Java™ How to Program, 9/e

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 Best way to develop and maintain a large program is to
construct it from small, simple pieces, or modules.
 divide and conquer.
 Topics in this chapter
 static methods
 Declare a method with more than one parameter
 Method-call stack
 Simulation techniques with random-number generation.
 How to declare values that cannot change (i.e., constants) in
your programs.
 Method overloading.

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 Java programs combine new methods and classes that
you write with predefined methods and classes
available in the Java Application Programming
Interface and in other class libraries.

 Related classes are typically grouped into packages so

that they can be imported into programs and reused.

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 Methods help you modularize a program by separating its
tasks into self-contained units.
 Statements in method bodies
 Written only once
 Hidden from other methods
 Can be reused from several locations in a program
 Divide-and-conquer approach
 Constructing programs from small, simple pieces
 Software reusability
 Use existing methods as building blocks to create new programs.
 Dividing a program into meaningful methods makes the
program easier to debug and maintain.

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 Hierarchical form of management (Fig. 6.1).
 A boss (the caller) asks a worker (the called method) to
perform a task and report back (return) the results after
completing the task.
 The boss method does not know how the worker method
performs its designated tasks.
 The worker may also call other worker methods, unknown to
the boss.
 “Hiding” of implementation details promotes good
software engineering.

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 Sometimes a method performs a task that does not depend on the
contents of any object.
 Applies to the class in which it’s declared as a whole
 Known as a static method or a class method
 It’s common for classes to contain convenient static methods
to perform common tasks.
 To declare a method as static, place the keyword static
before the return type in the method’s declaration.
 Calling a static method
 ClassName.methodName( arguments )
 Class Math provides a collection of static methods that
enable you to perform common mathematical calculations.
 Method arguments may be constants, variables or expressions.

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 Math fields for common mathematical constants
 Math.PI (3.141592653589793)
 Math.E (2.718281828459045)
 Declared in class Math with the modifiers public,
final and static
 public allows you to use these fields in your own classes.
 A field declared with keyword final is constant—its value
cannot change after the field is initialized.
 PI and E are declared final because their values never
change.

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 A field that represents an attribute is also known as an
instance variable—each object (instance) of the class
has a separate instance of the variable in memory.
 Fields for which each object of a class does not have a

separate instance of the field are declared static and

are also known as class variables.
 All objects of a class containing static fields share

one copy of those fields.

 Together the class variables (i.e., static variables)

and instance variables represent the fields of a class.

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 Math fields for common mathematical constants
 Math.PI (3.141592653589793)
 Math.E (2.718281828459045)
 Those fields declared in class Math with the modifiers: public,
final and static
 public allows  you to use these fields in your own classes.
 Final is constant —its value cannot change after the field is
initialized and this why PI and E are written in Capitals
 Static  Can be used before creating any objects( instances) and all
objects ( instances) of the class share one copy of those fields.
 PI and E are declared final because their values never change.

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A field (that represents an attribute) is also known as an instance
variable

 each object (instance) of the class has a separate instance (copy) of

the variable in memory.

Fields for which each object of a class does not have a separate instance
(copy) of them are  declared static and are also known as class
variables.

All objects of a class containing static fields  share one copy of those
fields.

 Together the class variables (i.e., static variables) and instance variables
represent the fields of a class.

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Simple example to see how Static Fields can be declared
and used :

 We've declared a class called 'Stuff' and given it one public static variable of
type String.

 We've initialized the variable to the String value "I'm a static variable".

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 Simple example to see how Static Fields can be declared
and used (cont..)
Now we can use this class in our main program like this:

Application.java:

Output :

I’m a static variable

 Why is method main declared static?
 The JVM attempts to invoke the main method of the class you
specify—when no objects of the class have been created.
 Declaring main as static allows the JVM to invoke
main without creating an instance of the class.

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 Multiple parameters are specified as a comma-
separated list.
 There must be one argument in the method call for

each parameter (sometimes called a formal parameter)

in the method declaration.
 Each argument must be consistent with the type of the

corresponding parameter.

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 Implementing method maximum by reusing method
Math.max
 Two calls to Math.max, as follows:
 return Math.max( x, Math.max( y, z ) );
 The first specifies arguments x and Math.max( y, z ).
 Before any method can be called, its arguments must be
evaluated to determine their values.
 If an argument is a method call, the method call must be
performed to determine its return value.
 The result of the first call is passed as the second argument to
the other call, which returns the larger of its two arguments.

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 String concatenation
 Assemble String objects into larger strings with operators + or +=.
 When both operands of operator + are Strings, operator +
creates a new String object
 characters of the right operand are placed at the end of those in the left
operand
 Every primitive value and object in Java has a String
representation.
 When one of the + operator’s operands is a String, the other is
converted to a String, then the two are concatenated.
 If a boolean is concatenated with a String, the boolean is
converted to the String "true" or "false".
 All objects have a toString method that returns a String
representation of the object.

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 Three ways to call a method:
 Using a method name by itself to call another method of the
same class
 Using a variable that contains a reference to an object,
followed by a dot (.) and the method name to call a method of
the referenced object
 Using the class name and a dot (.) to call a static method
of a class

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 A non-static method can call any method of the
same class directly and can manipulate any of the
class’s fields directly.
 A static method can call only other static

methods of the same class directly and can manipulate

only static fields in the same class directly.
 To access the class’s non-static members, a static
method must use a reference to an object of the class.

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 Three ways to return control to the statement that calls
a method:
 When the program flow reaches the method-ending right brace
 When the following statement executes
return;
 When the method returns a result with a statement like
return expression;

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 Stack data structure
 Analogous to a pile of dishes
 A dish is placed on the pile at the top (referred to as pushing
the dish onto the stack).
 A dish is removed from the pile from the top (referred to as
popping the dish off the stack).
 Last-in, first-out (LIFO) data structures
 The last item pushed (inserted) on the stack is the first item
popped (removed) from the stack.

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 When a program calls a method, the called method
must know how to return to its caller
 The return address of the calling method is pushed onto the
program-execution (or method-call) stack.
 If a series of method calls occurs, the successive return
addresses are pushed onto the stack in last-in, first-out
order.
 The program-execution stack also contains the memory
for the local variables used in each invocation of a
method during a program’s execution.
 Stored as a portion of the program-execution stack known as
the activation record or stack frame of the method call.

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 When a method call is made, the activation record for
that method call is pushed onto the program-execution
stack.
 When the method returns to its caller, the method’s

activation record is popped off the stack and those local

variables are no longer known to the program.
 If more method calls occur than can have their

activation records stored on the program-execution

stack, an error known as a stack overflow occurs.

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 Argument promotion
 Converting an argument’s value, if possible, to the type that the
method expects to receive in its corresponding parameter.
 Conversions may lead to compilation errors if Java’s
promotion rules are not satisfied.
 Promotion rules
 specify which conversions are allowed.
 apply to expressions containing values of two or more primitive
types and to primitive-type values passed as arguments to methods.
 Each value is promoted to the “highest” type in the
expression.
 Figure 6.4 lists the primitive types and the types to which
each can be promoted.

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 Converting values to types lower in the table of Fig. 6.4
will result in different values if the lower type cannot
represent the value of the higher type
 In cases where information may be lost due to

conversion, the Java compiler requires you to use a cast

operator to explicitly force the conversion to occur—
otherwise a compilation error occurs.

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 Java contains many predefined classes that are grouped
into categories of related classes called packages.
 A great strength of Java is the Java API’s thousands of

classes.
 Some key Java API packages are described in Fig. 6.5.
 Overview of the packages in Java SE 6:
 download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/
overview-summary.html
 Java API documentation
 download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/

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 Simulation and game playing
 element of chance
 Class Random (package java.util)
 static method random of class Math.
 Objects of class Random can produce random
boolean, byte, float, double, int, long and
Gaussian values
 Math method random can produce only double
values in the range 0.0  x  1.0.
 Documentation for class Random
 download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/
util/Random.html

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 Class Random produces pseudorandom numbers
 A sequence of values produced by a complex mathematical
calculation.
 The calculation uses the current time of day to seed the
random-number generator.

 Random method nextInt that receives an int

argument returns a value from 0 up to, but not
including, the argument’s value.

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 Rolling a Six-Sided Die
 face = 1 + randomNumbers.nextInt( 6 );
 The argument 6—called the scaling factor—represents the
number of unique values that nextInt should produce (0–5)
 This is called scaling the range of values
 A six-sided die has the numbers 1–6 on its faces, not 0–5.
 We shift the range of numbers produced by adding a shifting
value—in this case 1—to our previous result, as in
 The shifting value (1) specifies the first value in the desired
range of random integers.

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 Fig 6.7: Rolling a Six-Sided Die 6,000,000 Times

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 Generalize the scaling and shifting of random numbers:

number = shiftingValue + differenceBetweenValues *

randomNumbers.nextInt( scalingFactor );

where shiftingValue specifies the first number in the desired

range of values, differenceBetweenValues represents the constant
difference between consecutive numbers in the sequence and
scalingFactor specifies how many numbers are in the range.

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 When debugging an application, it’s sometimes useful
to repeat the exact same sequence of pseudorandom
numbers.
 To do so, create a Random object as follows:
 Random randomNumbers =
new Random( seedValue );
 seedValue (of type long) seeds the random-number
calculation.
 You can set a Random object’s seed at any time during
program execution by calling the object’s set method.

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 Basic rules for the dice game Craps:
 You roll two dice. Each die has six faces, which contain one, two, three,
four, five and six spots, respectively. After the dice have come to rest,
the sum of the spots on the two upward faces is calculated. If the sum is
7 or 11 on the first throw, you win. If the sum is 2, 3 or 12 on the first
throw (called “craps”), you lose (i.e., the “house” wins). If the sum is 4,
5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 on the first throw, that sum becomes your “point.” To
win, you must continue rolling the dice until you “make your point”
(i.e., roll that same point value). You lose by rolling a 7 before making
your point.

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 Notes:
 myPoint is initialized to 0 to ensure that the application will
compile.
 If you do not initialize myPoint, the compiler issues an error,
because myPoint is not assigned a value in every case of
the switch statement, and thus the program could try to use
myPoint before it is assigned a value.
 gameStatus is assigned a value in every case of the
switch statement—thus, it’s guaranteed to be initialized
before it’s used and does not need to be initialized.

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 enum type Status
 An enumeration in its simplest form declares a set of constants
represented by identifiers.
 Special kind of class that is introduced by the keyword enum
and a type name.
 Braces delimit an enum declaration’s body.
 Inside the braces is a comma-separated list of enumeration
constants, each representing a unique value.
 The identifiers in an enum must be unique.
 Variables of an enum type can be assigned only the constants
declared in the enumeration.

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 Basic scope rules:
 The scope of a parameter declaration is the body of the method in
which the declaration appears.
 The scope of a local-variable declaration is from the point at which
the declaration appears to the end of that block.
 The scope of a local-variable declaration that appears in the
initialization section of a for statement’s header is the body of the
for statement and the other expressions in the header.
 A method or field’s scope is the entire body of the class.
 Any block may contain variable declarations.
 If a local variable or parameter in a method has the same
name as a field of the class, the field is “hidden” until the
block terminates execution—this is called shadowing.

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 Method overloading
 Methods of the same name declared in the same class
 Must have different sets of parameters

 Compiler selects the appropriate method to call by examining the

number, types and order of the arguments in the call.

 Used to create several methods with the same name that perform
the same or similar tasks, but on different types or different
numbers of arguments.

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 Distinguishing Between Overloaded Methods
 The compiler distinguishes overloaded methods by their signatures
—the methods’ names and the number, types and order of their
parameters.
 Return types of overloaded methods
 Method calls cannot be distinguished by return type.
 Figure 6.10 illustrates the errors generated when two
methods have the same signature and different return types.
 Overloaded methods can have different return types if the
methods have different parameter lists.
 Overloaded methods need not have the same number of
parameters.

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