A class can contain any of the following variable types.
Local variables − Variables defined inside methods, constructors or
blocks are called local variables. The variable will be declared and
initialized within the method and the variable will be destroyed when the
method has completed.
Instance variables − Instance variables are variables within a class but
outside any method. These variables are initialized when the class is
instantiated. Instance variables can be accessed from inside any method,
constructor or blocks of that particular class.
Class variables − Class variables are variables declared within a class,
outside any method, with the static keyword.
A class can have any number of methods to access the value of various kinds of
methods. In the above example, barking(), hungry() and sleeping() are methods.
Following are some of the important topics that need to be discussed when
looking into classes of the Java Language.
Constructors
When discussing about classes, one of the most important sub topic would be
constructors. Every class has a constructor. If we do not explicitly write a
constructor for a class, the Java compiler builds a default constructor for that
class.
Each time a new object is created, at least one constructor will be invoked. The
main rule of constructors is that they should have the same name as the class.
A class can have more than one constructor.
Following is an example of a constructor −
Example
public class Puppy {
public Puppy() {
}
public Puppy(String name) {
// This constructor has one parameter, name.
}
}
Java also supports Singleton Classes where you would be able to create only
one instance of a class.
Note − We have two different types of constructors. We are going to discuss
constructors in detail in the subsequent chapters.
Creating an Object
As mentioned previously, a class provides the blueprints for objects. So
basically, an object is created from a class. In Java, the new keyword is used to
create new objects.
There are three steps when creating an object from a class −
Declaration − A variable declaration with a variable name with an object
type.
Instantiation − The 'new' keyword is used to create the object.
Initialization − The 'new' keyword is followed by a call to a constructor.
This call initializes the new object.
Following is an example of creating an object −
Example
Live Demo
public class Puppy {
public Puppy(String name) {
// This constructor has one parameter, name.
System.out.println("Passed Name is :" + name );
}
public static void main(String []args) {
// Following statement would create an object myPuppy
Puppy myPuppy = new Puppy( "tommy" );
}
}
If we compile and run the above program, then it will produce the following result
−
Output
Passed Name is :tommy
