Thursday, February 7, 2013

References and Primitive Data Types

References and Primitive Data Types:


Java distinguishes two kinds of entities
Primitive types
Objects
Primitive-type data is stored in primitive-type variables
Reference variables store the address of an object
No notion of “object (physically) in the stack”
No notion of “object (physically) within an object”

Primitive Data Types:
Represent numbers, characters, boolean values
Integers: byte, short, int, and long
Real numbers: float and double
Characters: char

A Little Example of import and main:

A Little Example of import and main:

import javax.swing.*;    // all classes from javax.swing public class HelloWorld// starts a class  public static void main (String[] args) {  // starts a main method  // in: array of String; out: none (void)  }}public = can be seen from any packagestatic = not “part of” an object

Processing and Running HelloWorld:

javac HelloWorld.java
Produces HelloWorld.class (byte code)
java HelloWorld
Starts the JVM and runs the main method.

Classes and Objects:

Classes and Objects:

The class is the unit of programming
A Java program is a collection of classes
Each class definition (usually) in its own .java file
The file name must match the class name
A class describes objects (instances)
Describes their common characteristics: is a blueprint
Thus all the instances have these same characteristics
These characteristics are:
Data fields for each object
Methods (operations) that do work on the objects

Grouping Classes: The Java API,

API = Application Programming Interface
Java = small core + extensive collection of packages
A package consists of some related Java classes:
Swing: a GUI (graphical user interface) package
AWT: Application Window Toolkit (more GUI)
util: utility data structures (important to CS 187!)
The import statement tells the compiler to make available classes and methods of another package
A main method indicates where to begin executing a class (if it is designed to be run as a program)


Java Processing and Execution

chapter:2

Java Processing and Execution:

Begin with Java source code in text files: Model.java
A Java source code compiler produces Java byte code
Outputs one file per class: Model.class
May be standalone or part of an IDE
A Java Virtual Machine loads and executes class files
May compile them to native code (e.g., x86) internally

Compiling and Executing a Java Program:





Intro to java

      Introduction to Java

Topics of the Review:

Essentials of object-oriented programming, in Java
Java primitive data types, control structures, and arrays
Using some predefined classes:
Math
JOptionPane, I/O streams
String, StringBuffer, StringBuilder
StringTokenizer
Writing and documenting your own Java classes

Some Salient Characteristics of Java:

Java is platform independent: the same program can run on any correctly implemented Java system
Java is object-oriented:
Structured in terms of classes, which group data with operations on that data
Can construct new classes by extending existing ones
Java designed as
A core language plus
A rich collection of commonly available packages
Java can be embedded in Web pages