Chapter 4 Writing Classes Writing Classes Weve been
Chapter 4 Writing Classes
Writing Classes • We've been using predefined classes. Now we will learn to write our own classes to define objects • Chapter 4 focuses on: § § § § class definitions instance data encapsulation and Java modifiers method declaration and parameter passing constructors graphical objects events and listeners buttons and text fields 2
Outline Anatomy of a Class Encapsulation Anatomy of a Method © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 3
Writing Classes • The programs we’ve written in previous examples have used classes defined in the Java standard class library • Now we will begin to design programs that rely on classes that we write ourselves • The class that contains the main method is just the starting point of a program • True object-oriented programming is based on defining classes that represent objects with welldefined characteristics and functionality © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 4
Classes and Objects • Recall from our overview of objects in Chapter 1 that an object has state and behavior • Consider a six-sided die (singular of dice) § It’s state can be defined as which face is showing § It’s primary behavior is that it can be rolled • We can represent a die in software by designing a class called Die that models this state and behavior § The class serves as the blueprint for a die object • We can then instantiate as many die objects as we need for any particular program. Each die might have a different ‘state’ (value of its attribute, face) but the same ‘behaviors’ (can be rolled – a method) © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 5
Classes • A class can contain data declarations and method declarations int size, weight; char category; Data declarations Usually call these ‘attributes’ or ‘properties’ Each of these has a ‘state’ that is, its ‘value’ at any particular instance in time. Method declarations These are the ‘behaviors’ or ‘methods’ or ‘services’ objects of this class can provide. e. g. roll. Die(); might be such a behavior. All the ‘functionalities’, that is, the ‘actions’ that can take place on the attributes are included here and here alone. © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 6
Classes • The values of the data define the state of an object created from the class • The functionality of the methods define the behaviors of the object • For our Die class, we might declare an integer that represents the current value showing on the face • One of the methods would “roll” the die by setting that value to a random number between one and six © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 7
Classes • We’ll want to design the Die class with other data and methods to make it a versatile and reusable resource • Any given program will not necessarily use all aspects of a given class • Let’s look at Rolling. Dice. java (page 157) • And Die. java (page 158). © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 8
• • • //********************************** // Rolling. Dice. java Author: Lewis/Loftus // // Demonstrates the creation and use of a user-defined class. //********************************** • • • public class Rolling. Dice { //--------------------------------// Creates two Die objects and rolls them several times. //--------------------------------public static void main (String[] args) { Die die 1, die 2; int sum; • • die 1 = new Die(); die 2 = new Die(); • • • die 1. roll(); die 2. roll(); System. out. println ("Die One: " + die 1 + ", Die Two: " + die 2); • • • die 1. roll(); die 2. set. Face. Value(4); System. out. println ("Die One: " + die 1 + ", Die Two: " + die 2); • • sum = die 1. get. Face. Value() + die 2. get. Face. Value(); System. out. println ("Sum: " + sum); • • • sum = die 1. roll() + die 2. roll(); System. out. println ("Die One: " + die 1 + ", Die Two: " + die 2); System. out. println ("New sum: " + sum); } } © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 9
• // Die. java // Represents one die (singular of dice) with faces showing values // between 1 and 6. • // Document as in the book – not here. This was done for space considerations!! • • • public class Die { private final int MAX = 6; // maximum face value private int face. Value; // current value showing on the die // Constructor: Sets the initial face value public Die(). { face. Value = 1; } • • • public int roll() // Rolls the die and returns the result. { face. Value = (int)(Math. random() * MAX) + 1; return face. Value; } • • public void set. Face. Value (int value) { face. Value = value; • • • public String to. String() // Returns a string representation of this die. { String result = Integer. to. String(face. Value); return result; } } // end class Die. // Face value mutator. // get and set are standard. public int get. Face. Value() { return face. Value; } // Face value accessor © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 10
The Die Class • The Die class contains two data values § a constant MAX that represents the maximum face value § an integer face. Value that represents the current face value • The roll method uses the random method of the Math class to determine a new face value • There also methods to explicitly set and retrieve the current face value at any time © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 11
The to. String Method • All classes that represent objects should define a to. String method • The to. String method returns a character string that represents the object in some way • It is called automatically when an object is concatenated to a string or when it is passed to the println method © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 12
Constructors • As mentioned previously, a constructor is a special method that is used to set up an object when it is initially created • A constructor has the same name as the class • The Die constructor is used to set the initial face value of each new die object to one • We examine constructors in more detail later in this chapter © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 13
Data Scope • The scope of data is the area in a program in which that data can be referenced (used) • Data declared at the class level can be referenced by all methods in that class. Called Instance Data. • Data declared within a method can be used only in that method • Data declared within a method is called local data • In the Die class, the variable result is declared inside the to. String method -- it is local to that method and cannot be referenced anywhere else © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 14
Instance Data • The face. Value variable in the Die class is called instance data because each instance (object) that is created has its own version of it • A class declares the type of the data, but it does not reserve any memory space for it • Every time a Die object is created, a new face. Value variable is created as well • The objects of a class share the method definitions, but each object has its own data space • That's the only way two objects can have different states © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 15
Instance Data • We can depict the two Die objects from the Rolling. Dice program as follows: die 1 face. Value 5 die 2 face. Value 2 Each object maintains its own face. Value variable, and thus its own state © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 16
UML Diagrams • UML stands for the Unified Modeling Language • UML diagrams show relationships among classes and objects • A UML class diagram consists of one or more classes, each with sections for the class name, attributes (data), and operations (methods) • Lines between classes represent associations • A dotted arrow shows that one class uses the other (calls its methods) (sends a message…) © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 17
UML Class Diagrams • A UML class diagram for the Rolling. Dice program: Rolling. Dice Die face. Value : int main (args : String[]) : void © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved roll() : int set. Face. Value (int value) : void get. Face. Value() : int to. String() : String 18
Outline Anatomy of a Class Encapsulation Anatomy of a Method Graphical Objects Graphical User Interfaces Buttons and Text Fields © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 19
Encapsulation • We can take one of two views of an object: § internal - the details of the variables and methods of the class that defines it § external - the services that an object provides and how the object interacts with the rest of the system • From the external view, an object is an encapsulated entity, providing a set of specific services • These services define the interface to the object 20
UML Class Diagrams • A UML class diagram for the Rolling. Dice program: Rolling. Dice Die face. Value : int main (args : String[]) : void roll() : int set. Face. Value (int value) : void get. Face. Value() : int to. String() : String • The ‘services’ provided by objects of type, Die, are roll(), set. Face. Value(int), get. Face. Value(), and to. String(). • Messages to invoke any of those services might appear like, die 1. get. Face. Value(); or rolled. Number = die 1. roll(); Okay? ? ? © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 21
Encapsulation • One object (called the client) may use another object for the services it provides • The client of an object may request its services (call its methods), but it should not have to be aware of how those services are accomplished • Any changes to the object's state (its variables) should be made by that object's methods • We should make it difficult, if not impossible, for a client to access an object’s variables directly • That is, an object should be self-governing 22
Encapsulation • An encapsulated object can be thought of as a black box -- its inner workings are hidden from the client • The client invokes the interface methods of the object, which manages the instance data Client Methods Data 23
Visibility Modifiers • In Java, we accomplish encapsulation through the appropriate use of visibility modifiers • A modifier is a Java reserved word that specifies particular characteristics of a method or data • We've used the final modifier to define constants • Java has three visibility modifiers: public, protected, and private • The protected modifier involves inheritance, which we will discuss later 24
Visibility Modifiers • Members of a class that are declared with public visibility can be referenced anywhere (via the object name. Membername. • Members of a class that are declared with private visibility can be referenced only within that class • Members declared without a visibility modifier have default visibility and can be referenced by any class in the same package (package scope!) • An overview of all Java modifiers is presented in Appendix E 25
Visibility Modifiers • Public variables violate encapsulation because they allow the client to “reach in” and modify the values directly • Therefore instance variables should not be declared with public visibility. They are usually always ‘private. ’ (Will talk about ‘protected’ later) • It is acceptable to give a constant public visibility, which allows it to be used outside of the class • Public constants do not violate encapsulation because, although the client can access it, its value cannot be changed 26
Visibility Modifiers • Methods that provide the object's services are declared with public visibility so that they can be invoked by clients • Public methods are also called service methods • A method created simply to assist a service method is called a support method • Since a support method is not intended to be called by a client, it should not be declared with public visibility • Example: Have method to compute. Pay(…. ). But the code requires help of compute. Per. Diem(…). So, compute. Pay would invoke (private!) compute. Per. Diem method. 27
Visibility Modifiers Variables Methods public private Violate encapsulation Enforce encapsulation Provide services to clients Support other methods in the class © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 28
Accessors and Mutators • Because instance data is private, a class usually provides services to access and modify data values • An accessor method returns the current value of a variable • A mutator method changes the value of a variable • The names of accessor and mutator methods take the form get. X and set. X, respectively, where X is the name of the value • They are sometimes called “getters” and “setters” © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 29
Mutator Restrictions • The use of mutators gives the class designer the ability to restrict a client’s options to modify an object’s state • A mutator is often designed so that the values of variables can be set only within particular limits • For example, the set. Face. Value mutator of the Die class should have restricted the value to the valid range (1 to MAX) • We’ll see in Chapter 5 how such restrictions can be implemented © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 30
Outline Anatomy of a Class Encapsulation Anatomy of a Method Graphical Objects Graphical User Interfaces Buttons and Text Fields © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 31
Method Declarations • Let’s now examine method declarations in more detail • A method declaration specifies the code that will be executed when the method is invoked (called) • When a method is invoked, the flow of control jumps to the method and executes its code • When complete, the flow returns to the place where the method was called and continues • The invocation may or may not return a value, depending on how the method is defined © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 32
Method Control Flow • If the called method is in the same class, only the method name is needed compute my. Method(); Here, my. Method is found in the same object. Only the method name is needed to invoke the method to execute. © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 33
Method Control Flow • The called method is often part of another class or object main obj. do. It(); do. It help. Me(); Here, main() calls a method IN A DIFFERENT OBJECT. So it must call the method via the standard call: object. method. Here, that is obj. do. It(). Within do. It(), there is a call to another method in the same object. Only the method name is therefore necessary. © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 34
Method Header • A method declaration begins with a method header char calc (int num 1, int num 2, String message) method name return type parameter list The parameter list specifies the type and name of each parameter The name of a parameter in the method declaration is called a formal parameter © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 35
Method Body • The method header is followed by the method body char calc (int num 1, int num 2, String message) { int sum = num 1 + num 2; char result = message. char. At (sum); return result; } The return expression must be consistent with the return type © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved sum and result are local data They are created each time the method is called, and are destroyed when it finishes executing 36
The return Statement • The return type of a method indicates the type of value that the method sends back to the calling location • A method that does not return a value has a void return type • A return statement specifies the value that will be returned return expression; • Its expression must conform to the return type 37
Parameters • When a method is called, the values of the actual parameters (oftentimes called ‘arguments) in the invocation are copied into the formal parameters in the method header Value ‘returned’ is assigned to ch. ch = obj. calc (25, count, "Hello"); Function call char calc (int num 1, int num 2, String message) { int sum; // sum is a local variable!! sum = num 1 + num 2; char result = message. char. At (sum); return result; } © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 38
Local Data • As we’ve seen, local variables can be declared inside a method (See int sum; last slide) • The formal parameters of a method create automatic local variables when the method is invoked • When the method finishes, all local variables are destroyed (including the formal parameters) • Keep in mind that instance variables, declared at the class level, exists as long as the object exists. But instance variables are declared outside of any methods. © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 39
Bank Account Example • Let’s look at another example that demonstrates the implementation details of classes and methods • We’ll represent a bank account by a class named Account • It’s state can include the § account number, the § current balance, and the § name of the owner • An account’s behaviors (or services) include deposits and withdrawals, and adding interest © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 40
Bank Account Example • Note: the program can. NOT start here! • The next figure is a class!!! • All ‘applications’ must start with a main routine in some kind of ‘driver. ’ § (More ahead). • Let’s look at the class definition of Account! © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 41
// Account. java Author: Lewis/Loftus // Represents a bank account with basic services such as deposit and withdraw. //********************************** Instance data. EACH object of import java. text. Number. Format; public class Account. type Account will get its own { copy of these variables. private final double RATE = 0. 035; // interest rate of 3. 5% Note: all ‘private. ’ (means only private long acct. Number; methods of these objects can access private double balance; private String name; these variables. // Sets up the account by defining its owner, account number and initial balance. public Account (String owner, long account, double initial) Note: the Constructor. { name = owner; Same name as class. acct. Number = account; Initializes attributes, and sets balance = initial; up initial ‘state’ of an object. } // Deposits the specified amount into the account. Returns the new balance. public double deposit (double amount) Note: all methods public (here). { Note: method names, formal params, balance = balance + amount; and return types, if any. return balance; } // Withdraws the specified amount from the account and applies the fee. Returns the new balance. public double withdraw (double amount, double fee) { balance = balance - amount - fee; balance; © return 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved } 42
//--------------------------------// Adds interest to the account and returns the new balance. //--------------------------------public double add. Interest () { balance += (balance * RATE); return balance; } //--------------------------------// Returns the current balance of the account. //--------------------------------public double get. Balance () { return balance; } //--------------------------------// Returns a one-line description of the account as a string. //--------------------------------public String to. String () { Number. Format fmt = Number. Format. get. Currency. Instance(); return (acct. Number + "t" + name + "t" + fmt. format(balance)); } } © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 43
Driver Programs • A driver program drives the use of other, more interesting parts of a program • Driver programs are often used to test other parts of the software • The Transactions class contains a main method that drives the use of the Account class, exercising its services • See Transactions. java (page 172) © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 44
• • • // Transactions. java Author: Lewis/Loftus // Demonstrates the creation and use of multiple Account objects. public class Transactions { // Creates some bank accounts and requests various services. public static void main (String[] args) { Account acct 1 = new Account ("Ted Murphy", 72354, 102. 56); Account acct 2 = new Account ("Jane Smith", 69713, 40. 00); Account acct 3 = new Account ("Edward Demsey", 93757, 759. 32); • acct 1. deposit (25. 85); • • double smith. Balance; smith. Balance = acct 2. deposit (500. 00); System. out. println ("Smith balance after deposit: " + smith. Balance); • System. out. println ("Murphy balance after withdrawal: " + acct 2. withdraw (430. 75, 1. 50)); • • • acct 1. add. Interest(); acct 2. add. Interest(); acct 3. add. Interest(); • • • System. out. println (); (acct 1); (acct 2); (acct 3); } Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved © 2004 45
Bank Account Example acct 1 acct. Number 72354 balance 102. 56 “Ted Murphy” name acct 2 acct. Number 69713 balance 40. 00 name © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved “Jane Smith” 46
Bank Account Example • There are some improvements that can be made to the Account class • Formal getters and setters could have been defined for all data • The design of some methods could also be more robust, such as verifying that the amount parameter to the withdraw method is positive © 2004 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved 47
Constructors Revisited • Note that a constructor has no return type specified in the method header, not even void • A common error is to put a return type on a constructor, which makes it a “regular” method that happens to have the same name as the class • The programmer does not have to define a constructor for a class • Each class has a default constructor that accepts no parameters 48
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