Course II_BCA NEP Syllabus Krupanidhi College

Unit - 2 Objects and Classes:

OBJECT IN JAVA

An entity that has state and behavior is known as an object

An object consists of :
1. State: It is represented by attributes of an object. It also reflects the properties of
an object.
2. Behavior: It is represented by methods of an object. It also reflects the response of
an object with other objects.
3. Identity: It gives a unique name to an object and enables one object to interact
with other objects.

Example of an object: Person

An object is an instance of a class. A class is a template or blueprint from which

objects are created. So, an object is the instance(result) of a class.

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CLASSES IN JAVA

A class is a user defined blueprint or prototype from which objects are created.
It represents the set of properties or methods that are common to all objects of one

type.
We can create a class in Java using the class keyword class

Class Name {
// fields

// methods
}

Here, fields (variables) and methods represent the state and behavior of the object
respectively.

• fields are used to store data

• methods are used to perform some operations

//Java Program to illustrate how to define a class and fields

//Defining a Student class.
class Student
{
//defining fields
int id;//field or data member or instance variable
String name;
//creating main method inside the Student class
public static void main(String args[]){
//Creating an object or instance
Student s1=new Student();//creating an object of Student
//Printing values of the object
System.out.println(s1.id);//accessing member through reference variable
System.out.println(s1.name);
}
}

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CONSTRUCTOR IN JAVA

 A constructor in Java is a special method having same name as the class and is

used to initialize objects.

 The constructor is called when an object of a class is created. It can be used to

set initial values for object attributes.

class Bike
{
Bike()
{
System.out.println("Bike is created");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
Bike b=new Bike();
}
There are three types of constructors:
1. No-arg constructor

2. Parameterized.
NO-ARGUMENT CONSTRUCTOR

If a constructor does not accept any parameters, it is known as a no-argument

constructor.

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PARAMETERIZED CONSTRUCTOR

A constructor which has a specific number of parameters is called a parameterized

constructor.

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FINALIZE METHOD
Finalize method in Java is an Object Class method that is used to perform cleanup

activity before destroying any object. It is called by Garbage collector before

destroying the object from memory. Finalize() method is called by default for every

object before its deletion.

The garbage collector is a part of Java Virtual Machine(JVM). Garbage collector checks

the heap memory, where all the objects are stored by JVM, looking for unreferenced
objects that are no more needed. And automatically destroys those objects. Garbage

collector calls finalize() method for clean up activity before destroying the object. Java
does garbage collection automatically; there is no need to do it explicitly, unlike other

programming languages.
The garbage collector in java can be called explicitly using the following method:

System.gc()
System.gc() is a method in java that invokes garbage collector which will destroy the

unreferenced objects. System.gc() calls finalize() method only once for each object.

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STRING IN JAVA

Generally, String is a sequence of characters. But in Java, string is an object that

represents a sequence of characters.

CREATE A STRING OBJECT

There are two ways to create String object:

1. By string literal
2. By new keyword

1) STRING LITERAL

Java String literal is created by using double quotes. For Example:

String s="welcome";

Each time you create a string literal, the JVM checks the "string constant pool" first. If
the string already exists in the pool, a reference to the pooled instance is returned. If the
string doesn't exist in the pool, a new string instance is created and placed in the pool.
For example:

String s1="Welcome";
String s2="Welcome";//It doesn't create a new instance

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2) BY NEW KEYWORD

String s=new String("Welcome");//creates two objects and one reference variable

In such case, JVM will create a new string object in normal (non-pool) heap memory

Java String compare

There are three ways to compare String in Java:

1. By Using equals() Method

2. By Using == Operator
3. By compareTo() Method

1) By Using equals() Method

The String class equals() method compares the original content of the string. It
compares values of string for equality.

class Teststringcomparison1
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
String s1="Sachin";
String s2="Sachin";
String s3=new String("Sachin");
String s4="Saurav";
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2));//true
System.out.println(s1.equals(s3));//true
System.out.println(s1.equals(s4));//false
}
}

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2) By Using == operator

The == operator compares references not values.

class Teststringcomparison3
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
String s1="Sachin";
String s2="Sachin";
String s3=new String("Sachin");
System.out.println(s1==s2);//true (because both refer to same instance)
System.out.println(s1==s3);//false(because s3 refers to instance created in nonpool)
}
}

3) By Using compareTo() method

The String class compareTo() method compares values lexicographically and returns an
integer value that describes if first string is less than, equal to or greater than second
string.

Suppose s1 and s2 are two String objects. If:

s1 == s2 : The method returns 0.

s1 > s2 : The method returns a positive value.

s1 < s2 : The method returns a negative value.

class Teststringcomparison4
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
String s1="Sachin";
String s2="Sachin";

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String s3="Ratan";
System.out.println(s1.compareTo(s2));//0
System.out.println(s1.compareTo(s3));//1(because s1>s3)
System.out.println(s3.compareTo(s1));//-1(because s3 < s1 )
}
}

Java String class methods

The java.lang.String class provides many useful methods to perform operations on

sequence of char values.

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CHARACTER CLASS IN JAVA

Java provides a wrapper class Character in java.lang package. An object of type

Character contains a single field, whose type is char. The Character class offers a
number of useful class (i.e., static) methods for manipulating characters.

CREATING A CHARACTER OBJECT:

Character ch = new Character('a');

The above statement creates a Character object which contains ‘a’ of type char.

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Example Program

class CharecterDemo
{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println(Character.isLetter('7'));//false

System.out.println(Character.isDigit('7'));//true
System.out.println(Character.isWhitespace(' '));//true

System.out.println(Character.isWhitespace('a'));//false
System.out.println(Character.isUpperCase('D'));//true

System.out.println(Character.toUpperCase('n'));//N
}

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StringBuffer Class

String in general is a sequence of characters that is immutable in nature. But java

provides a class called String Buffer using which programmer can create a string that is

mutable ( i.e. it can be changed. )in natu

Constructors of StringBuffer Class

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Methods of StringBuffer class

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Java File Class

The File class of the java.io package is used to perform various operations on files and

directories.

Create a Java File Object

A File object is created by passing in a string that represents the name of a file, a
String, or another File object
File a = new File("/usr/local/bin/geeks");

Java create files

To create a new file, we can use the createNewFile() method. It returns

• true if a new file is created.

•false if the file already exists in the specified location.

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Example: Create a new File

// importing the File class

import java.io.File;

class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

// create a file object for the current location

File file = new File("newFile.txt");

try {

// trying to create a file based on the object

boolean value = file.createNewFile();

if (value) {

System.out.println("The new file is created.");

else {

System.out.println("The file already exists.");

catch(Exception e) {

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e.getStackTrace();

ACCESS MODIFIERS

Access modifiers in Java allow us to set the scope or accessibility or visibility of a data
member be it a field, constructor, class, or method.

There are four access modifiers keywords in Java and they are:

#1) Default: Whenever a specific access level is not specified, then it is assumed to be
‘default’. The scope of the default level is within the package.
A default access modifier in Java has no specific keyword. Whenever the access modifier
is not specified, then it is assumed to be the default. The entities like classes, methods,
and variables can have a default access.

A default class is accessible inside the package but it is not accessible from outside the
package i.e. all the classes inside the package in which the default class is defined can
access this class.

Similarly a default method or variable is also accessible inside the package in which they
are defined and not outside the package

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#2) Public: This is the most common access level and whenever the public access
specifier is used with an entity, that particular entity is accessible throughout from within
or outside the class, within or outside the package, etc.

#3) Protected: The protected access level has a scope that is within the package. A
protected entity is also accessible outside the package through inherited class or child
class.

The methods or data members declared as protected are accessible within the same
package or subclasses in different packages.

#4) Private: When an entity is private, then this entity cannot be accessed outside the
class. A private entity can only be accessible from within the class.

The methods and fields that are declared as private are not accessible outside the class.
They are accessible only within the class which has these private entities as its members.

Note that the private entities are not even visible to the subclasses of the class. A private
access modifier ensures encapsulation in Java.

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THIS REFERENCE

In Java, this is a reference variable that refers to the current object.

this can also be used to:

 Invoke current class constructor

 Invoke current class method
 Return the current class object
 Pass an argument in the method call
 Pass an argument in the constructor call

Example Program

class Student{
int rollno;
String name;
float fee;
Student(int rollno,String name,float fee)
{
rollno=rollno;
name=name;
fee=fee;
}
void display(){System.out.println(rollno+" "+name+" "+fee);}
}
class TestThis1{
public static void main(String args[]){
Student s1=new Student(111,"ankit",5000f);
Student s2=new Student(112,"sumit",6000f);

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s1.display();
s2.display();
}
}
Output:

111 ankit 5000.0

112 sumit 6000.0

2)this() : to invoke current class constructor

The this() constructor call can be used to invoke the current class constructor. It is used
to reuse the constructor.

class A{
A()
{
System.out.println("hello a");
}
A(int x)
{
this();
System.out.println(x);
}
}
class TestThis5{
public static void main(String args[])
{
A a=new A(10);
}
}

Output:

hello a
10

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STATIC KEYWORD IN JAVA

The static keyword in Java is mainly used for memory management.

The static keyword is a non-access modifier in Java that is applicable for the
following:

1. Variables
2. Blocks
3. Methods

STATIC VARIABLES

If you declare any variable as static, it is known as a static variable.

o The static variable can be used to refer to the common property of all objects
(which is not unique for each object), for example, the company name of
employees, college name of students, etc.
o The static variable gets memory only once in the class area at the time of class
loading.

//Java Program to demonstrate the use of an instance variable

//which get memory each time when we create an object of the clas
s.
class Counter{
int count=0;//will get memory each time when the instance is creat
ed

Counter(){
count++;//incrementing value
System.out.println(count);
}

public static void main(String args[]){

//Creating objects

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Counter c1=new Counter();

Counter c2=new Counter();
Counter c3=new Counter();

}
}

STATIC BLOCK

o Is used to initialize the static data member.

o It is executed before the main method at the time of classloading.

class A2{
static{System.out.println("static block is invoked");}
public static void main(String args[]){
System.out.println("Hello main");
}
}

STATIC METHOD

If you apply static keyword with any method, it is known as static method.

o A static method belongs to the class rather than the object of a class.
o A static method can be invoked without the need for creating an instance of a
class.
o A static method can access static data member and can change the value of it.

class Calculate{
static int cube(int x)
{
return x*x*x;
}

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public static void main(String args[])

{
int result=Calculate.cube(5);
System.out.println(result);
}
}

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