COMP 248:

OBJECT ORIENTED
PROGRAMMING I

Slides 0: Introduction

The content on these slides was originally provided by

Dr. Nora Houari.
Why do programming?
q Humans communicate in a natural language
– Large vocabulary (10 000s words)
– Complex syntax
– Semantic ambiguity
■ The chair’s leg is broken.
■ The man saw the boy with the telescope.

q Machines communicate in binary code / machine

language
– Small alphabet (2 characters… 1, 0)
– Simple syntax
– No semantic ambiguity

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 So?
Humans -- natural language Machines -- binary language
q Large vocabulary q Small vocabulary
q Complex syntax q Simple syntax
q Semantic ambiguity q No semantic ambiguity

Programming Compiler + Interpreter

(COMP 248 + COMP 249)

Programming language
q Ex: ???
q Vocabulary: restricted
q Syntax: small and restricted
q Semantic: no ambiguity (almost)
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Origins of the Java Language
q Created by Sun Microsystems (1991)

q Originally designed for programming home

appliances
q Introduced in 1995 and its popularity has grown
quickly since

q Is an object-oriented programming (OOP)

language

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Compilers
q A compiler:
– is a software tool which translates source code into
another language

q Usually (ex. C, C++)

– The compiler translates directly into machine language
– But each type of CPU uses a different machine
language
– … so same executable file will not work on different
platforms
– … need to re-compile the original source code on
different platforms

q Java is different…
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 Java Translation
q Java compiler:
• Java source code --> bytecode
• A machine language for a fictitious computer called the Java
Virtual Machine

q Java interpreter:
• Executes the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
• Java bytecode --> into machine language and executes it
• Translating byte-code into machine code is relatively easy
compared to the initial compilation step
q So the Java compiler is not tied to any particular machine
q Once compiled to byte-code, a Java program can be used on any
computer, making it very portable

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Java Translation
Java source
Code
MyProg.java

Java Compiler Machine

javac MyProg.java Code

Java Bytecode Java Interpreter

MyProg.class java MyProg

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Some definitions
q Algorithm:
• A step-by-step process for solving a problem
• Expressed in natural language
q Pseudocode:
• An algorithm expressed in a more formal language
• Code-like, but does not necessarily follow a specific
syntax
q Program:
• An algorithm expressed in a programming language
• Follows a specific syntax

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Problem Solving

q The purpose of writing a program is to solve

a problem

q The general steps in problem solving are:

1. Understand the problem
2. Design a solution (find an algorithm)
3. Implement the solution (write the program)
4. Test the program and fix any problems

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Java Program Structure
q A java program:
• is made up of one or more classes (collection of
actions)
• a class contains one or more methods (action)
• a method contains program
statements/instructions

q A Java program always contains a method called main

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Java Program Structure
// comments about the class
public class MyProgram class header
{

class body

} MyProgram.java

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Java Program Structure
// comments about the class
public class MyProgram
{

// comments about the method

public static void main (String[] args)
{
method header
method body
}

}
MyProgram.java

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 A small Java program
//********************************************************
// Author: L. Kosseim
//
// Demonstrates the basic structure of a Java application.
//********************************************************
public class Hello
{
//--------------------------------------------------------
// Prints a message on the screen
//--------------------------------------------------------
public static void main (String[] args)
{
System.out.println ("Hello World!!!");
}
}
Hello.java
extension of java programs
Java is case sensitive!

You will type and run this program in tutorial 1

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Syntax and Semantics

q Syntax rules
define how we can put together symbols, reserved
words, and identifiers to make a valid program

q Semantics
define what a statement means

q A program that is syntactically correct is not

necessarily logically (semantically) correct.

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 3 types of errors
q Compile-time (syntax) errors
• The compiler will find syntax errors and other basic
problems

• An executable version of the program is not created

Ex: ??

q Run-time errors
• A problem can occur during program execution

• Causes the program to terminate abnormally

Ex: ??

n 15
 3 types of errors …
q Logical (semantic) errors… aka a bug
• A mistake in the algorithm
• Compiler cannot catch them
• A program may run, but produce
incorrect results
Ex: ??

• The process of eliminating bugs is called debugging

• (who found the first bug?)

Grace Hopper (1906-1992)

American Computer Scientist
& US Navy Admiral n 16
Detecting errors ….

The hardest kind of error to detect in a computer program

is a:

A) Syntax error
B) Run-time error
C) Logic error
D) All of the above

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Basic Program Development
Edit and
save program
Compilation
errors Run-time &
logical
Compile program errors

Execute program and

evaluate results

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 Development Environments
q Basic compiler & interpreter
• Sun Java Development Kit (JDK) -- download from Sun

• Compiler: javac Hello.java

The result is a byte-code program called: Hello.class

• Interpreter: java Hello

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Development Environments
q IDE (Integrated Development Environment)
• Eclipse
• JCreator
• Borland JBuilder
• Microsoft Visual J++
• … see course Web site to download them

q In tutorial 1, you will edit, compile and run Hello.java

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