CS3101-3

Programming Language - JAVA

Fall 2004
Sept. 15th

Instructor (and TA)

Ke Wang
604 CEPSR
Web: www.cs.columbia.edu/~kewang
Email: kewang@cs.columbia.edu, or
kw2036@columbia.edu
Tel: 212-646-6076(office)
Office hour: Wed 2pm-4pm(temporary)

About class
Website:
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~kewang/cs3
101/index.htm
Meeting time and place:
Wed. 11am-1pm, 825 Mudd
Six weeks only, ends at Oct. 20th

Homework
5 or 6 homework
One homework per week
All programming
Goes out every Wed night
Due next Tuesday 11:59:59pm
Submission and HW return eletronically
Grade percentage to be determined

Final?

Late policy
You have one 24-hour extension
Can be used only once
Otherwise, no late homework will be
accepted

Academia Integrity
The work you submit should be
implemented BY YOURSELF
Can get help from me, or friends
Must acknowledge all help given.

Topics to cover
Basic Java, Objects, Classes, Inheritance,
Interfaces, Exceptions, I/O
Applets, GUI Programming, Event
handling
Multithreading, Basic Networking
Packages, Libraries
Some advanced topics, like collections,
database, XML, etc. (If possible)

Textbook
No required textbook
Most of the information you need can be found online,
especially at http://java.sun.com
Tutorials and code camp:
http://java.sun.com/learning/tutorial/index.html
Java API specification:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/index.html
Important one! Should visit often when coding

Reference books
Core Java 2, Volume I: Fundamentals
Core Java 2, Volume II: Advanced
Features
Thinking in Java, 3rd Edition
Electronic version available:
http://64.78.49.204/

JAVA in a Nutshell (fourth Edition)

A word about learning a programming

language
PRACTICE
PRACTICE

PRACTICE

road map today

Brief intro to Java
Develop and compile environment
A simple example
Intro to object/class
Java basics
Differences from C

Intro to Java
Java programming language
The one we use to write our program
Compiled to byte code of JVM

Java virtual machine (JVM)

Java interpreter interpret the compiled byte code
Software simulated CPU architecture
Cross-platform: support Linux, Windows, PalmOSetc.

Java runtime environment (JRE)

Predefined set of java classes available to use
Core Java APIs basic utilities, I/O, graphics, network

Java is portable,
As long as there is a JVM compiled for
that particular processor and OS
Typical program, like C or C++, is
compiled for a particular processor
architecture and OS.
Write once, run everywhere!
Suns motto for Java

Bottom line: slow but safe

Not suitable for high-performance computation
Scientific computation, games, OS kernel
Compiled to byte codes of JVM, not native machine
language instructions
New release of Java is improving the speed a lot
Just-in-time (JIT) compiler: convert byte codes to native
machine language on the fly

Very safe
No pointer
Automatic garbage collection
Check array access bound

Java
Java is an object-oriented language, with a
syntax similar to C
Structured around objects and methods
A method is an action or something you do with
the object

Avoid those overly complicated features of

C++:
Operator overloading, pointer, templates, friend
class, etc.

Getting and using java

J2SDK freely download from http://java.sun.com
Your first cup of Java:
detailed instructions to help you run your first program
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/getStarted/cupojava/in
dex.html

All text editors support java

Vi/vim, emacs, notepad, wordpad
Just save to .java file

Have IDEs that comparable to Visual Studio

JCreator (simple)
Eclipse (more complicated)

Compile and run an application

Write java class Foo containing a main()
method and save in file Foo.java
The file name MUST be the same as class
name

Compile with: javac Foo.java

Creates compiled .class file: Foo.class
Run the program: java Foo
Notice: use the class name directly, no .class!

Hello World!
File name: Hello.java
/* Our first Java program Hello.java */
Command line
arguments
public class Hello {
//main()
public static void main ( String[] args ) {
System.out.println( "hello world!" );
}
}
Standard output, print with new line

About class
Fundamental unit of Java program
All java programs are classes
Each class define a unique kind of object
( a new data type)
Each class defines a set of fields, methods
or other classes
public: modifier. This class is publicly
available and anyone can use it.

Things to notice
Java is case sensitive
whitespace doesnt matter for compilation
File name must be the same as one of the
class names, including capitalization!
At most one public class per file
If there is one public class in the file, the
filename must be the same as it
Generally one class per file

What is an object?
Object is a thing
An object has state, behavior and identity
Internal variable: store state
Method: produce behavior
Unique address in memory: identity

An object is a manifestation of a class

What is class?
Class introduces a new data type
A class describes a set of objects that
have identical characteristics (data
elements) and behaviors (methods).
Existing classes provided by JRE
User defined classes

Once a class is established, you can make

as many objects of it as you like, or none.

Simple example: class Person

A Person has some attributes
The class defines these properties for all
people
Each person gets his own copy of the
fields
Attributes = properties = fields

Class Person: definition

class Person {
String name;
int height; //in inches
int weight; //in pounds

public void printInfo(){

System.out.println(name+" with height="+height+", weight="+weight);
}
}

class ClassName{ /* class body goes here */ }

class: keyword

Class Person: usage

Person ke;

//declaration

ke = new Person(); //create an object of Person

ke.name= Ke Wang; //access its field
Person sal = new Person();

sal.name=Salvatore J. Stolfo;
ke.printInfo();
Sal.printInfo(); // error here??

Class Person
Name: Ke Wang
ke

height: 0

weight: 0

Name: Salvatore J. Stolfo

sal

height: 0

weight: 0

Class Person: variables

Person x;
x=ke;
x.printInfo();
x=sal;

x.printInfo();
This gives the same output as previous code !

Class Person: variables

Name: Ke Wang
ke

height: 0

weight: 0
x
Name: Salvatore J. Stolfo

sal

height: 0
weight: 0

references

objects

Reference
We call x, as well as ke and sal, reference to
the object
Handles to access an object
Reference itself is not accessible/manipulable
Different from C/C++, cannot increment/decrement it

Implemented as pointer+
Java runtime is watching all assignment to references
Why? garbage collection (later)

Reference
Person ke;

//only created the reference, not an object.

It points to nothing now (null).

ke = new Person();

ke.name=Ke Wang;

//create the object (allocate storage

in memory), and ke is initialized.

//access the object through

the reference

More on reference
Have distinguished value null, meaning
pointing to nothing
if( x==null) { }

Multiple references can point to one object

When no reference point to an object, that
object is never accessible again.

Class Person: problem

ke.weight = 150; // too bad, but possible
ke.weight = -20; // Houston, we have a problem!!

Need to ensure the validity of value.

Solution: ask the class to do it!
ke.setWeight(150);

// OK, now kes weight is 150

ke.setWeight(-10);

******** Error, weight must be positive number

Class Person: add method

class Person{
...
void setWeight(int w){
if(w<=0)
System.err.println("***** error, weight must be positive
number! ");
else
weight = w;
}
}

Class Person: new problem

ke.setWeight(-10);
******** Error, weight must be positive number

ke.weight = -20;

//haha, Im the boss!

How about we forgot to use the set function? Or

we just dont want to?
Solution: just make the variable inaccessible
from outside!

Class Person: private variable

class Person{
private String name;
private int weight;
private int height;
public void setWeight(int w){
if(w<=0)
System.err.println("***** error, weight must be positive
number! ");
else
weight = w;
}
}

Keyword private: no one can access the element except itself

Keyword public: everyone can access the element

Class Person
class Hello{
public static void main ( String[] args ) {
Person ke = new Person();
ke.weight = -20;
}
}

>javac Hello.java
Hello.java:5: weight has private access in Person
ke.weight = -20;
^
1 error

Access functions
Generally make fields private and provide
public getField() and setField() access
functions
O-O term for this is Encapsulation
C# does this by default

Java Basics: primitive types

One group of types get special treatment
in Java
Variable is not created by new, not a
reference
Variable holds the value directly

Primitive types
Primitive type

Size

Minimum

Maximum

Wrapper type

boolean

1-bit

Boolean

char

16-bit

Unicode 0

Unicode 216- 1

Character

byte

8-bit

-128

+127

Byte

short

16-bit

-215

+215-1

Short

int

32-bit

-231

+231-1

Integer

long

64-bit

-263

+263-1

Long

float

32-bit

IEEE754

IEEE754

Float

double

64-bit

IEEE754

IEEE754

Double

Primitive types
All numerical types are signed!
No unsigned keyword in Java

The wrapper class allow you to make a

non-primitive object to represent the
primitive one
char c =a;
Character C = new Character(c);
Character C = new Character(a);

Primitive types - boolean

boolean can never convert to or from other
data type, not like C or C++
boolean is not a integer
if(0) doesnt work in java
Have to explicitly state the comparison
if( x ==0) {

Primitive types - char

Char is unsigned type
The Character wrapper class has several
static methods to work with char, like
isDigit(), toUpperCase() etc.

Default values for primitive members

When a primitive type
data is a member of a
class, its guaranteed
to get a default value
even if you dont
initialize it.
Not true for those
local variables!!
There will be compile
error if you use it
without initialization

Primitive type

Default

boolean

false

char

\u0000 (null)

byte

(byte)0

short

(short)0

int

long

0L

float

0.0f

double

0.0d

Example
class Hello{
public static void main ( String[] args ) {
int x;
System.out.println(x);
}
}

>javac Hello.java
Hello.java:5: variable x might not have been initialized
System.out.println(x);
^
1 error

Arrays in Java
An ordered collection of something, addressed
by integer index
Something can be primitive values, objects, or even
other arrays. But all the values in an array must be of
the same type.
Only int or char as index
long values not allowed as array index

0 based
Value indexes for array a with length 10
a[0] a[9];

a.length==10
Note: length is an attribute, not method

Arrays in Java: declaration

Declaration
int[] arr;
Person[] persons;
Also support: int arr[]; Person persons[];
(confusing, should be avoided)

Creation
int[] arr = new int[1024];
int [][] arr = { {1,2,3}, {4,5,6} };
Person[] persons = new Person[50];

Arrays in Java: safety

Cannot be accessed outside of its range
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

Guaranteed to be initialized
Array of primitive type will be initialized to their
default value
Zeroes the memory for the array

Array of objects: actually its creating an array

of references, and each of them is initialized to
null.

Arrays in Java:
second kind of reference types in Java
int[] arr = new int [5];
arr

int[][] arr = new int [2][5];

arr[0]
arr[1]

arr

More on reference
Java doesnt support & address of , or *, ->
dereference operators.
reference cannot be converted to or from integer,
cannot be incremented or decremented.
When you assign an object or array to a variable,
you are actually setting the variable to hold a
reference to that object or array.
Similarly, you are just passing a reference when
you pass object or array to a method

Reference vs. primitive

Java handle objects and arrays always by
reference.
classes and arrays are known as reference types.
Class and array are composite type, dont have
standard size

Java always handle values of the primitive types

directly
Primitive types have standard size, can be stored in a
fixed amount of memory

Because of how the primitive types and objects

are handles, they behave different in two areas:
copy value and compare for equality

copy
Primitive types get copied directly by =
int x= 10; int y=x;

Objects and arrays just copy the reference,

still only one copy of the object existing.
Person ke =new Person();
ke.name="Ke Wang";
Person x=ke;
x.name="Sal";
System.out.println(ke.name); // print Sal!

ke

Name: Ke Wang
height: 0

weight: 0

Compare equality
Primitive use ==, compare their value directly
int x = 10; int y=10;
if(x==y) { // true !

Object or array compare their reference, not

content
Person ke =new Person();
ke.name="Ke Wang";
Person ke2 =new Person();
ke2.name="Ke Wang";
if(ke==ke2) //false!!
Person x = ke;
if(ke==x) //true

Copy objects and arrays

Create new object, then copy all the fields
individually and specifically
Or write your own copy method in your class
Or use the special clone() method (inherited by
all objects from java.lang.Object)
int[] data = {1,2,3}; //an array
int[] copy = (int[]) data.clone(); //a copy of the array

Notice: clone() is shallow copy only! The copied object or

array contains all the primitive values and references in the
original one, but wont clone those references, i.e., not
recursive.

Compare objects and arrays

Write you own comparison method
Or use default equals() method
All objects inherit equals() from Object, but
default implementation simply uses == for
equality of reference
Check each class for their definition of equals()
String s = "cs3101";
int num=3101;
String t ="cs"+num;
if(s.equals(t)) { //true!

Notice: + operator also

concatenate string. If either of the
operand to + is a string, the
operator converts the other
operand to a string

Scoping
Scope determines both the visibility and lifetime
of the names defined within the scope
Scope is determined by the placement of {},
which is called block.
{
int x = 10;
//only x available
{
int y = 20;
//both x and y available
}
//only x available, y out of scope!
}

Scoping
Notice, you cannot do the following,
although its legal in C/C++.
{
int x = 10;
{
int x = 20;
}
}

Compile error
Hello.java:6: x is already defined in
main(java.lang.String[])
int x =20;
^
1 error

Scope of objects
When you create an object using new, the
object hangs around past the end of the
scope, although the reference vanishes.
{
String s = new String("abc");
}

Reference s vanishes, but the String

object still in memory

Solution: Garbage Collector!

Garbage collector
In C++, you have to make sure that you
destroy the objects when you are done
with them.
Otherwise, memory leak.

In Java, garbage collector do it for you.

It looks at all the objects created by new and
figure out which ones are no longer being
referenced. Then it release the memory for
those objects.

Importing library
If you need any routines that defined by
java package
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;

Put at the very beginning of the java file

java.lang.* already been imported.
Check javadoc for the classes

Static keyword
Want to have only one piece of storage for a
data, regardless how many objects are created,
or even no objects created
Need a method that isnt associated with any
particular object of this class
static keyword apply to both fields and methods
Can be called directly by class name
Example: java.lang.Math

Non-static fields/methods must be called through

an instance

main()
class Hello{
int num;
public static void main(String[] args) {
num = 10;
}
}
>javac Hello.java
Hello.java:4: non-static variable num cannot be referenced
from a static context
num = 10;
^
1 error

Main() doesnt belong in a class

Always static
Because program need a place to start, before any
object been created.

Poor design decision

If you need access non-static variable of class
Hello, you need to create object Hello, even if
main() is in class Hello!
class Hello{
int num;
public static void main(String[] args){
Hello h = new Hello();
h.num = 10;
}
}

Difference between C and Java

No pointers
No global variable across classes
Variable declaration anywhere
Forward reference
Method can be invoked before defined

Method overloading
As long as the methods have different parameter lists

No struct, union, enum type

No variable-length argument list

Output
System.out.println();
System.err.println();
Err corresponds to Unix stderr

System.[out|err].print();
Same as println(), but no terminating newline

Easy to use, ready to go.

Input: importing library

Need routines from java.io package
import java.io.*;

System.in is not ready to use, need to build a

fully functional input object on top of it
InputStreamReader(System.in)
Basic byte-to-char translation

BufferedReader(InputStreamReader isr)
Allows us to read in a complete line and return it as a
String
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
//BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(filename));
String line = in.readLine();

Basic exception
readLine() throws IOException
Required to enclose within try/catch block
More on exception later

Integer.parseInt()
Static method
Can take the String returned by readLine()
and spit out an int
Throws NumberFormatException if String
cannot be interpreted as an integer

Question?