]", which has to be a
type if it is to match the format of a parameter list. In fact, String[] represents a so-called "array type",
so the syntax is valid. We will cover arrays in Chapter 8. (The parameter, args, represents information
provided to the program when the main() routine is called by the system. In case you know the term, the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (2 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

information consists of any "command-line arguments" specified in the command that the user typed to run
the program.)

You've already had some experience with filling in the statements of a subroutine. In this chapter, you'll
learn all about writing your own complete subroutine definitions, including the interface part.

When you define a subroutine, all you are doing is telling the computer that the subroutine exists and what
it does. The subroutine doesn't actually get executed until it is called. (This is true even for the main()
routine in a class -- even though you don't call it, it is called by the system when the system runs your
program.) For example, the playGame() method defined above could be called using the following
subroutine call statement:
playGame();

This statement could occur anywhere in the same class that includes the definition of playGame(),
whether in a main() method or in some other subroutine. Since playGame() is a public method, it
can also be called from other classes, but in that case, you have to tell the computer which class it comes
from. Let's say, for example, that playGame() is defined in a class named Poker. Then to call
playGame() from outside the Poker class, you would have to say

Poker.playGame();

The use of the class name here tells the computer which class to look in to find the method. It also lets you
distinguish between Poker.playGame() and other potential playGame() methods defined in other
classes, such as Roulette.playGame() or Blackjack.playGame().

More generally, a subroutine call statement takes the form

subroutine-name(parameters);

if the subroutine that is being called is in the same class, or

class-name.subroutine-name(parameters);

if the subroutine is a static subroutine defined elsewhere, in a different class. (Non-static methods belong to
objects rather than classes, and they are called using object names instead of class names. More on that
later.) Note that the parameter list can be empty, as in the playGame() example, but the parentheses must
be there even if there is nothing between them.

It's time to give an example of what a complete program looks like, when it includes other subroutines in
addition to the main() routine. Let's write a program that plays a guessing game with the user. The
computer will choose a random number between 1 and 100, and the user will try to guess it. The computer
tells the user whether the guess is high or low or correct. If the user gets the number after six guesses or
fewer, the user wins the game. After each game, the user has the option of continuing with another game.

Since playing one game can be thought of as a single, coherent task, it makes sense to write a subroutine
that will play one guessing game with the user. The main() routine will use a loop to call the
playGame() subroutine over and over, as many times as the user wants to play. We approach the
problem of designing the playGame() subroutine the same way we write a main() routine: Start with
an outline of the algorithm and apply stepwise refinement. Here is a short pseudocode algorithm for a
guessing game program:
Pick a random number
while the game is not over:
Get the user's guess
Tell the user whether the guess is high, low, or correct.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (3 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

The test for whether the game is over is complicated, since the game ends if either the user makes a correct
guess or the number of guesses is six. As in many cases, the easiest thing to do is to use a "while
(true)" loop and use break to end the loop whenever we find a reason to do so. Also, if we are going to
end the game after six guesses, we'll have to keep track of the number of guesses that the user has made.
Filling out the algorithm gives:
Let computersNumber be a random number between 1 and 100
Let guessCount = 0
while (true):
Get the user's guess
Count the guess by adding 1 to guess count
if the user's guess equals computersNumber:
Tell the user he won
break out of the loop
if the number of guesses is 6:
Tell the user he lost
break out of the loop
if the user's guess is less than computersNumber:
Tell the user the guess was low
else if the user's guess is higher than computersNumber:
Tell the user the guess was high

With variable declarations added and translated into Java, this becomes the definition of the playGame()
routine. A random integer between 1 and 100 can be computed as (int)(100 * Math.random()) +
1. I've cleaned up the interaction with the user to make it flow better.

static void playGame() {

int computersNumber; // A random number picked by the computer.
int usersGuess; // A number entered by user as a guess.
int guessCount; // Number of guesses the user has made.
computersNumber = (int)(100 * Math.random()) + 1;
// The value assigned to computersNumber is a randomly
// chosen integer between 1 and 100, inclusive.
guessCount = 0;
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put("What is your first guess? ");
while (true) {
usersGuess = TextIO.getInt(); // get the user's guess
guessCount++;
if (usersGuess == computersNumber) {
TextIO.putln("You got it in " + guessCount
+ " guesses! My number was " + computersNumber);
break; // the game is over; the user has won
}
if (guessCount == 6) {
TextIO.putln("You didn't get the number in 6 guesses.");
TextIO.putln("You lose. My number was " + computersNumber);
break; // the game is over; the user has lost
}
// If we get to this point, the game continues.
// Tell the user if the guess was too high or too low.
if (usersGuess < computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too low. Try again: ");
else if (usersGuess > computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too high. Try again: ");
}
TextIO.putln();
} // end of playGame()

Now, where exactly should you put this? It should be part of the same class as the main() routine, but not

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (4 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

inside the main routine. It is not legal to have one subroutine physically nested inside another. The main()
routine will call playGame(), but not contain it physically. You can put the definition of playGame()
either before or after the main() routine. Java is not very picky about having the members of a class in
any particular order.

It's pretty easy to write the main routine. You've done things like this before. Here's what the complete
program looks like (except that a serious program needs more comments than I've included here).

public class GuessingGame {

public static void main(String[] args) {

TextIO.putln("Let's play a game. I'll pick a number between");
TextIO.putln("1 and 100, and you try to guess it.");
boolean playAgain;
do {
playGame(); // call subroutine to play one game
TextIO.put("Would you like to play again? ");
playAgain = TextIO.getlnBoolean();
} while (playAgain);
TextIO.putln("Thanks for playing. Goodbye.");
} // end of main()

static void playGame() {

int computersNumber; // A random number picked by the computer.
int usersGuess; // A number entered by user as a guess.
int guessCount; // Number of guesses the user has made.
computersNumber = (int)(100 * Math.random()) + 1;
// The value assigned to computersNumber is a randomly
// chosen integer between 1 and 100, inclusive.
guessCount = 0;
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put("What is your first guess? ");
while (true) {
usersGuess = TextIO.getInt(); // get the user's guess
guessCount++;
if (usersGuess == computersNumber) {
TextIO.putln("You got it in " + guessCount
+ " guesses! My number was " + computersNumber);
break; // the game is over; the user has won
}
if (guessCount == 6) {
TextIO.putln("You didn't get the number in 6 guesses.");
TextIO.putln("You lose. My number was " + computersNumber);
break; // the game is over; the user has lost
}
// If we get to this point, the game continues.
// Tell the user if the guess was too high or too low.
if (usersGuess < computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too low. Try again: ");
else if (usersGuess > computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too high. Try again: ");
}
TextIO.putln();
} // end of playGame()

} // end of class GuessingGame

Take some time to read the program carefully and figure out how it works. And try to convince yourself
that even in this relatively simple case, breaking up the program into two methods makes the program easier

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (5 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

to understand and probably made it easier to write each piece.

You can try out a simulation of this program here:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

A class can include other things besides subroutines. In particular, it can also include variable declarations.
Of course, you can have variable declarations inside subroutines. Those are called local variables.
However, you can also have variables that are not part of any subroutine. To distinguish such variables
from local variables, we call them member variables, since they are members of a class.

Just as with subroutines, member variables can be either static or non-static. In this chapter, we'll stick to
static variables. A static member variable belongs to the class itself, and it exists as long as the class exists.
Memory is allocated for the variable when the class is first loaded by the Java interpreter. Any assignment
statement that assigns a value to the variable changes the content of that memory, no matter where that
assignment statement is located in the program. Any time the variable is used in an expression, the value is
fetched from that same memory, no matter where the expression is located in the program. This means that
the value of a static member variable can be set in one subroutine and used in another subroutine. Static
member variables are "shared" by all the static subroutines in the class. A local variable in a subroutine, on
the other hand, exists only while that subroutine is being executed, and is completely inaccessible from
outside that one subroutine.

The declaration of a member variable looks just like the declaration of a local variable except for two
things: The member variable is declared outside any subroutine (although it still has to be inside a class),
and the declaration can be marked with modifiers such as static, public, and private. Since we are
only working with static member variables for now, every declaration of a member variable in this chapter
will include the modifier static. For example:
static int numberOfPlayers;
static String usersName;
static double velocity, time;

A static member variable that is not declared to be private can be accessed from outside the class where
it is defined, as well as inside. When it is used in some other class, it must be referred to with a compound
identifier of the form class-name.variable-name. For example, the System class contains the public static
member variable named out, and you use this variable in your own classes by referring to System.out.
If numberOfPlayers is a public static member variable in a class named Poker, subroutines in the
Poker class would refer to it simply as numberOfPlayers. Subroutines in another class would refer to
it as Poker.numberOfPlayers.

As an example, let's add a static member variable to the GuessingGame class that we wrote earlier in this
section. This variable will be used to keep track of how many games the user wins. We'll call the variable
gamesWon and declare it with the statement "static int gamesWon;" In the playGame() routine,
we add 1 to gamesWon if the user wins the game. At the end of the main() routine, we print out the
value of gamesWon. It would be impossible to do the same thing with a local variable, since we need
access to the same variable from both subroutines.

When you declare a local variable in a subroutine, you have to assign a value to that variable before you can
do anything with it. Member variables, on the other hand are automatically initialized with a default value.
For numeric variables, the default value is zero. For boolean variables, the default is false. And for
char variables, it's the unprintable character that has Unicode code number zero. (For objects, such as
Strings, the default initial value is a special value called null, which we won't encounter officially until
later.)

Since it is of type int, the static member variable gamesWon automatically gets assigned an initial value

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (6 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

of zero. This happens to be the correct initial value for a variable that is being used as a counter. You can,
of course, assign a different value to the variable at the beginning of the main() routine if you are not
satisfied with the default initial value.

Here's a revised version of GuessingGame.java that includes the gamesWon variable. The changes
from the above version are shown in red:

public class GuessingGame2 {

static int gamesWon; // The number of games won by

// the user.

public static void main(String[] args) {

gamesWon = 0; // This is actually redundant, since 0 is
// the default initial value.
TextIO.putln("Let's play a game. I'll pick a number between");
TextIO.putln("1 and 100, and you try to guess it.");
boolean playAgain;
do {
playGame(); // call subroutine to play one game
TextIO.put("Would you like to play again? ");
playAgain = TextIO.getlnBoolean();
} while (playAgain);
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("You won " + gamesWon + " games.");
TextIO.putln("Thanks for playing. Goodbye.");
} // end of main()

static void playGame() {

int computersNumber; // A random number picked by the computer.
int usersGuess; // A number entered by user as a guess.
int guessCount; // Number of guesses the user has made.
computersNumber = (int)(100 * Math.random()) + 1;
// The value assigned to computersNumber is a randomly
// chosen integer between 1 and 100, inclusive.
guessCount = 0;
TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put("What is your first guess? ");
while (true) {
usersGuess = TextIO.getInt(); // get the user's guess
guessCount++;
if (usersGuess == computersNumber) {
TextIO.putln("You got it in " + guessCount
+ " guesses! My number was " + computersNumber);
gamesWon++; // Count this game by incrementing gamesWon.
break; // the game is over; the user has won
}
if (guessCount == 6) {
TextIO.putln("You didn't get the number in 6 guesses.");
TextIO.putln("You lose. My number was " + computersNumber);
break; // the game is over; the user has lost
}
// If we get to this point, the game continues.
// Tell the user if the guess was too high or too low.
if (usersGuess < computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too low. Try again: ");
else if (usersGuess > computersNumber)
TextIO.put("That's too high. Try again: ");
}
TextIO.putln();

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (7 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.2

} // end of playGame()

} // end of class GuessingGame2

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s2.html (8 of 8) [5/24/2000 8:36:48 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

Section 4.3
Parameters

IF A SUBROUTINE IS A BLACK BOX, then a parameter provides a mechanism for passing information
from the outside world into the box. Parameters are part of the interface of a subroutine. They allow you to
customize the behavior of a subroutine to adapt it to a particular situation.

As an analogy, consider a thermostat -- a black box whose task it is to keep your house at a certain
temperature. The thermostat has a parameter, namely the dial that is used to set the desired temperature. The
thermostat always performs the same task: maintaining a constant temperature. However, the exact task that
it performs -- that is, which temperature it maintains -- is customized by the setting on its dial.

As an example, let's go back to the "3N+1" problem that was discussed in Section 3.2. (Recall that a 3N+1
sequence is computed according to the rule, "if N is odd, multiply by 3 and add 1; if N is even, divide by 2;
continue until N is equal to 1." For example, starting from N=3 we get the sequence: 3, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1.)
Suppose that we want to write a subroutine to print out such sequences. The subroutine will always perform
the same task: Print out a 3N+1 sequence. But the exact sequence it prints out depends on the starting value
of N. So, the starting value of N would be a parameter to the subroutine. The subroutine could be written
like this:

static void Print3NSequence(int startingValue) {

// Prints a 3N+1 sequence to standard output, using

// startingValue as the initial value of N. It also
// prints the number of terms in the sequence.
// The value of the parameter, startingValue, must
// be a positive integer.

int N; // One of the terms in the sequence.

int count; // The number of terms.

N = startingValue; // The first term is whatever value

// is passed to the subroutine as
// a parameter.

int count = 1; // We have one term, the starting value, so far.

TextIO.putln("The 3N+1 sequence starting from " + N);

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln(N); // print initial term of sequence

while (N > 1) {
if (N % 2 == 1) // is N odd?
N = 3 * N + 1;
else
N = N / 2;
count++; // count this term
TextIO.putln(N); // print this term
}

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("There were " + count + " terms in the sequence.");

} // end of Print3NSequence()

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

The parameter list of this subroutine, "(int startingValue)", specifies that the subroutine has one
parameter, of type int. When the subroutine is called, a value must be provided for this parameter. This
value is assigned to the parameter, startingValue, before the body of the subroutine is executed. For
example, the subroutine could be called using the subroutine call statement
"Print3NSequence(17);". When the computer executes this statement, the computer assigns the
value 17 to startingValue and then executes the statements in the subroutine. This prints the 3N+1
sequence starting from 17. If K is a variable of type int, then when the computer executes the subroutine
call statement "Print3NSequence(K);", it will take the value of the variable K, assign that value to
startingValue, and execute the body of the subroutine.

The class that contains Print3NSequence can contain a main() routine (or other subroutines) that call
Print3NSequence. For example, here is a main() program that prints out 3N+1 sequences for various
starting values specified by the user:

public static void main(String[] args) {

TextIO.putln("This program will print out 3N+1 sequences");
TextIO.putln("for starting values that you specify.");
TextIO.putln();
int K; // Input from user; loop ends when K < 0.
do {
TextIO.putln("Enter a starting value;")
TextIO.put("To end the program, enter 0: ");
K = TextIO.getInt(); // get starting value from user
if (K > 0) // print sequence, but only if K is > 0
Print3NSequence(K);
} while (K > 0); // continue only if K > 0
} // end main()

Note that the term "parameter" is used to refer to two different, but related, concepts. There are parameters
that are used in the definitions of subroutines, such as startingValue in the above example. And there
are parameters that are used in subroutine call statements, such as the K in the statement
"Print3NSequence(K);". Parameters in a subroutine definition are called formal parameters or
dummy parameters. The parameters that are passed to a subroutine when it is called are called actual
parameters. When a subroutine is called, the actual parameters in the subroutine call statement are evaluated
and the values are assigned to the formal parameters in the subroutine's definition. Then the body of the
subroutine is executed.

A formal parameter must be an identifier, that is, a name. A formal parameter is very much like a variable,
and -- like a variable -- it has a specified type such as int, boolean, or String. An actual parameter is
a value, and so it can be specified by any expression, provided that the expression computes a value of the
correct type. (The type of the actual parameter must be one that could legally be assigned to the formal
parameter with an assignment statement. For example, if the formal parameter is of type double, then it
would be legal to pass an int as the actual parameter since ints can legally be assigned to doubles.)
When you call a subroutine, you must provide one actual parameter for each formal parameter in the
subroutine's definition. Consider, for example, a subroutine
static void doTask(int N, double x, boolean test) {
// statements to perform the task go here
}

This subroutine might be called with the statement

doTask(17, Math.sqrt(z+1), z >= 10);

When the computer executes this statement, it has essentially the same effect as the block of statements:
{

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

int N; // Allocate memory locations for the formal parameters.

double x;
boolean test;
N = 17; // Assign 17 to the first formal parameter, N.
x = Math.sqrt(z+1); // Compute Math.sqrt(z+1), and assign it to
// the second formal parameter, x.
test = (z >= 10); // Evaluate "z >= 10" and assign the resulting
// true/false value to the third formal
// parameter, test.
// statements to perform the task go here
}

(There are a few technical differences between this and "doTask(17,Math.sqrt(z+1),z>=10);" --

besides the amount of typing -- because of questions about scope of variables and what happens when
several variables or parameters have the same name.)

Beginning programming students often find parameters to be surprisingly confusing. Calling a subroutine
that already exists is not a problem -- the idea of providing information to the subroutine in a parameter is
clear enough. Writing the subroutine definition is another matter. A common mistake is to assign values to
the formal parameters in the subroutine, or to ask the user to input their values. This represents a
fundamental misunderstanding. When the statements in the subroutine are executed, the formal parameters
will already have values. The values come from the subroutine call statement. Remember that a subroutine
is not independent. It is called by some other routine, and it is the calling routine's responsibility to provide
appropriate values for the parameters.

In order to call a subroutine legally, you need to know its name, you need to know how many formal
parameters it has, and you need to know the type of each parameter. This information is called the
subroutine's signature. We could write the signature of the subroutine doTask as:
doTask(int,double,boolean). Note that the signature does not include the names of the parameters; in fact, if
you just want to use the subroutine, you don't even need to know what the formal parameter names are, so
the names are not part of the interface.

Java is somewhat unusual in that it allows two different subroutines in the same class to have the same
name, provided that their signatures are different. (The language C++ on which Java is based also has this
feature.) We say that the name of the subroutine is overloaded because it has several different meanings.
The computer doesn't get the subroutines mixed up. It can tell which one you want to call by the number
and types of the actual parameters that you provide in the subroutine call statement. You have already seen
overloading used in the TextIO class. This class includes many different methods named putln, for
example. These methods all have different signatures, such as:
putln(int) putln(int,int) putln(double)
putln(String) putln(String,int) putln(char)
putln(boolean) putln(boolean,int) putln()

Of course all these different subroutines are semantically related, which is why it is acceptable
programming style to use the same name for them all. But as far as the computer is concerned, printing out
an int is very different from printing out a String, which is different from printing out a boolean, and
so forth -- so that each of these operations requires a different method.

Note, by the way, that the signature does not include the subroutine's return type. It is illegal to have two
subroutines in the same class that have the same signature but that have different return types. For example,
it would be a syntax error for a class to contain two methods defined as:
int getln() { ... }
double getln() { ... }

So it should be no surprise that in the TextIO class, the methods for reading different types are not all
named getln(). In a given class, there can only be one routine that has the name getln and has no

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

parameters. The input routines in TextIO are distinguished by having different names, such as
getlnInt() and getlnDouble().

Let's do a few examples of writing small subroutines to perform assigned tasks. Of course, this is only one
side of programming with subroutines. The task performed by a subroutine is always a subtask in a larger
program. The art of designing those programs -- of deciding how to break them up into subtasks -- is the
other side of programming with subroutines. We'll return to the question of program design in Section 6.

As a first example, let's write a subroutine to compute and print out all the divisors of a given positive
integer. The integer will be a parameter to the subroutine.

Remember that the format of any subroutine is

modifiers return-type subroutine-name ( parameter-list ) {
statements
}

Writing a subroutine always means filling out this format. The assignment tells us that there is one
parameter, of type int, and it tells us what the statements in the body of the subroutine should do. Since
we are only working with static subroutines for now, we'll need to use static as a modifier. We could
add an access modifier (public or private), but in the absence of any instructions, I'll leave it out.
Since we are not told to return a value, the return type is void. Since no names are specified, we'll have to
make up names for the formal parameter and for the subroutine itself. I'll use N for the parameter and
printDivisors for the subroutine name. The subroutine will look like
static void printDivisors( int N ) {
statements
}

and all we have left to do is to write the statements that make up the body of the routine. This is not
difficult. Just remember that you have to write the body assuming that N already has a value! The algorithm
is: "For each possible divisor D in the range from 1 to N, if D evenly divides N, then print D." Written in
Java, this becomes:
static void printDivisors( int N ) {
// Print all the divisors of N.
// We assume that N is a positive integer.
int D; // One of the possible divisors of N.
System.out.println("The divisors of " + N + " are:");
for ( D = 1; D <= N; D++ ) {
if ( N % D == 0 )
System.out.println(D);
}
}

I've added comments indicating the contract of the subroutine -- that is, what it does and what assumptions
it makes. The contract includes the assumption that N is a positive integer. It is up to the caller of the
subroutine to make sure that this assumption is satisfied.

As a second short example, consider the assignment: Write a subroutine named printRow. It should have
a parameter ch of type char and a parameter N of type int. The subroutine should print out a line of text
containing N copies of the character ch.

Here, we are told the name of the subroutine and the names of the two parameters, so we don't have much
choice about the first line of the subroutine definition. The task in this case is pretty simple, so the body of
the subroutine is easy to write. The complete subroutine is given by
static void printRow( char ch, int N ) {
// Write one line of output containing N copies of the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

// character ch. If N <= 0, an empty line is output.

int i; // Loop-control variable for counting off the copies.
for ( i = 1; i <= N; i++ ) {
System.out.print( ch );
}
System.out.println();
}

Note that in this case, the contract makes no assumption about N, but it makes it clear what will happen in
all cases, including the unexpected case that N < 0.

Finally, let's do an example that shows how one subroutine can build on another. Let's write a subroutine
that takes a String as a parameter. For each character in the string, it will print a line of output containing
25 copies of that character. It should use the printRow() subroutine to produce the output.

Again, we get to choose a name for the subroutine and a name for the parameter. I'll call the subroutine
printRowsFromString and the parameter str The algorithm is pretty clear: For each position i in the
string str, call printRow(str.charAt(i),25) to print one line of the output. So, we get:
static void printRowsFromString( String str ) {
// For each character in str, write a line of output
// containing 25 copies of that character.
int i; // Loop-control variable for counting off the chars.
for ( i = 0; i < str.length(); i++ ) {
printRow( str.charAt(i), 25 );
}
}

We could use printRowsFromString in a main() routine such as

public static void main(String[] args) {
String inputLine; // Line of text input by user.
TextIO.put("Enter a line of text: ");
inputLine = TextIO.getln();
TextIO.putln();
printRowsFromString( inputLine );
}

Of course, the three routines, main(), printRowsFromString(), and printRow(), would have to
be collected together inside the same class.The program is rather useless, but it does demonstrate the use of
subroutines. You'll find the program in the file RowsOfChars.java, if you want to take a look. Here's an
applet that simulates the program:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

I'll finish this section on parameters by noting that we now have three different sorts of variables that can be
used inside a subroutine: local variables defined in the subroutine, formal parameter names, and static
member variables that are defined outside the subroutine but inside the same class as the subroutine.

Local variables have no connection to the outside world; they are purely part of the internal working of the
subroutine. Parameters are used to "drop" values into the subroutine when it is called, but once the
subroutine starts executing, parameters act much like local variables. Changes made inside a subroutine to a
formal parameter have no effect on the rest of the program (at least if the type of the parameter is one of the
primitive types -- things are more complicated in the case of objects, as we'll see later).

Things are different when a subroutine uses a variable that is defined outside the subroutine. That variable
exists independently of the subroutine, and it is accessible to other parts of the program, as well as to the
subroutine. Such a variable is said to be global to the subroutine, as opposed to the "local" variables defined

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.3

inside the subroutine. The scope of a global variable includes the entire class in which it is defined. Changes
made to a global variable can have effects that extend outside the subroutine where the changes are made.
You've seen how this works in the last example in the previous section, where the value of the global
variable, gamesWon, is computed inside a subroutine and is used in the main() routine.

It's not always bad to use global variables in subroutines, but you should realize that the global variable then
has to be considered part of the subroutine's interface. The subroutine uses the global variable to
communicate with the rest of the program. This is a kind of sneaky, back-door communication that is less
visible than communication done through parameters, and it risks violating the rule that the interface of a
black box should be straightforward and easy to understand. So before you use a global variable in a
subroutine, you should consider whether it's really necessary.

I don't advise you to take an absolute stand against using global variables inside subroutines. There is at
least one good reason to do it: If you think of the class as a whole as being a kind of black box, it can be
very reasonable to let the subroutines inside that box be a little sneaky about communicating with each
other, if that will make the class as a whole look simpler from the outside.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s3.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:49 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

Section 4.4
Return Values

A SUBROUTINE THAT RETURNS A VALUE is called a function. A given function can only a return
value of a specified type, called the return type of the function. A function call generally occurs in a
position where the computer is expecting to find a value, such as the right side of an assignment statement,
as an actual parameter in a subroutine call, or in the middle of some larger expression. A boolean-valued
function can even be used as the test condition in an if, while, or do..while statement.
(It is also legal to use a function call as a stand-alone statement, just as if it were a regular subroutine. In
this case, the computer ignores the value computed by the subroutine. Sometimes this makes sense. For
example, the function TextIO.getln(), with a return type of String, reads and returns a line of input
typed in by the user. Usually, the line that is returned is assigned to a variable to be used later in the
program, as in the statement "name = TextIO.getln();". However, this function is also useful as a
subroutine call statement "TextIO.getln();", which still reads all input up to and including the next
carriage return. Since this input is not assigned to a variable or used in an expression, it is simply discarded.
Sometimes, discarding unwanted input is exactly what you need to do.)

You've already seen how functions such as Math.sqrt() and TextIO.getInt() can be used. What
you haven't seen is how to write functions of your own. A function takes the same form as a regular
subroutine, except that you have to specify the value that is to be returned by the subroutine. This is done
with a return statement, which takes the form:

return expression;

Such a return statement can only occur inside the definition of a function, and the type of the expression
must match the return type that was specified for the function. (More exactly, it must be legal to assign the
expression to a variable whose type is specified by the return type.) When the computer executes this
return statement, it evaluates the expression, terminates execution of the function, and uses the value of
the expression as the returned value of the function.

For example, consider the function definition

static double pythagorus(double x, double y) {
// Computes the length of the hypotenuse of a right
// triangle, where the sides of the triangle are x and y.
return Math.sqrt(x*x + y*y);
}

Suppose the computer executes the statement "totalLength = 17 + pythagorus(12,5);".

When it gets to the term pythagorus(12,5), it assigns the actual parameters 12 and 5 to the formal
parameters x and y in the function. In the body of the function, it evaluates Math.sqrt(12.0*12.0 +
5.0*5.0), which works out to 13.0. This value is returned, so it replaces the function call in the
statement "totalLength = 17 + pythagorus(12,5);". The return value is added to 17, and the
result, 30.0, is stored in the variable, totalLength. The effect is the same as if the statement had been
"totalLength = 17 + 13.0;".

(Inside an ordinary subroutine -- with declared return type "void" -- you can use a return statement with
no expression to immediately terminate execution of the subroutine and return control back to the point in
the program from which the subroutine was called. This can be convenient if you want to terminate
execution somewhere in the middle of the subroutine, but return statements are fairly rare in
non-function subroutines. In a function, on the other hand, a return statement, with expression, is always
required.)

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

Here is a very simple function that could be used in a program to compute 3N+1 sequences. (The 3N+1
sequence problem is one we've looked at several times already.) Given one term in a 3N+1 sequence, this
function computes the next term of the sequence:
static int nextN(int currentN) {
if (currentN % 2 == 1) // test if current N is odd
return 3*currentN + 1; // if so, return this value
else
return currentN / 2; // if not, return this instead
}

Exactly one of the two return statements is executed to give the value of the function. A return
statement can occur anywhere in a function. Some people, however, prefer to use a single return
statement at the very end of the function. This allows the reader to find the return statement easily. You
might choose to write nextN() like this, for example:
static int nextN(int currentN) {
int answer; // answer will be the value returned
if (currentN % 2 == 1) // test if current N is odd
answer = 3*currentN+1; // if so, this is the answer
else
answer = currentN / 2; // if not, this is the answer
return answer; // (Don't forget to return the answer!)
}

Here is a subroutine that uses this nextN function. In this case, the improvement from the version in
Section 3 is not great, but if nextN() were a long function that performed a complex computation, then it
would make a lot of sense to hide that complexity inside a function:
static void Print3NSequence(int startingValue) {

// Prints a 3N+1 sequence to standard output, using

// startingValue as the initial value of N. It also
// prints the number of terms in the sequence.
// The value of startingValue must be a positive integer.

int N; // One of the terms in the sequence.

int count; // The number of terms found.

N = startingValue; // Start the sequence with startingValue;

count = 1;

TextIO.putln("The 3N+1 sequence starting from " + N);

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln(N); // print initial term of sequence

while (N > 1) {
N = nextN( N ); // Compute next term,
// using the function nextN.
count++; // Count this term.
TextIO.putln(N); // Print this term.
}

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.putln("There were " + count + " terms in the sequence.");

} // end of Print3NSequence()

Here are a few more examples of functions. The first one computes a letter grade corresponding to a given
numerical grade, on a typical grading scale:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

static char letterGrade(int numGrade) {

// Returns the letter grade corresponding to

// the numerical grade, numGrade.

if (numGrade >= 90)

return 'A'; // 90 or above gets an A
else if (numGrade >= 80)
return 'B'; // 80 to 89 gets a B
else if (numGrade >= 65)
return 'C'; // 65 to 79 gets a C
else if (numGrade >= 50)
return 'D'; // 50 to 64 gets a D
else
return 'F'; // anything else gets an F

} // end of function letterGrade()

The type of the return value of letterGrade() is char. Functions can return values of any type at all.
Here's a function whose return value is of type boolean. It demonstrates some interesting programming
points, so you should read the comments:
static boolean isPrime(int N) {

// Returns true if N is a prime number. A prime number

// is an integer greater than 1 that is not divisible
// by any positive integer, except itself and 1. If N has
// any divisor, D, in the range 1 < D < N, then it
// has a divisor in the range 2 to Math.sqrt(N), namely
// either D itself or N/D. So we only test possible
// divisors from 2 to Math.sqrt(N).

int divisor; // A number we will testing to see whether it

// evenly divides N.

if (N <= 1)
return false; // No number <= 1 is a prime.

int maxToTry = (int)Math.sqrt(N);

// We will try to divide N by numbers between
// 2 and maxToTry; If N is not evenly divisible
// by any of these numbers, then N is prime.
// (Note that since Math.sqrt(N) is defined to
// return a value of type double, the value
// must be typecast to type int before it can
// be assigned to maxToTry.)

for (divisor = 2; divisor <= maxToTry; divisor++) {

if ( N % divisor == 0 ) // Test if divisor evenly divides N.
return false; // If so, we know N is not prime.
// No need to continue testing.
}

// If we get to this point, N must be prime. Otherwise,

// the function would already have been terminated by
// a return statement in the previous for loop.

return true; // Yes, N is prime.

} // end of function isPrime()

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

Finally, here is a function with return type String. This function has a String as parameter. The
returned value is a reversed copy of the parameter. For example, the reverse of "Hello World" is "dlroW
olleH". The algorithm for computing the reverse of a string, str, is to start with an empty string and then
to append each character from str, starting from the last character of str and working backwards to the
first.

static String reverse(String str) {

// Returns a reversed copy of str.
String copy; // The reversed copy.
int i; // One of the positions in str,
// from str.length() - 1 down to 0.
copy = ""; // Start with an empty string.
for ( i = str.length() - 1; i >= 0; i-- ) {
// Append i-th char of str to copy.
copy = copy + str.charAt(i);
}
return copy;
}

A palindrome is a string that reads the same backwards and forwards, such as "radar". The reverse()
function could be used to check whether a string, word, is a palindrome by testing
"if (word.equals(reverse(word))".

By the way, a typical beginner's error in writing functions is to print out the answer, instead of returning it.
This represents a fundamental misunderstanding. The task of a function is to compute a value and return it
to the point in the program where the function was called. That's where the value is used. Maybe it will be
printed out. Maybe it will be assigned to a variable. Maybe it will be used in an expression. But it's not for
the function to decide.

I'll finish this section with a complete new version of the 3N+1 program. This will give me a chance to
show the function nextN(), which was defined above, used in a complete program. I'll also take the
opportunity to improve the program by getting it to print the terms of the sequence in columns, with five
terms on each line. This will make the output more presentable. This idea is this: Keep track of how many
terms have been printed on the current line; when that number gets up to 5, start a new line of output. To
make the terms line up into columns, I will use the version of TextIO.put() with signature put(int,int).
The second int parameter tells how wide the columns should be.

public class ThreeN2 {

/*
A program that computes and displays several 3N+1
sequences. Starting values for the sequences are
input by the user. Terms in a sequence are printed
in columns, with five terms on each line of output.
After a sequence has been displayed, the number of
terms in that sequence is reported to the user.
*/

public static void main(String[] args) {

TextIO.putln("This program will print out 3N+1 sequences");

TextIO.putln("for starting values that you specify.");
TextIO.putln();

int K; // Starting point for sequence, specified by the user.

do {
TextIO.putln("Enter a starting value;");

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

TextIO.put("To end the program, enter 0: ");

K = TextIO.getInt(); // get starting value from user
if (K > 0) // print sequence, but only if K is > 0
Print3NSequence(K);
} while (K > 0); // continue only if K > 0

} // end main()

static void Print3NSequence(int startingValue) {

// Prints a 3N+1 sequence to standard output, using

// startingValue as the initial value of N. Terms are
// printed five to a line. The subroutine also
// prints the number of terms in the sequence.
// The value of startingValue must be a positive integer.

int N; // One of the terms in the sequence.

int count; // The number of terms found.
int onLine; // The number of terms that have been output
// so far on the current line.

N = startingValue; // Start the sequence with startingValue;

count = 1; // We have one term so far.

TextIO.putln("The 3N+1 sequence starting from " + N);

TextIO.putln();
TextIO.put(N, 8); // Print initial term, using 8 characters.
onLine = 1; // There's now 1 term on current output line.

while (N > 1) {
N = nextN(N); // compute next term
count++; // count this term
if (onLine == 5) { // If current output line is full
TextIO.putln(); // ...then output a carriage return
onLine = 0; // ...and note that there are no terms
// on the new line.
}
TextIO.put(N, 8); // Print this term in an 8-char column.
onLine++; // Add 1 to the number of terms on this line.
}

TextIO.putln(); // end current line of output

TextIO.putln(); // and then add a blank line
TextIO.putln("There were " + count + " terms in the sequence.");

} // end of Print3NSequence()

static int nextN(int currentN) {

// Computes and returns the next term in a 3N+1 sequence,
// given that the current term is currentN.
if (currentN % 2 == 1)
return 3 * currentN + 1;
else
return currentN / 2;
} // end of nextN()

} // end of class ThreeN2

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.4

You should read this program carefully and try to understand how it works. Here is an applet version for
you to try:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s4.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:50 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.5

Section 4.5
Toolboxes, API's, and Packages

AS COMPUTERS AND THEIR USER INTERFACES have become easier to use, they have also become
more complex for programmers to deal with. You can write programs for a simple console-style user
interface using just a few subroutines that write output to the console and read the user's typed replies. A
modern graphical user interface, with windows, buttons, scroll bars, menus, text-input boxes, and so on,
might make things easier for the user. But it forces the programmer to cope with a hugely expanded array of
possibilities. The programmer sees this increased complexity in the form of great numbers of subroutines
that are provided for managing the user interface, as well as for other purposes.

Someone who wants to program for Macintosh computers -- and to produce programs that look and behave
the way users expect them to -- must deal with the Macintosh Toolbox, a collection of well over a thousand
different subroutines. There are routines for opening and closing windows, for drawing geometric figures
and text to windows, for adding buttons to windows, and for responding to mouse clicks on the window.
There are other routines for creating menus and for reacting to user selections from menus. Aside from the
user interface, there are routines for opening files and reading data from them, for communicating over a
network, for sending output to a printer, for handling communication between programs, and in general for
doing all the standard things that a computer has to do. Windows 98 and Windows 3.1 provide their own
sets of subroutines for programmers to use, and they are quite a bit different from the subroutines used on
the Mac.

The analogy of a "toolbox" is a good one to keep in mind. Every programming project involves a mixture of
innovation and reuse of existing tools. A programmer is given a set of tools to work with, starting with the
set of basic tools that are built into the language: things like variables, assignment statements, if statements,
and loops. To these, the programmer can add existing toolboxes full of routines that have already been
written for performing certain tasks. These tools, if they are well-designed, can be used as true black boxes:
They can be called to perform their assigned tasks without worrying about the particular steps they go
through to accomplish those tasks. The innovative part of programming is to take all these tools and apply
them to some particular project or problem (word-processing, keeping track of bank accounts, processing
image data from a space probe, Web browsing, computer games,...). This is called applications
programming.

A software toolbox is a kind of black box, and it presents a certain interface to the programmer. This
interface is a specification of what routines are in the toolbox, what parameters they use, and what tasks
they perform. This information constitutes the API, or Applications Programming Interface, associated with
the toolbox. The Macintosh API is a specification of all the routines available in the Macintosh Toolbox. A
company that makes some hardware device -- say a card for connecting a computer to a network -- might
publish an API for that device consisting of a list of routines that programmers can call in order to
communicate with and control the device. Scientists who write a set of routines for doing some kind of
complex computation -- such as solving "differential equations", say -- would provide an API to allow
others to use those routines without understanding the details of the computations they perform.

The Java programming language is supplemented by a large, standard API. You've seen part of this API
already, in the form of mathematical subroutines such as Math.sqrt(), the String data type and its
associated routines, and the System.out.print() routines. The standard Java API includes routines
for working with graphical user interfaces, for network communication, for reading and writing files, and
more. It's tempting to think of these routines as being built into the Java language, but they are technically
subroutines that have been written and made available for use in Java programs.

Java is platform-independent. That is, the same program can run on platforms as diverse as Macintosh,
Windows, UNIX, and others. The same Java API must work on all these platforms. But notice that it is the

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s5.html (1 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.5

interface that is platform-independent; the implementation varies from one platform to another. A Java
system on a particular computer includes implementations of all the standard API routines. A Java program
includes only calls to those routines. When the Java interpreter executes a program and encounters a call to
one of the standard routines, it will pull up and execute the implementation of that routine which is
appropriate for the particular platform on which it is running. This is a very powerful idea. It means that
you only need to learn one API to program for a wide variety of platforms.

Like all subroutines in Java, the routines in the standard API are grouped into classes. To provide
larger-scale organization, classes in Java can be grouped into packages. You can have even higher levels of
grouping, since packages can also contain other packages. In fact, the entire standard Java API is
implemented as one large package, which is named "java". The java package, in turn, is made up of
several other packages, and each of those packages contains a number of classes.

One of the sub-packages of java, for example, is called "awt". Since awt is contained within java, its
full name is actually java.awt. This is the package that contains classes related to graphical user
interfaces, such as the Button class which represents push-buttons on the screen, and the Graphics
class which provides routines for drawing on the screen. Since these classes are contained in the package
java.awt, their full names are actually java.awt.Button and java.awt.Graphics. (I hope that
by now you've gotten the hang of how this naming thing works in Java.)

The java package includes several other sub-packages, such as java.io, which provides facilities for
input/output, java.net, which deals with network communication, and java.applet, which
implements the basic functionality of applets. The most basic package is called java.lang, which
includes fundamental classes such as String and Math.

It might be helpful to look at a graphical representation of the levels of nesting in the java package, its
sub-packages, the classes in those sub-packages, and the subroutines in those classes. This is not a complete
picture, since it shows only a few of the many items in each element:

Let's say that you want to use the class java.awt.Button in a program that you are writing. One way to
do this is to use the full name of the class. For example, you could say

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s5.html (2 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.5

java.awt.Button stopBttn;

to declare a variable named stopBttn whose type is java.awt.Button. Of course, this can get
tiresome, so Java makes it possible to avoid using the full names of classes. If you put
import java.awt.Button;

at the beginning of your program, before you start writing any class, then you can abbreviate the full
name java.awt.Button to just the name of the class, Button. This would allow you to say just

Button stopBttn;

to declare the variable stopBttn. (The only effect of the import statement is to allow you to use simple
class names instead of full "package.class" names; you aren't really importing anything substantial. If you
leave out the import statement, you can still access the class -- you just have to use its full name.) There
is a shortcut for importing all the classes from a given package. You can import all the classes from
java.awt by saying

import java.awt.*;

In fact, any Java program that uses a graphical user interface is likely to begin with this line. A program
might also include lines such as "import java.net.*;" or "import java.io.*;" to get easy
access to networking and input/output classes.

Because the package java.lang is so fundamental, all the classes in java.lang are automatically
imported into every program. It's as if every program began with the statement "import
java.lang.*;". This is why we have been able to use the class name String instead of
java.lang.String, and Math.sqrt() instead of java.lang.Math.sqrt(). It would still,
however, be perfectly legal to use the longer forms of the names.

Programmers can create new packages. Suppose that you want some classes that you are writing to be in a
package named utilities. Then the source code file that defines those classes must begin with the line
"package utilities;". Any program that uses the classes should include the directive "import
utilities.*;" to obtain access to all the classes in the utilities package. Unfortunately, things are
a little more complicated than this. Remember that if a program uses a class, then the class must be
"available" when the program is compiled and when it is executed. Exactly what this means depends on
which Java environment you are using. Most commonly, classes in a package named utilities should
be in a directory with the name utilities, and that directory should be located in the same place as the
program that uses the classes.

In projects that define large numbers of classes, it makes sense to organize those classes into one or more
packages. It also makes sense for programmers to create new packages as toolboxes that provide
functionality and API's for dealing with areas not covered in the standard Java API. (And in fact such
"toolmaking" programmers often have more prestige than the applications programmers who use their
tools.)

However, I will not be creating any packages in this textbook. You need to know about packages mainly so
that you will be able to import the standard packages. These packages are always available to the programs
that you write. You might wonder where the standard classes are actually located. Again, that depends to
some extent on the version of Java that you are using. But they are likely to be collected together into a
large file named classes.zip, which is located in some place where the Java compiler and the Java
interpreter will know to look for it.

Although we won't be creating packages explicitly, every class is actually part of a package. If a class is not
specifically placed in a package, then it is put in something called the default package, which has no name.
All the examples that you see in these notes are in the default package.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s5.html (3 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.5

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s5.html (4 of 4) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.6

Section 4.6
More on Program Design

UNDERSTANDING HOW PROGRAMS WORK IS ONE THING. Designing a program to perform

some particular task is another thing altogether. In Section 3.2, I discussed how stepwise refinement can be
used to methodically develop an algorithm. We can now see how subroutines can fit into the process.

Stepwise refinement is inherently a top-down process, but the process does have a "bottom," that is, a point
at which you stop refining the pseudocode algorithm and translate what you have directly into proper
programming language. In the absence of subroutines, the process would not bottom out until you get down
to the level of assignment statements and very primitive input/output operations. But if you have
subroutines lying around to perform certain useful tasks, you can stop refining as soon as you've managed
to express your algorithm in terms of those tasks.

This allows you to add a bottom-up element to the top-down approach of stepwise refinement. Given a
problem, you might start by writing some subroutines that perform tasks relevant to the problem domain.
The subroutines become a toolbox of ready-made tools that you can integrate into your algorithm as you
develop it. (Alternatively, you might be able to buy or find a software toolbox written by someone else,
containing subroutines that you can use in your project as black boxes.)

Subroutines can also be helpful even in a strict top-down approach. As you refine your algorithm, you are
free at any point to take any sub-task in the algorithm and make it into a subroutine. Developing that
subroutine then becomes a separate problem, which you can work on separately. Your main algorithm will
merely call the subroutine. This, of course, is just a way of breaking your problem down into separate,
smaller problems. It is still a top-down approach because the top-down analysis of the problem tells you
what subroutines to write. In the bottom-up approach, you start by writing or obtaining subroutines that are
relevant to the problem domain, and you build your solution to the problem on top of that foundation of
subroutines.

Let's work through an example. Suppose that I have found an already-written class called Mosaic. This
class allows a program to work with a window that displays little colored rectangles arranged in rows and
columns. The window can be opened, closed, and otherwise manipulated with static member subroutines
defined in the Mosaic class. Here are some of the available routines:

Mosaic.open(rows,cols,w,h); where rows, cols, w, and h are of type int.

This will open the window with rows rows and cols columns of rectangles. The size of
each little rectangle will be w pixels wide by h pixels high. Initially, all the rectangles are
black. Note that for purposes of referring to a specific rectangle, rows are numbered from 0
to rows-1, and columns are numbered from 0 to cols-1.

Mosaic.setColor(row,col,r,g,b); where all the parameters are of type int.

This will set the color of the rectangle in row number row and column number col. Any
color can be considered to be a combination of the primary colors red, blue, and green. The
parameters r, g, and b are integers in the range from 0 to 255 that specify the red, green, and
blue components of the color. The larger the value of r, the more red there is in the color.
Black has all three color components equal to 0. White has all three color components equal
to 255.

Mosaic.getRed(row,col); where row and col are integers specifying one of the
rectangles. This is a function that returns a value of type int. The returned value is an
integer in the range from 0 to 255 that specifies the red component of the color of the
specified square. There are also functions Mosaic.getBlue(row,col); and

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s6.html (1 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.6

Mosaic.getGreen(row,col); for retrieving the other two color components.

Mosaic.delay(millis); where millis is of type int. This can be used to insert a

time delay in the program (to regulate the speed at which the colors are changed, for
example). The parameter millis is an integer that gives the number of milliseconds to
delay. One thousand milliseconds equal one second.

Mosaic.isOpen(); is a function that returns a boolean value. If the mosaic window

is open, the value is true; otherwise it is false. The user can close the window by
clicking its closebox. A program can close the window by calling Mosaic.close(). If
you call Mosaic.setColor() when there is no window open, it will have no effect. If
you call Mosaic.getRed() when there is no window, a value of 0 is returned.

My idea is to use the Mosaic class as the basis for a neat animation. I want to fill the window with
randomly colored squares, and then randomly change the colors in a loop that continues as long as the
window is open. "Randomly change the colors" could mean a lot of different things, but after thinking for a
while, I decide it would be interesting to have a "disturbance" that wanders randomly around the window,
changing the color of each square that it encounters. Here's an applet that shows what the program will do:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

With basic routines for manipulating the window as a foundation, I can turn to the specific problem at hand.
A basic outline for my program is
Open a Mosaic window
Fill window with random colors;
Move around, changing squares at random.

Filling the window with random colors seems like a nice coherent task that I can work on separately, so let's
decide that I'll write a separate subroutine to do it. The third step can be expanded a bit more, into the steps:
Start in the middle of the window, then keep moving to a new square and changing the color of that square.
This should continue as long as the mosaic window is still open. Thus we can refine the algorithm to:
Open a Mosaic window
Fill window with random colors;
Set the current position to the middle square in the window;
As long as the mosaic window is open:
Randomly change color of current square;
Move current position up, down, left, or right, at random;

I need to represent the current position in some way. That can be done with two int variables named
currentRow and currentColumn. I'll use 10 rows and 20 columns of squares in my mosaic, so setting
the current position to be in the center means setting currentRow to 5 and currentColumn to 10. I
already have a subroutine, Mosaic.open(), to open the window, and I have a function,
Mosaic.isOpen(), to test whether the window is open. To keep the main routine simple, I decide that I
will write two more subroutines of my own to carry out the two tasks in the while loop. The algorithm can
then be written in Java as:
Mosaic.open(10,20,10,10)
fillWithRandomColors();
currentRow = 5; // Middle row, halfway down the window.
currentColumn = 10; // Middle column.
while ( Mosaic.isOpen() ) {
changeToRandomColor(currentRow, currentColumn);
randomMove();
}

With the proper wrapper, this is essentially the main() routine of my program. It turns out I have to make

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s6.html (2 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.6

one small modification: To prevent the animation from running too fast, the line
"Mosaic.delay(20);" is added to the while loop.

The main() routine is taken care of, but to complete the program, I still have to write the subroutines
fillWithRandomColors(), changeToRandomColor(int,int), and randomMove().
Writing each of these subroutines is a separate, small task. Pseudocode for fillWithRandomColors()
could be given as:
For each row:
For each column:
set square in that row and column to a random color

"For each row" and "for each column" can be implemented as for loops. We've already planned to write a
subroutine changeToRandomColor that can be used to set the color. (The possibility of reusing
subroutines in several places is one of the big payoffs of using them!) So, fillWithRandomColors()
can be written in proper Java as:

static void fillWithRandomColors() {

for (int row = 0; row < 10; row++)
for (int column = 0; column < 20; column++)
changeToRandomColor(row,column);
}

Turning to the changeToRandomColor subroutine, we already have a method,

mosaic.setColor(row,col,r,g,b), that can be used to change the color of a square. If we want a
random color, we just have to choose random values for r, g, and b. The random values must be integers in
the range from 0 to 255. A formula for selecting such an integer is "(int)(256*Math.random())".
So the random color subroutine becomes:
static void changeToRandomColor(int rowNum, int colNum) {
int red = (int)(256*Math.random());
int green = (int)(256*Math.random());
int blue = (int)(256*Math.random());
mosaic.setColor(rowNum,colNum,red,green,blue);
}

Finally, consider the randomMove subroutine, which is supposed to randomly move the disturbance up,
down, left, or right. To make a random choice among four directions, we can choose a random integer in
the range 0 to 3. If the integer is 0, move in one direction; if it is 1, move in another direction; and so on.
The position of the disturbance is given by the variables currentRow and currentColumn. To "move
up" means to subtract 1 from currentRow. This leaves open the question of what to do if currentRow
becomes -1, which would put the disturbance above the window. Rather than let this happen, I decide to
move the disturbance to the opposite edge of the applet by setting currentRow to 9. (Remember that the
10 rows are numbered from 0 to 9.) Moving the disturbance down, left, or right is handled similarly. If we
use a switch statement to decide which direction to move, the code for randomMove becomes:
int directionNum;
directoinNum = (int)(4*Math.random());
switch (directionNum) {
case 0: // move up
currentRow--;
if (currentRow < 0) // CurrentRow is outside the mosaic;
currentRow = 9; // move it to the opposite edge.
break;
case 1: // move right
currentColumn++;
if (currentColumn >= 20)
currentColumn = 0;
break;
case 2: // move down

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s6.html (3 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.6

currentRow++;
if (currentRow >= 10)
currentRow = 0;
break;
case 3: // move left
currentColumn--;
if (currentColumn < 0)
currentColumn = 19;
break;
}

Putting this all together, we get the following complete program. The variables currentRow and
currentColumn are defined as static members of the class, rather than local variables, because each of
them is used in several different subroutines. This program actually depends on two other classes, Mosaic
and another class called MosaicCanvas that is used by Mosaic. If you want to compile and run this
program, both of these classes must be available to the program.

public class RandomMosaicWalk {

/*
This program shows a window full of randomly colored
squares. A "disturbance" moves randomly around
in the window, randomly changing the color of
each square that it visits. The program runs
until the user closes the window.
*/

static int currentRow; // Row currently containing the disturbance

static int currentColumn; // Column currently containing disturbance

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Main program creates the window, fills it with
// random colors, then moves the disturbance in
// a random walk around the window.
Mosaic.open(10,20,10,10);
fillWithRandomColors();
currentRow = 5; // start at center of window
currentColumn = 10;
while (Mosaic.isOpen()) {
changeToRandomColor(currentRow, currentColumn);
randomMove();
Mosaic.delay(20);
}
} // end of main()

static void fillWithRandomColors() {

// fill every square, in each row and column,
// with a random color
for (int row=0; row < 10; row++) {
for (int column=0; column < 20; column++) {
changeToRandomColor(row, column);
}
}
} // end of fillWithRandomColors()

static void changeToRandomColor(int rowNum, int colNum) {

// Change the square in row number rowNum and
// column number colNum to a random color.
// Random colors in the range 0 to 255 are

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s6.html (4 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.6

// chosen for the red, green, and blue components

// of the color.
int red = (int)(256*Math.random());
int green = (int)(256*Math.random());
int blue = (int)(256*Math.random());
Mosaic.setColor(rowNum,colNum,red,green,blue);
} // end of changeToRandomColor()

static void randomMove() {

// Randomly move the disturbance in one of
// four possible directions: up, down, left, or right;
// if this moves the disturbance outside the window,
// then move it to the opposite edge of the window.
int directionNum; // Randomly set to 0, 1, 2, or 3
// to choose the direction.
directionNum = (int)(4*Math.random());
switch (directionNum) {
case 0: // move up
currentRow--;
if (currentRow < 0)
currentRow = 9;
break;
case 1: // move right
currentColumn++;
if (currentColumn >= 20)
currentColumn = 0;
break;
case 2: // move down
currentRow++;
if (currentRow >= 10)
currentRow = 0;
break;
case 3:
currentColumn--;
if (currentColumn < 0)
currentColumn = 19;
break;
}
} // end of randomMove()

} // end of class RandomMosaicWalk

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s6.html (5 of 5) [5/24/2000 8:36:51 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

Section 4.7
The Truth about Declarations

NAMES ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO PROGRAMMING, as I said a few chapters ago. There are a lot of
details involved in declaring and using names. I have been avoiding some of those details. In this section,
I'll reveal most of the truth (although still not the full truth) about declaring and using variables in Java. The
material under the headings "Combining Initialization with Declaration" and "Named Constants and the
final Modifier" is particularly important, since I will be using it regularly in future chapters.

Combining Initialization with Declaration

When a variable declaration is executed, memory is allocated for the variable. This memory must be
initialized to contain some definite value before the variable can be used in an expression. In the case of a
local variable, the declaration is often followed closely by an assignment statement that does the
initialization. For example,
int count; // Declare a variable named count.
count = 0; // Give count its initial value.

However, the truth about declaration statements is that it is legal to include the initialization of the variable
in the declaration statement. The two statements above can therefor be abbreviated as
int count = 0; // Declare count and give it an initial value.

The computer still executes this statement in two steps: Declare the variable count, then assign the value 0
to the newly created variable. The initial value does not have to be a constant. It can be any expression. It is
legal to initialize several variables in one declaration statement. For example,
char firstInitial = 'D', secondInitial = 'E';

int x, y = 1; // OK, but only y has been initialized!

int N = 3, M = N+2; // OK, N is initialized

// before its value is used.

This feature is especially common in for loops, since it makes it possible to declare a loop control variable
at the same point in the loop where it is initialized. Since the loop control variable generally has nothing to
do with the rest of the program outside the loop, it's reasonable to have its declaration in the part of the
program where it's actually used. For example:
for ( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
System.out.println(i);
}

Again, you should remember that this is simply an abbreviation for the following, where I've added an extra
pair of braces to show that i is considered to be local to the for statement and no longer exists after the
for loop ends:
{
int i;
for ( i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
System.out.println(i);
}
}

A member variable can also be initialized at the point where it is declared. For example:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

public class Bank {

static double interestRate = 0.05;
static int maxWithdrawal = 200;
.
. // More variables and subroutines.
.
}

A static member variable is created as soon as the class is loaded by the Java interpreter, and the
initialization is also done at that time. In the case of member variables, this is not simply an abbreviation for
a declaration followed by an assignment statement. Declaration statements are the only type of statement
that can occur outside of a subroutine. Assignment statements cannot, so the following is illegal:
public class Bank {
static double interestRate;
interestRate = 0.05; // ILLEGAL:
. // Can't be outside a subroutine!
.
.

Because of this, declarations of member variables often include initial values. As mentioned in Section 2, if
no initial value is provided for a member variable, then a default initial value is used. For example,
"static int count;" is equivalent to "static int count = 0;".

Named Constants and the final Modifier

Sometimes, the value of a variable is not supposed to change after it is initialized. For example, in the above
example where interestRate is initialized to the value 0.05, it's quite possible that that is meant to be
the value throughout the entire program. In this case, the programmer is probably defining the variable,
interestRate, to give a meaningful name to the otherwise meaningless number, 0.05. It's easier to
understand what's going on when a program says "principal += principal*interestRate;"
rather than "principal += principal*0.05;".

In Java, the modifier "final" can be applied to a variable declaration to ensure that the value of the
variable cannot be changed after the variable has been initialized. For example, if the member variable
interestRate is declared with
final static double interestRate = 0.05;

then it would be impossible for the value of interestRate to change anywhere else in the program. Any
assignment statement that tries to assign a value to interestRate will be rejected by the computer as a
syntax error when the program is compiled.

It is legal to apply the final modifier to local variables and even to formal parameters, but it is most
useful for member variables. I will often refer to a static member variable that is declared to be final as a
named constant, since is value remains constant for the whole time that the program is running. The
readability of a program can be greatly enhanced by using named constants to give meaningful names to
important quantities in the program. A recommended style rule for named constants is to give them names
that consist entirely of upper case letters, with underscore characters to separate words if necessary. For
example, the preferred style for the interest rate constant would be
final static double INTEREST_RATE = 0.05;

This is the style that is generally used in Java's standard classes, which define many named constants. For
example, the Math class defines a named constant PI to represent the mathematical constant of that name.
Since it is a member of the Math class, you would have to refer to it as Math.PI in your own programs.
Many constants are provided to give meaningful names to be used in parameters in subroutine calls. For
example, a standard class named Font contains named constants Font.PLAIN, Font.BOLD, and

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

Font.ITALIC. These constants are used when calling various subroutines in the Font class for specifying
different styles of text.

Curiously enough, one of the major reasons to use named constants is that it's easy to change the value of a
named constant. Of course, the value can't change while the program is running. But between runs of the
program, it's easy to change the value in the source code and recompile the program. Consider the interest
rate example. It's quite possible that the value of the interest rate is used many times throughout the
program. Suppose that the bank changes the interest rate and the program has to be modified. If the literal
number 0.05 were used throughout the program, the programmer would have to track down each place
where the interest rate is used in the program and change the rate to the new value. (This is made even
harder by the fact that the number 0.05 might occur in the program with other meanings besides the interest
rate, as well as by the fact that someone might have used 0.025 to represent half the interest rate.) On the
other hand, if the named constant INTEREST_RATE is declared and used consistently throughout the
program, then only the single line where the constant is initialized needs to be changed.

As an extended example, I will give a new version of the RandomMosaicWalk program from the
previous section. This version uses named constants to represent the number of rows in the mosaic, the
number of columns, and the size of each little square. The three constants are declared as final static
member variables with the lines:
final static int ROWS = 30; // Number of rows in mosaic.
final static int COLUMNS = 30; // Number of columns in mosaic.
final static int SQUARE_SIZE = 15; // Size of each square in mosaic.

The rest of the program is carefully modified to use the named constants. For example, in the new version
of the program, the Mosaic window is opened with the statement
Mosaic.open(ROWS, COLUMNS, SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE);

Sometimes, it's not easy to find all the places where a named constants needs to be used. It's always a good
idea to run a program using several different values for any named constants, to test that it works properly
in all cases.

Here is the complete new program, RandomMosaicWalk2, with all modifications from the previous
version shown in red.

public class RandomMosaicWalk2 {

/*
This program shows a window full of randomly colored
squares. A "disturbance" moves randomly around
in the window, randomly changing the color of
each square that it visits. The program runs
until the user closes the window.
*/

final static int ROWS = 30; // Number of rows in mosaic.

final static int COLUMNS = 30; // Number of columns in mosaic.
final static int SQUARE_SIZE = 15; // Size of each square in mosaic.

static int currentRow; // row currently containing the disturbance

static int currentColumn; // column currently containing disturbance

public static void main(String[] args) {

// Main program creates the window, fills it with
// random colors, then moves the disturbance in
// a random walk around the window.
Mosaic.open(ROWS, COLUMNS, SQUARE_SIZE, SQUARE_SIZE);
fillWithRandomColors();
currentRow = ROWS / 2; // start at center of window

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

currentColumn = COLUMNS / 2;
while (Mosaic.isOpen()) {
changeToRandomColor(currentRow, currentColumn);
randomMove();
Mosaic.delay(20);
}
} // end of main()

static void fillWithRandomColors() {

// Fill every square, in each row and column,
// with a random color.
for (int row=0; row < ROWS; row++) {
for (int column=0; column < COLUMNS; column++) {
changeToRandomColor(row, column);
}
}
} // end of fillWithRandomColors()

static void changeToRandomColor(int rowNum, int colNum) {

// Change the square in row number rowNum and
// column number colNum to a random color.
// Random colors in the range 0 to 255 are
// chosen for the red, green, and blue components
// of the color.
int red = (int)(256*Math.random());
int green = (int)(256*Math.random());
int blue = (int)(256*Math.random());
Mosaic.setColor(rowNum,colNum,red,green,blue);
} // end of changeToRandomColor()

static void randomMove() {

// Randomly move the disturbance in one of
// four possible directions: up, down, left, or right;
// if this moves the disturbance outside the window,
// then move it to the opposite edge of the window.
int directionNum; // Randomly set to 0, 1, 2, or 3
// to choose direction.
directionNum = (int)(4*Math.random());
switch (directionNum) {
case 0: // move up
currentRow--;
if (currentRow < 0)
currentRow = ROWS - 1;
break;
case 1: // move right
currentColumn++;
if (currentColumn >= COLUMNS)
currentColumn = 0;
break;
case 2: // move down
currentRow ++;
if (currentRow >= ROWS)
currentRow = 0;
break;
case 3:
currentColumn--;
if (currentColumn < 0)
currentColumn = COLUMNS - 1;
break;
}
} // end of randomMove()

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

} // end of class RandomMosaicWalk2

Naming and Scope Rules

When a variable declaration is executed, memory is allocated for that variable. The variable name can be
used in at least some part of the program source code to refer to that memory or to the data that is stored in
the memory. The portion of the program source code where the variable name is valid is called the scope of
the variable. Similarly, we can refer to the scope of subroutine names and formal parameter names.

For static member subroutines, scope is straightforward. The scope of a static subroutine is the entire source
code of the class in which it is defined. That is, it is possible to call the subroutine from any point in the
class. It is even possible to call a subroutine from within itself. This is an example of something called
"recursion," a fairly advanced topic that we will return to later.

For a variable that is declared as a static member variable in a class, the situation is similar, but with one
complication. It is legal to have a local variable or a formal parameter that has the same name as a member
variable. In that case, within the scope of the local variable or parameter, the member variable is hidden.
Consider, for example, a class named Game that has the form:
public class Game {

static int count; // member variable

static void playGame() {

int count; // local variable
.
. // Some statements to define playGame()
.
}

.
. // More variables and subroutines.
.

} // end Game

In the statements that make up the body of the playGame() subroutine, the name "count" refers to the
local variable. In the rest of the Game class, "count" refers to the member variable, unless hidden by other
local variables or parameters named count. However, there is one further complication. The member
variable named count can also be referred to by the full name Game.count. Usually, the full name is
only used outside the class where count is defined. However, there is no rule against using it inside the
class. The full name, Game.count, can be used inside the playGame() subroutine to refer to the
member variable. So, the full scope rule for static member variables is that the scope of a member variable
includes the entire class in which it is defined, but where the simple name of the member variable is hidden
by a local variable or formal parameter name, the member variable must be referred to by its full name of
the form className.variableName. (Scope rules for non-static members are similar to those for static
members, except that, as we shall see, non-static members cannot be used in static subroutines.)

The scope of a formal parameter of a subroutine is the block that makes up the body of the subroutine. The
scope of a local variable extends from the declaration statement that defines the variable to the end of the
block in which the declaration occurs. As noted above, it is possible to declare a loop control variable of a
for loop in the for statement, as in "for (int i=0; i < 10; i++)". The scope of such a
declaration is considered as a special case: It is valid only within the for statement and does not extend to
the remainder of the block that contains the for statement.
It is not legal to redefine the name of a formal parameter or local variable within its scope, even in a nested

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Section 4.7

block. For example, this is not allowed:

void badSub(int y) {
int x;
while (y > 0) {
int x; // ERROR: x is already defined.
.
.
.
}
}

(In many languages, this would be legal. The declaration of x in the while loop would hide the original
declaration.) However, once the block in which a variable is declared ends, its name does become available
for reuse. For example:
void goodSub(int y) {
while (y > 10) {
int x;
.
.
.
// The scope of x ends here.
}
while (y > 0) {
int x; // OK: Previous declaration of x has expired.
.
.
.
}
}

You might wonder whether local variable names can hide subroutine names. This can't happen, for a reason
that might be surprising. There is no rule that variables and subroutines have to have different names. The
computer can always tell whether a name refers to a variable or to a subroutine, because a subroutine name
is always followed by a left parenthesis. It's perfectly legal to have a variable called count and a
subroutine called count in the same class. (This is one reason why I often write subroutine names with
parentheses, as when I talk about the main() routine. It's a good idea to think of the parentheses as part of
the name.) Even more is true: It's legal to reuse class names to name variables and subroutines. The syntax
rules of Java guarantee that the computer can always tell when a name is being used as a class name. A
class name is a type, and so it can be used to declare variables and to specify the return type of a function.
This means that you could legally have a class called Insanity in which you declare a function
static Insanity Insanity( Insanity Insanity ) { ... }

The first Insanity is the return type of the function. The second is the function name, the third is the type
of the formal parameter, and the fourth is a formal parameter name. However, please remember that not
everything that is possible is a good idea!

End of Chapter 4

[ Next Chapter | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/s7.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:36:52 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 4 Exercises

Programming Exercises
For Chapter 4

THIS PAGE CONTAINS programming exercises based on material from Chapter 4 of this on-line Java
textbook. Each exercise has a link to a discussion of one possible solution of that exercise.

Exercise 4.1: To "capitalize" a string means to change the first letter of each word in the string to upper
case (if it is not already upper case). For example, a capitalized version of "Now is the time to act!" is "Now
Is The Time To Act!". Write a subroutine named printCapitalized that will print a capitalized
version of a string to standard output. The string to be printed should be a parameter to the subroutine. Test
your subroutine with a main() routine that gets a line of input from the user and applies the subroutine to
it.

Note that a letter is the first letter of a word if it is not immediately preceded in the string by another letter.
Recall that there is a standard boolean-valued function Character.isLetter(char) that can be
used to test whether its parameter is a letter. There is another standard char-valued function,
Character.toUpperCase(char), that returns a capitalized version of the single character passed to
it as a parameter. That is, if the parameter is a letter, it returns the upper-case version. If the parameter is not
a letter, it just returns a copy of the parameter.
See the solution!

Exercise 4.2: The hexadecimal digits are the ordinary, base-10 digits '0' through '9' plus the letters 'A'
through 'F'. In the hexadecimal system, these digits represent the values 0 through 15, respectively. Write a
function named hexValue that uses a switch statement to find the hexadecimal value of a given
character. The character is a parameter to the function, and its hexadecimal value is the return value of the
function. You should count lower case letters 'a' through 'f' as having the same value as the corresponding
upper case letters. If the parameter is not one of the legal hexadecimal digits, return -1 as the value of the
function.

A hexadecimal integer is a sequence of hexadecimal digits, such as 34A7, FF8, 174204, or FADE. If str is
a string containing a hexadecimal integer, then the corresponding base-10 integer can be computed as
follows:
value = 0;
for ( i = 0; i < str.length(); i++ )
value = value*16 + hexValue( str.charAt(i) );

Of course, this is not valid if str contains any characters that are not hexadecimal digits. Write a program
that reads a string from the user. If all the characters in the string are hexadecimal digits, print out the
corresponding base-10 value. If not, print out an error message.
See the solution!

Exercise 4.3: Write a function that simulates rolling a pair of dice until the total on the dice comes up to be
a given number. The number that you are rolling for is a parameter to the function. The number of times
you have to roll the dice is the return value of the function. You can assume that the parameter is one of the
possible totals: 2, 3, ..., 12. Use your function in a program that computes and prints the number of rolls it
takes to get snake eyes. (Snake eyes means that the total showing on the dice is 2.)
See the solution!

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/exercises.html (1 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 4 Exercises

Exercise 4.4: This exercise builds on Exercise 4.3. Every time you roll a pair of dice over and over, trying
to get a given total, the number of rolls it takes can be different. The question naturally arises, what's the
average number of rolls? Write a function that performs the experiment of rolling to get a given total 10000
times. The desired total is a parameter to the subroutine. The average number of rolls is the return value.
Each individual experiment should be done by calling the function you wrote for exercise 4.3. Now, write a
main program that will call your function once for each of the possible totals (2, 3, ..., 12). It should make a
table of the results, something like:

Total On Dice Average Number of Rolls

------------- -----------------------
2 35.8382
3 18.0607
. .
. .

See the solution!

Exercise 5: The sample program RandomMosaicWalk.java from Section 4.6 shows a "disturbance" that
wanders around a grid of colored squares. When the disturbance visits a square, the color of that square is
changed. The applet at the bottom of Section 4.7 shows a variation on this idea. In this applet, all the
squares start out with the default color, black. Every time the disturbance visits a square, a small amount is
added to the red component of the color of that square. Write a subroutine that will add 25 to the red
component of one of the squares in the mosaic. The row and column numbers of the square should be
passed as parameters to the subroutine. Recall that you can discover the current red component of the
square in row r and column c with the function call Mosaic.getRed(r,c). Use your subroutine as a
substitute for the changeToRandomColor() subroutine in the program RandomMosaicWalk2.java.
(This is the improved version of the program from Section 4.7 that uses named constants for the number of
rows, number of columns, and square size.) Set the number of rows and the number of columns to 80. Set
the square size to 5.
See the solution!

Exercise 6: For this exercise, you will write a program that has the same behavior as the following applet.
Your program will be based on the non-standard Mosaic class, which was described in Section 4.6.
(Unfortunately, the applet doesn't look too good on slow machines.)

The applet shows a rectangle that grows from the center of the applet to the edges, getting brighter as it
grows. The rectangle is made up of the little squares of the mosaic. You should first write a subroutine that
draws a rectangle on a Mosaic window. More specifically, write a subroutine named rectangle such
that the subroutine call statement
rectangle(top,left,height,width,r,g,b);

will call Mosaic.setColor(row,col,r,g,b) for each little square that lies on the outline of a
rectangle. The topmost row of the rectangle is specified by top. The number of rows in the rectangle is
specified by height (so the bottommost row is top+height-1). The leftmost column of the rectangle
is specifed by left. The number of columns in the rectangle is specified by width (so the rightmost
column is left+width-1.)

The animation loops through the same sequence of steps over and over. In one step, a rectangle is drawn in
gray (that is, with all three color components having the same value). There is a pause of 50 milliseconds so
the user can see the rectangle. Then the very same rectangle is drawn in black, effectively erasing the gray
rectangle. Finally, the variables giving the top row, left column, size, and color level of the rectangle are

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/exercises.html (2 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 4 Exercises

adjusted to get ready for the next step. In the applet, the color level starts at 50 and increases by 10 after
each step. You might want to make a subroutine that does one loop through all the steps of the animation.

The main() routine simply opens a Mosaic window and then does the animation loop over and over until
the user closes the window. There is a 500 millisecond delay between one animation loop and the next. Use
a Mosaic window that has 41 rows and 41 columns. (I advise you not to used named constants for the
numbers of rows and columns, since the problem is complicated enough already.)
See the solution!

[ Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/exercises.html (3 of 3) [5/24/2000 8:36:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 4 Quiz

Quiz Questions
For Chapter 4

THIS PAGE CONTAINS A SAMPLE quiz on material from Chapter 4 of this on-line Java textbook. You
should be able to answer these questions after studying that chapter. Sample answers to all the quiz
questions can be found here.

Question 1: A "black box" has an interface and an implementation. Explain what is meant by the terms
interface and implementation.

Question 2: A subroutine is said to have a contract What is meant by the contract of a subroutine? When
you want to use a subroutine, why is it important to understand its contract? The contract has both
"syntactic" and "semantic" aspects. What is the syntactic aspect? What is the semantic aspect?

Question 3: Briefly explain how subroutines can be a useful tool in the top-down design of programs.

Question 4: Discuss the concept of parameters. What are parameters for? What is the difference between
formal parameters and actual parameters?

Question 5: Give two different reasons for using named constants (declared with the final modifier).

Question 6: What is an API? Give an example.

Question 7: Write a subroutine named "stars" that will output a line of stars to a console. (A star is the
character "*".) The number of stars should be given as a parameter to the subroutine. Use a for loop. For
example, the command "stars(20)" would output
********************

Question 8: Write a main() routine that uses the subroutine that you wrote for Question 7 to output 10
lines of stars with 1 star in the first line, 2 stars in the second line, and so on, as shown below.
*
**
***
****
*****
******
*******
********
*********
**********

Question 9: Write a function named countChars that has a String and a char as parameters. The
function should count the number of times the character occurs in the string, and it should return the result
as the value of the function.

Question 10: Write a subroutine with three parameters of type int. The subroutine should determine which
of its parameters is smallest. The value of the smallest parameter should be returned as the value of the
subroutine.

[ Answers | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c4/quiz.html [5/24/2000 8:36:53 AM]

Java Programing: Chapter 5 Index

Chapter 5

Programming in the Large II

Objects and Classes

WHEREAS A SUBROUTINE represents a single task, an object can encapsulate both data (in the form
of instance variables) and a number of different tasks or "behaviors" related to that data (in the form of
instance methods). Therefore objects provide another, more sophisticated type of structure that can be used
to help manage the complexity of large programs.

This chapter covers the creation and use of objects in Java. It also discusses the object-oriented approach to
program design.

Contents of Chapter 5:
● Section 1: Objects, Instance Methods, and Instance Variables
● Section 2: Constructors and Object Initialization
● Section 3: Programming with Objects
● Section 4: Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Abstract Classes
● Section 5: More Details of Classes
● Programming Exercises
● Quiz on this Chapter

[ First Section | Next Chapter | Previous Chapter | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/ [5/24/2000 8:37:38 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

Section 5.1
Objects, Instance Methods, and Instance Variables

OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING (OOP) represents an attempt to make programs more closely

model the way people think about and deal with the world. In the older styles of programming, a
programmer who is faced with some problem must identify a computing task that needs to be performed in
order to solve the problem. Programming then consists of finding a sequence of instructions that will
accomplish that task. But at the heart of object-oriented programming, instead of tasks we find objects --
entities that have behaviors, that hold information, and that can interact with one another. Programming
consists of designing a set of objects that somehow model the problem at hand. Software objects in the
program can represent real or abstract entities in the problem domain. This is supposed to make the design
of the program more natural and hence easier to get right and easier to understand.

To some extent, OOP is just a change in point of view. We can think of an object in standard programming
terms as nothing more than a set of variables together with some subroutines for manipulating those
variables. In fact, it is possible to use object-oriented techniques in any programming language. However,
there is a big difference between a language that makes OOP possible and one that actively supports it. An
object-oriented programming language such as Java includes a number of features that make it very
different from a standard language. In order to make effective use of those features, you have to "orient"
your thinking correctly.

Objects are closely related to classes. We have already been working with classes for several chapters, and
we have seen that a class can contain variables and subroutines. If an object is also a collection of variables
and subroutines, how do they differ from classes? And why does it require a different type of thinking to
understand and use them effectively? In the one section where we worked with objects rather than classes,
Section 3.7, it didn't seem to make much difference: We just left the word "static" out of the subroutine
definitions!

I have said that classes "describe" objects, or more exactly that the non-static portions of classes describe
objects. But it's probably not very clear what this means. The more usual terminology is to say that objects
belong to classes, but this might not be much clearer. (There is a real shortage of English words to properly
distinguish all the concepts involved. An object certainly doesn't "belong" to a class in the same way that a
member variable "belongs" to a class.) From the point of view of programming, it is more exact to say that
classes are used to create objects. A class is a kind of factory for constructing objects. The non-static parts
of the class specify, or describe, what variables and subroutines the objects will contain. This is part of the
explanation of how objects differ from classes: Objects are created and destroyed as the program runs, and
there can be many objects with the same structure, if they are created using the same class.

Consider a simple class whose job is to group together a few static member variables. For example, the
following class could be used to store information about the person who is using the program:
class UserData {
static String name;
static int age;
}

In a program that uses this class, there is only one copy of each variable in the class, UserData.name
and UserData.age. The class, UserData, and the variables it contains exist as long as the program
runs. Now, consider a similar class that includes non-static variables:
class PlayerData {
String name;
int age;
}

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

In this case, there is no such variable as PlayerData.name or PlayerData.age, since name and
age are not static members of PlayerData. So, there is nothing much in the class at all -- except the
potential to create objects. But, it's a lot of potential, since it can be used to create any number of objects!
Each of those objects will have its own variables called name and age. A program might use this class to
store information about multiple players in a game. Each player has a name and an age. When a player joins
the game, a new PlayerData object can be created to represent that player. If a player leaves the game,
the PlayerData object that represents that player can be destroyed. A system of objects in the program is
being used to dynamically model what is happening in the game. You can't do this with "static" variables!
In Section 3.7, we worked with applets, which are objects. The reason they didn't seem to be any different
from classes is because we were only working with one applet in each class that we looked at. But one class
can be used to make many applets. Think of an applet that scrolls a message across a Web page. There
could be several such applets on the same page, all created from the same class. If the scrolling message in
the applet is stored in a non-static variable, then each applet will have its own variable, and each applet can
show a different message. The situation is even clearer if you think about windows, which, like applets, are
objects. As a program runs, many windows might be opened and closed, but all those windows can belong
to the same class. Here again, we have a dynamic situation where multiple objects are created and destroyed
as a program runs.

An object that belongs to a class is said to be an instance of that class. The variables that the object contains
are called instance variables. The subroutines that the object contains are called instance methods. (Recall
that in the context of object-oriented programming, "method" is a synonym for "subroutine". From now on,
for subroutines in objects, I will prefer the term "method.") For example, if the PlayerData class, as
defined above, is used to create an object, then that object is an instance of the PlayerData class, and
name and age are instance variables in the object. It is important to remember that the class of an object
determines the types of the instance variables; however, the actual data is contained inside the individual
objects, not the class. Thus, each object has its own set of data.
An applet that scrolls a message across a Web page might include a subroutine named scroll(). Since
the applet is an object, this subroutine is an instance method of the applet. The source code for the method
is in the class that is used to create the applet. Still, it's better to think of the instance method as belonging to
the object, not to the class. The non-static subroutines in the class merely specify what instance methods
objects created from the class will contain. The scroll() methods in two different applets do the same
thing in the sense that they both scroll messages across the screen. But there is a real difference between the
two scroll() methods. The messages that they scroll can be different. (You might say that the
subroutine definition in the class specifies what type of behavior the objects will have, but the specific
behavior can vary from object to object, depending on the values of their instance variables.)

As you can see, the static and the non-static portions of a class are very different things and serve very
different purposes. Many classes contain only static members, or only non-static. However, it is possible to
mix static and non-static members in a single class, and we'll see a few examples later in this chapter where
it is reasonable to do so. By the way, static member variables and static member subroutines in a class are
sometimes called class variables and class methods, since they belong to the class itself, rather than to
instances of that class. This terminology is most useful when the class contains both static and non-static
members.

So far, I've been talking mostly in generalities, and I haven't given you much idea what you have to put in a
program if you want to work with objects. Let's look at a specific example to see how it works. Consider
this extremely simplified version of a Student class, which could be used to store information about
students taking a course:
class Student {

String name; // Student's name.

double test1, test2, test3; // Grades on three tests.

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

double getAverage() { // compute average test grade

return (test1 + test2 + test3) / 3;
}

} // end of class Student

None of the members of this class are declared to be static, so the class exists only for creating objects.
This class definition says that any object that is an instance of the Student class will include instance
variables named name, test1, test2, and test3, and it will include an instance method named
getAverage(). The names and tests in different objects will generally have different values. When
called for a particular student, the method getAverage() will compute an average using that student's
test grades. Different students can have different averages. (Again, this is what it means to say that an
instance method belongs to an individual object, not to the class.)

In Java, a class is a type, similar to the built-in types such as int and boolean. So, a class name can be
used to specify the type of a variable in a declaration statement, the type of a formal parameter, or the return
type of a function. For example, a program could define a variable named std of type Student with the
statement
Student std;

However, declaring a variable does not create an object! This is an important point, which is related to this
Very Important Fact:
In Java, no variable can ever hold an object.
A variable can only hold a reference to an object.

You should think of objects as floating around independently in the computer's memory. In fact, there is a
portion of memory called the heap where objects live. Instead of holding an object itself, a variable holds
the information necessary to find the object in memory. This information is called a reference or pointer to
the object. In effect, a reference to an object is the address of the memory location where the object is
stored. When you use a variable of class type, the computer uses the reference in the variable to find the
actual object.

Objects are actually created by an operator called new, which creates an object and returns a reference to
that object. For example, assuming that std is a variable of type Student, declared as above, the
assignment statement
std = new Student();

would create a new object which is an instance of the class Student, and it would store a reference to that
object in the variable std. The value of the variable is a reference to the object, not the object itself. It is
not quite true, then, to say that the object is the "value of the variable std" (though sometimes it is hard to
avoid using this terminology). It is certainly not at all true to say that the object is "stored in the variable
std." The proper terminology is that "the variable std refers to the object," and I will try to stick to that
terminology as much as possible.

So, suppose that the variable std refers to an object belonging to the class Student. That object has
instance variables name, test1, test2, and test3. These instance variables can be referred to as
std.name, std.test1, std.test2, and std.test3. For example, a program might include the
lines
System.out.println("Hello, " + std.name
+ ". Your test grades are:");
System.out.println(std.test1);
System.out.println(std.test2);
System.out.println(std.test3);

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

This would output the name and test grades from the object to which std refers. Similarly, std can be
used to call the getAverage() instance method in the object by saying std.getAverage(). To print
out the student's average, you could say:
System.out.println( "Your average is " + std.getAverage() );

More generally, you could use std.name any place where a variable of type String is legal. You can
use it in expressions. You can assign a value to it. You can even use it to call subroutines from the String
class. For example, std.name.length() is the number of characters in the student's name.

It is possible for a variable like std, whose type is given by a class, to refer to no object at all. We say in
this case that std holds a null reference. The null reference can be written in Java as "null". You could
assign a null reference to the variable std by saying
std = null;

and you could test whether the value of std is null by testing

if (std == null) . . .

If the value of a variable is null, then it is, of course, illegal to refer to instance variables or instance
methods through that variable -- since there is no object, and hence no instance variables to refer to. For
example, if the value of the variable std is null, then it would be illegal to refer to std.test1. If your
program attempts to use a null reference illegally like this, the result is an error called a null pointer
exception.

Let's look at a sequence of statements that work with objects:

Student std, std1, // Declare four variables of

std2, std3; // type Student.
std = new Student(); // Create a new object belonging
// to the class Student, and
// store a reference to that
// object in the variable std.
std1 = new Student(); // Create a second Student object
// and store a reference to
// it in the variable std1.
std2 = std1; // Copy the reference value in std1
// into the variable std2.
std3 = null; // Store a null reference in the
// variable std3.

std.name = "John Smith"; // Set values of some instance variables.

std1.name = "Mary Jones";

// (Other instance variables have default

// initial values of zero.)

After the computer executes these statements, the situation in the computer's memory looks like this:

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

This picture shows variables as little boxes, labeled with the names of the variables. Objects are shown as
boxes with round corners. When a variable contains a reference to an object, the value of that variable is
shown as an arrow pointing to the object. The variable std3, with a value of null, doesn't point
anywhere. The arrows from std1 and std2 both point to the same object. This illustrates a Very
Important Point:
When one object variable is assigned
to another, only a reference is copied.
The object referred to is not copied.

When the assignment "std2 = std1;" was executed, no new object was created. Instead, std2 is set to
refer to the same object that std1 refers to. This has some consequences that might be surprising. For
example, std1.name and std2.name refer to exactly the same variable, namely the instance variable in
the object that both std1 and std2 refer to. After the string "Mary Jones" is assigned to the variable
std1.name, it is also be true that the value of std2.name is "Mary Jones". There is a potential for a
lot of confusion here, but you can help protect yourself from it if you keep telling yourself, "The object is
not in the variable. The variable just holds a pointer to the object."

You can test objects for equality and inequality using the operators == and !=, but here again, the semantics
are different from what you are used to. When you make a test "if (std1 == std2)", you are testing
whether the values stored in std1 and std2 are the same. But the values are references to objects, not
objects. So, you are testing whether std1 and std2 refer to the same object, that is, whether they point to
the same location in memory. This is fine, if its what you want to do. But sometimes, what you want to
check is whether the instance variables in the objects have the same values. To do that, you would need to
ask whether "std1.test1 == std2.test1 && std1.test2 == std2.test2 &&
std1.test3 == std3.test1 && std1.name.equals(std2.name)"

I've remarked previously that Strings are objects, and I've shown the strings "Mary Jones" and
"John Smith" as objects in the above illustration. A variable of type String can only hold a reference

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.1

to a string, not the string itself. It could also hold the value null, meaning that it does not refer to any
string at all. This explains why using the == operator to test strings for equality is not a good idea. Suppose
that greeting is a variable of type String, and that the string it refers to is "Hello". Then would the
test greeting == "Hello" be true? Well, maybe, maybe not. The variable greeting and the
String literal "Hello" each refer to a string that contains the characters H-e-l-l-o. But the strings could
still be different objects, that just happen to contain the same characters. The function
greeting.equals("Hello") tests whether greeting and "Hello" contain the same characters,
which is almost certainly the question you want to ask. The expression greeting == "Hello" tests
whether greeting and "Hello" contain the same characters stored in the same memory location.

The fact that variables hold references to objects, not objects themselves, has a couple of other
consequences that you should be aware of. They follow logically, if you just keep in mind the basic fact that
the object is not stored in the variable. The object is somewhere else; the variable points to it.

Suppose that a variable that refers to an object is declared to be final. This means that the value stored in
the variable can never be changed, once the variable has been initialized. The value stored in the variable is
a reference to the object. So the variable will continue to refer to the same object as long as the variable
exists. However, this does not prevent the data in the object from changing. The variable is final, not the
object. It's perfectly legal to say
final Student stu = new Student();
stu.name = "John Doe"; // Change data in the object;
// The value stored in stu is not changed.

Next, suppose that obj is a variable that refers to an object. Let's consider at what happens when obj is
passed as an actual parameter to a subroutine. The value of obj is assigned to a formal parameter in the
subroutine, and the subroutine is executed. The subroutine has no power to change the value stored in the
variable, obj. It only has a copy of that value. However, that value is a reference to an object. Since the
subroutine has a reference to the object, it can change the data stored in the object. After the subroutine
ends, obj still points to the same object, but the data stored in the object might have changed. Suppose x
is a variable of type int and stu is a variable of type Student. Compare:

void dontChange(int z) { void change(Student s) {

z = 42; s.name = "Fred";
} }

The lines: The lines:

x = 17; stu.name = "Jane";

dontChange(x); change(stu);
System.out.println(x); System.out.println(stu.name);

output the value 17. output the value "Fred".

The value of x is not The value of stu is not

changed by the subroutine, changed, but stu.name is.
which is equivalent to This is equivalent to

z = x; s = stu;
z = 42; s.name = "Fred";

[ Next Section | Previous Chapter | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s1.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:39 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

Section 5.2
Constructors and Object Initialization

OBJECT TYPES IN JAVA ARE VERY DIFFERENT from the primitive types. Simply declaring a
variable whose type is given as a class does not automatically create an object of that class. Objects must be
explicitly constructed. For the computer, the process of constructing an object means, first, finding some
unused memory in the heap that can be used to hold the object and, second, filling in the object's instance
variables. As a programmer, you don't care where in memory the object is stored, but you will usually want
to exercise some control over what initial values are stored in a new object's instance variables. In many
cases, you will also want to do more complicated initialization or bookkeeping every time an object is
created.

An instance variable can be assigned an initial value in its declaration, just like any other variable. For
example, consider a class named PairOfDice. An object of this class will represent a pair of dice. It will
contain two instance variables to represent the numbers showing on the dice and an instance method for
rolling the dice:
public class PairOfDice {

public int die1 = 3; // Number showing on the first die.

public int die2 = 4; // Number showing on the second die.

public void roll() {

// Roll the dice by setting each of the dice to be
// a random number between 1 and 6.
die1 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
die2 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
}

} // end class PairOfDice

The instance variables die1 and die2 are initialized to the values 3 and 4 respectively. These
initializations are executed whenever a PairOfDice object is constructed. It's important to understand
when and how this happens. There can be many PairOfDice objects. Each time one is created, it gets its
own instance variables, and the assignments "die1 = 3" and "die2 = 4" are executed to fill in the
values of those variables. To make this clearer, consider a variation of the PairOfDice class:
public class PairOfDice {

public int die1 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;

public int die2 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;

public void roll() {

die1 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
die2 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
}

} // end class PairOfDice

Here, the dice are initialized to random values, as if a new pair of dice were being thrown onto the gaming
table. Since the initialization is executed for each new object, a set of random initial values will be
computed for each new pair of dice. Different pairs of dice can have different initial values. For
initialization of static member variables, of course, the situation is quite different. There is only one copy of
a static variable, and initialization of that variable is executed just once, when the class is first loaded.

If you don't provide any initial value for an instance variable, a default initial value is provided

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (1 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

automatically. Instance variables of numerical type (int, double, etc.) are automatically initialized to
zero if you provide no other values; boolean variables are initialized to false; and char variables, to
the Unicode character with code number zero. An instance variable can also be a variable of object type.
For such variables, the default initial value is null. (In particular, since Strings are objects, the default
initial value for String variables is null.)

Objects are created with the operator, new. For example, a program that wants to use a PairOfDice
object could say:
PairOfDice dice; // Declare a variable of type PairOfDice.
dice = new PairOfDice(); // Construct a new object and store a
// reference to it in the variable.

In this example, "new PairOfDice()" is an expression that allocates memory for the object, initializes
the object's instance variables, and then returns a reference to the object. This reference is the value of the
expression, and that value is stored by the assignment statement in the variable, dice. Part of this
expression, "PairOfDice()", looks like subroutine call, and that is no accident. It is, in fact, a call to a
special type of subroutine called a constructor. This might puzzle you, since there is no such subroutine in
the class definition. However, every class has a constructor. If the programmer doesn't provide one, then the
system will provide a default constructor. This default constructor does nothing beyond the basics: allocate
memory and initialize instance variables. If you want more than that to happen when an object is created,
you can include one or more constructors in the class definition.

The definition of a constructor looks much like the definition of any other subroutine, with three exceptions.
A constructor does not have any return type (not even void). The name of the constructor must be the
same as the name of the class in which it is defined. The only modifiers that can be used on a constructor
definition are the access modifiers public, private, and protected. (In particular, a constructor
can't be declared static.)

However, a constructor does have a subroutine body of the usual form, a block of statements. There are no
restrictions on what statements can be used. And it can have a list of formal parameters. In fact, the ability
to include parameters is one of the main reasons for using constructors. The parameters can provide data to
be used in the construction of the object. For example, a constructor for the PairOfDice class could
provide the values that are initially showing on the dice. Here is what the class would look like in that case:
public class PairOfDice {

public int die1; // Number showing on the first die.

public int die2; // Number showing on the second die.

public PairOfDice(int val1, int val2) {

// Constructor. Creates a pair of dice that
// are initially showing the values val1 and val2.
die1 = val1; // Assign specified values
die2 = val2; // to the instance variables.
}

public void roll() {

// Roll the dice by setting each of the dice to be
// a random number between 1 and 6.
die1 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
die2 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
}

} // end class PairOfDice

The constructor is declared as "public PairOfDice(int val1, int val2)...", with no return
type and with the same name as the name of the class. This is how the Java compiler recognizes a
constructor. The constructor has two parameters, and values for these parameters must be provided when

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (2 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

the constructor is called. For example, the expression "new PairOfDice(3,4)" would create a
PairOfDice object in which the values of the instance variables die1 and die2 are initially 3 and 4. Of
course, in a program, the value returned by the constructor should be used in some way, as in

PairOfDice dice; // Declare a variable of type PairOfDice.

dice = new PairOfDice(1,1); // Let dice refer to a new PairOfDice
// object that initially shows 1, 1.

Now that we've added a constructor to the PairOfDice class, we can no longer create an object by saying
"new PairOfDice()"! The system provides a default constructor for a class only if the class definition
does not already include a constructor. However, this is not a big problem, since we can add a second
constructor to the class, one that has no parameters. In fact, you can have as many different constructors as
you want, as long as their signatures are different, that is, as long as they have different numbers or types of
formal parameters. In the PairOfDice class, we might have a constructor with no parameters which
produces a pair of dice showing random numbers:
public class PairOfDice {

public int die1; // Number showing on the first die.

public int die2; // Number showing on the second die.

public PairOfDice() {
// Constructor. Rolls the dice, so that they initially
// show some random values.
roll(); // Call the roll() method to roll the dice.
}

public PairOfDice(int val1, int val2) {

// Constructor. Creates a pair of dice that
// are initially showing the values val1 and val2.
die1 = val1; // Assign specified values
die2 = val2; // to the instance variables.
}

public void roll() {

// Roll the dice by setting each of the dice to be
// a random number between 1 and 6.
die1 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
die2 = (int)(Math.random()*6) + 1;
}

} // end class PairOfDice

Now we have the option of constructing a PairOfDice object either with "new PairOfDice()" or
with "new PairOfDice(x,y)", where x and y are int-valued expressions.

This class, once it is written, can be used in any program that needs to work with one or more pairs of dice.
None of those programs will ever have to use the obscure incantation
"(int)(Math.random()*6)+1", because it's done inside the PairOfDice class. And the
programmer, having once gotten the dice-rolling thing straight will never have to worry about it again.
Here, for example, is a main program that uses the PairOfDice class to count how many times two pairs
of dice are rolled before the two pairs come up showing the same value:

public class RollTwoPairs {

public static void main(String[] args) {

PairOfDice firstDice; // Refers to the first pair of dice.

firstDice = new PairOfDice();

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (3 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

PairOfDice secondDice; // Refers to the second pair of dice.

secondDice = new PairOfDice();

int countRolls; // Counts how many times the two pairs of

// dice have been rolled.

int total1; // Total showing on first pair of dice.

int total2; // Total showing on second pair of dice.

countRolls = 0;

do { // Roll the two pairs of dice until totals are the same.

firstDice.roll(); // Roll the first pair of dice.

total1 = firstDice.die1 + secondDice.die2; // Get total.
System.out.println("First pair comes up " + total1);

secondDice.roll(); // Roll the first pair of dice.

total2 = secondDice.die1 + secondDice.die2; // Get total.
System.out.println("Second pair comes up " + total2);

countRolls++; // Count this roll.

System.out.println(); // Blank line.

} while (total1 != total2);

System.out.println("It took " + countRolls

+ " rolls until the totals were the same.");

} // end main()

} // end class RollTwoPairs

This applet simulates this program:

Sorry, your browser doesn't

support Java.

Constructors are subroutines, but they are subroutines of a special type. They are certainly not instance
methods, since they don't belong to objects. Since they are responsible for creating objects, they exist before
any objects have been created. The are more like static member subroutines, but they are not and cannot
be declared to be static. In fact, according to the Java language specification, they are technically not
members of the class at all!

Unlike other subroutines, a constructor can only be called using the new operator, in an expression that has
the form

new class-name ( parameter-list )

where the parameter-list is possibly empty. I call this an expression because it computes and returns a
value, namely a reference to the object that is constructed. Most often, you will store the returned reference
in a variable, but it is also legal to use a constructor call in other ways, for example as a parameter in a
subroutine call or as part of a more complex expression. Of course, if you don't save the reference in a
variable, you won't have any way of referring to the object that was just created.

A constructor call is more complicated than an ordinary subroutine or function call. It is helpful to

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (4 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

understand the exact steps that the computer goes through to execute a constructor call:
1. First, the computer gets a block of unused memory in the heap, large enough to hold an object of the
specified type.
2. It initializes the instance variables of the object. If the declaration of an instance variable specifies
an initial value, then that value is computed and stored in the instance variable. Otherwise, the
default initial value is used.
3. The actual parameters in the constructor, if any, are evaluated, and the values are assigned to the
formal parameters of the constructor.
4. The statements in the body of the constructor, if any, are executed.
5. A reference to the object is returned as the value of the constructor call.

The end result of this is that you have a reference to a newly constructed object. You can use this reference
to get at the instance variables in that object or to call its instance methods.

For another example, let's rewrite the Student class that was used in Section 1. I'll add a constructor, and
I'll also take the opportunity to make the instance variable, name, private.
public class Student {

private String name; // Student's name.

public double test1, test2, test3; // Grades on three tests.

Student(String theName) {
// Constructor for Student objects;
// provides a name for the Student.
name = theName;
}

public String getName() {

// Accessor method for reading value of private
// instance variable, name.
return name;
}

public double getAverage() {

// Compute average test grade.
return (test1 + test2 + test3) / 3;
}

} // end of class Student

An object of type Student contains information about some particular student. The constructor in this
class has a parameter of type String, which specifies the name of that student. Objects of type Student
can be created with statements such as:
std = new Student("John Smith");
std1 = new Student("Mary Jones");

In the original version of this class, the value of name had to be assigned by a program after it created the
object of type Student. There was no guarantee that the programmer would always remember to set the
name properly. In the new version of the class, there is no way to create a Student object except by
calling the constructor, and that constructor automatically sets the name. The programmer's life is made
easier, and whole hordes of frustrating bugs are squashed before they even have a change to be born.

Another type of guarantee is provided by the private modifier. Since the instance variable, name, is
private, there is no way for any part of the program outside the Student class to get at the name

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (5 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.2

directly. The program sets the value of name, indirectly, when it calls the constructor. I've provided a
function, getName(), that can be used from outside the class to find out the name of the student. But I
haven't provided any way to change the name. Once a student object is created, it keeps the same name as
long as it exists.

Garbage Collection
So far, this section has been about creating objects. What about destroying them? In Java, the destruction of
objects takes place automatically.

An object exists on the heap, and it can be accessed only through variables that hold references to the
object. What should be done with an object if there are no variables that refer to it? Such things can happen.
Consider the following two statements (though in reality, you'd never do anything like this):
Student std = new Student("John Smith");
std = null;

In the first line, a reference to a newly created Student object is stored in the variable std. But in the
next line, the value of std is changed, and the reference to the Student object is gone. In fact, there are
now no references whatsoever to that object stored in any variable. So there is no way for the program ever
to use the object again. It might as well not exist. In fact, the memory occupied by the object should be
reclaimed to be used for another purpose.

Java uses a procedure called garbage collection to reclaim memory occupied by objects that are no longer
accessible to a program. It is the responsibility of the system, not the programmer, to keep track of which
objects are "garbage". In the above example, it was very easy to see that the Student object had become
garbage. Usually, it's much harder. If an object has been used for a while, there might be several references
to the object stored in several variables. The object doesn't become garbage until all those references have
been dropped.

In many other programing languages, it's the programmer's responsibility to delete the garbage.
Unfortunately, keeping track of memory usage is very error-prone, and many serious program bugs are
caused by such errors. A programmer might accidently delete an object even though there are still
references to that object. This is called a dangling pointer error, and it leads to problems when the program
tries to access an object that is no longer there. Another type of error is a memory leak, where a
programmer neglects to delete objects that are no longer in use. This can lead to filling memory with
objects that are completely inaccessible, and the program might run out of memory even though, in fact,
large amounts of memory are being wasted.

Because Java uses garbage collection, such errors are simply impossible. You might wonder why all
languages don't use garbage collection. In the past, it was considered too slow and wasteful. However,
research into garbage collection techniques combined with the incredible speed of modern computers have
combined to make garbage collection feasible. Programmers should rejoice.

[ Next Section | Previous Section | Chapter Index | Main Index ]

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s2.html (6 of 6) [5/24/2000 8:37:40 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.3

Section 5.3
Programming with Objects

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS in which object-oriented concepts can be applied to the process of
designing and writing programs. The broadest of these is object-oriented analysis and design which applies
an object-oriented methodology to the earliest stages of program development, during which the overall
design of a program is created. Here, the idea is to identify things in the problem domain that can be
modeled as objects. On another level, object-oriented programming encourages programmers to produce
generalized software components that can be used in a wide variety of programming projects.

Generalized Software Components

Every programmer builds up a stock of techniques and expertise expressed as snippets of code that can be
reused in new programs using the tried-and-true method of cut-and-paste: The old code is physically copied
into the new program and then edited to customize it as necessary. The problem is that the editing is
error-prone and time-consuming, and the whole enterprise is dependent on the programmer's ability to pull
out that particular piece of code from last year's project that looks like it might be made to fit. (On the level
of a corporation that wants to save money by not reinventing the wheel for each new project, just keeping
track of all the old wheels becomes a major task.)

Well-designed classes are software components that can be reused without editing. A well-designed class is
not carefully crafted to do a particular job in a particular program. Instead, it is crafted to model some
particular type of object or a single coherent concept. Since objects and concepts can recur in many
problems, a well-designed class is likely to be reusable without modification in a variety of projects.

Furthermore, in an object-oriented programming language, it is possible to make subclasses of an existing

class. This makes classes even more reusable. If a class needs to be customized, a subclass can be created,
and additions or modifications can be made in the subclass without making any changes to the original
class. This can be done even if the programmer doesn't have access to the source code of the class and
doesn't know any details of its internal, hidden implementation. We will discuss subclasses in the next
section.

Object-oriented Analysis and Design

A large programming project goes through a number of stages, starting with specification of the problem to
be solved, followed by analysis of the problem and design of a program to solve it. Then comes coding, in
which the program's design is expressed in some actual programming language. This is followed by testing
and debugging of the program. After that comes a long period of maintenance, which means fixing any new
problems that are found in the program and modifying it to adapt it to changing requirements. Together,
these stages form what is called the software life cycle. (In the real world, the ideal of consecutive stages is
seldom if ever achieved. During the analysis stage, it might turn out that the specifications are incomplete
or inconsistent. A problem found during testing requires at least a brief return to the coding stage. If the
problem is serious enough, it might even require a new design. Maintenance usually involves redoing some
of the work from previous stages....)

Large, complex programming projects are only likely to succeed if a careful, systematic approach is
adopted during all stages of the software life cycle. The systematic approach to programming, using
accepted principles of good design, is called software engineering. The software engineer tries to efficiently
construct programs that verifyably meet their specifications and that are easy to modify if necessary. There
is a wide range of "methodologies" that can be applied to help in the systematic design of programs. (Most

http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/c5/s3.html (1 of 9) [5/24/2000 8:37:41 AM]

Java Programing: Section 5.3

of these methodologies seem to involve drawing little boxes to represent program components, with labeled
arrows to represent relationships among the boxes.)

We have been discussing object orientation in programming languages, which is relevant to the coding
stage of program development. But there are also object-oriented methodologies for analysis and design.
The question in this stage of the software life cycle is, How can one discover or invent the overall structure
of a program? As an example of a rather simple object-oriented approach to analysis and design, consider
this advice: Write down a description of the problem. Underline all the nouns in that description. The nouns
should be considered as candidates for becoming classes or objects in the program design. Similarly,
underline all the verbs. These are candidates for methods. This is your starting point. Further analysis might
uncover the need for more classes and methods, and it might reveal that subclassing can be used to take
advantage of similarities among classes.

This is perhaps a bit simple-minded, but the idea is clear and the general approach can be effective: Analyze
the problem to discover the concepts that are involved, and create classes to represent those concepts. The
design should arise from the problem itself, and you should end up with a program whose structure reflects
the structure of the problem in a natural way.

Programming Examples
The PairOfDice class in the previous section is already an example of a generalized software
component, although one that could certainly be improved. The class represents a single, coherent concept,
"a pair of dice." The instance variables hold the data relevant to the state of the dice, that is, the number
showing on each of the dice. The instance method represents the behaviour of a pair of dice, that is, the
ability to be rolled. This class would be reusable in many different programming projects.

On the other hand, the Student class from the previous section is not very reusable. It seems to be crafted
to represent students in a particular course where the grade will be based on three tests. If there are more
tests or quizzes or papers, it's useless. If there are two people in the class who have the same name, we are
in trouble (one reason why numerical student ID's are often used). Admittedly, it's much more difficult to
develop a general-purpose student class than a general-purpose pair-of-dice class. But this particular
Student class is good mostly as an example in a programming textbook.
Let's do another example in a domain that is simple enough that we have a chance of coming up with
something reasonably reusable. Consider card games that are played with a standard deck of playing cards
(a so-called "poker" deck, since it is used in the game of poker). In a typical card game, each player gets a