OOP Basics - Java Programming Tutorial

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Java Programming Tutorial

Object-oriented Programming
(OOP) Basics
1.Why OOP?
Suppose that you want to assemble your own PC, you go to a hardware store and pick up a
motherboard, a processor, some RAMs, a hard disk, a casing, a power supply, and put them
together. You turn on the power, and the PC runs. You need not worry whether the
motherboard is a 4-layer or 6-layer board, whether the hard disk has 4 or 6 plates; 3 inches or
5 inches in diameter, whether the RAM is made in Japan or Korea, and so on. You simply put
the hardware components together and expect the machine to run. Of course, you have to
make sure that you have the correct interfaces, i.e., you pick an IDE hard disk rather than a
SCSI hard disk, if your motherboard supports only IDE; you have to select RAMs with the
correct speed rating, and so on. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to set up a machine from
hardware components.
Similarly, a car is assembled from parts and components, such as chassis, doors, engine,
wheels, break, transmission, etc. The components are reusable, e.g., a wheel can be used in
many cars (of the same specifications).
Hardware, such as computers and cars, are assembled from parts, which are reusable
components.
How about software? Can you "assemble" a software application by picking a routine here, a
routine there, and expect the program to run? The answer is obviously no! Unlike hardware,
it is very difficult to "assemble" an application from software components. Since the advent of
computer 60 years ago, we have written tons and tons of programs. However, for each new
application, we have to re-invent the wheels and write the program from scratch.
Why re-invent the wheels?

Traditional Procedural-Oriented languages

Can we do this in traditional procedural-oriented programming language such as C, Fortran,
Cobol, or Pascal?

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Traditional

procedural-oriented

languages (such as C and Pascal)

suffer some notable drawbacks in
creating

reusable

software

components:
1. The programs are made up of
functions. Functions are often not
reusable. It is very difficult to copy
a function from one program and
reuse in another program because
the

the

reference

function
the

is likely

headers,

to

global

variables and other functions. In

other words, functions are not well
-encapsulated as a self-contained
reusable unit.
2. The procedural languages are not
suitable of high-level abstraction
for solving real life problems. For
example,

programs

uses

constructs such as if-else, forloop,

array,

method,

pointer,

which are low-level and hard to

abstract real problems such as a
Customer

Relationship

Management (CRM) system or a

computer soccer game. (Imagine
using assembly codes, which is a
very low level code, to write a
computer soccer game. C is better
but no much better.)
In brief, the traditional procedural-languages separate the data structures and algorithms of
the software entities.
In the early 1970s, the US Department of Defense (DoD) commissioned a task force
to investigate why its IT budget always went out of control; but without much to
show for. The findings are:
1. 80% of the budget went to the software (while the remaining 20% to the
hardware).
2. More than 80% of the software budget went to maintenance (only the
remaining 20% for new software development).
3. Hardware components could be applied to various products, and their
integrity normally did not affect other products. (Hardware can share and
reuse! Hardware faults are isolated!)

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4. Software procedures were often non-sharable and not reusable. Software

faults could affect other programs running in computers.
The task force proposed to make software behave like hardware OBJECT.
Subsequently, DoD replaces over 450 computer languages, which were then used to
build DoD systems, with an object-oriented language called Ada.

Object-Oriented Programming Languages

Object-oriented programming (OOP) languages are designed to overcome these problems.

1. The basic unit of OOP is a class, which encapsulates both the static attributes and
dynamic behaviors within a "box", and specifies the public interface for using these
boxes. Since the class is well-encapsulated (compared with the function), it is easier to
reuse these classes. In other words, OOP combines the data structures and algorithms
of a software entity inside the same box.
2. OOP languages permit higher level of abstraction for solving real-life problems. The
traditional procedural language (such as C and Pascal) forces you to think in terms of
the structure of the computer (e.g. memory bits and bytes, array, decision, loop) rather
than thinking in terms of the problem you are trying to solve. The OOP languages (such
as Java, C++, C#) let you think in the problem space, and use software objects to
represent and abstract entities of the problem space to solve the problem.

As an example, suppose you wish to write a computer soccer games (which I consider as a
complex application). It is quite difficult to model the game in procedural-oriented
languages. But using OOP languages, you can easily model the program accordingly to the
"real things" appear in the soccer games.
Player: attributes include name, number, location in the field, and etc; operations include
run, jump, kick-the-ball, and etc.

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Ball:

Reference:
Field:
Audience:
Weather:
Most importantly, some of these classes (such as Ball and Audience) can be reused in
another application, e.g., computer basketball game, with little or no modification.

Benefits of OOP
The procedural-oriented languages focus on procedures, with function as the basic unit. You
need to first figure out all the functions and then think about how to represent data.
The object-oriented languages focus on components that the user perceives, with objects as
the basic unit. You figure out all the objects by putting all the data and operations that
describe the user's interaction with the data.
Object-Oriented technology has many benefits:
Ease in software design as you could think in the problem space rather than the
machine's bits and bytes. You are dealing with high-level concepts and abstractions. Ease
in design leads to more productive software development.
Ease in software maintenance: object-oriented software are easier to understand,
therefore easier to test, debug, and maintain.
Reusable software: you don't need to keep re-inventing the wheels and re-write the same
functions for different situations. The fastest and safest way of developing a new
application is to reuse existing codes - fully tested and proven codes.

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2.OOP in Java
2.1Class & Instances
In Java, a class is a definition of objects of the same kind. In other words, a class is a blueprint,
template, or prototype that defines and describes the static attributes and dynamic behaviors
common to all objects of the same kind.
An instance is a realization of a particular item of a class. In other words, an instance is an
instantiation of a class. All the instances of a class have similar properties, as described in the
class definition. For example, you can define a class called "Student" and create three
instances of the class "Student" for "Peter", "Paul" and "Pauline".
The term "object" usually refers to instance. But it is often used loosely, which may refer to a
class or an instance.

2.2A Class is a 3-Compartment Box encapsulating Data and

Operations
A class can be visualized as a three-compartment
box, as illustrated:
1. Name (or identity): identifies the class.
2. Variables (or attribute, state, field): contains the
static attributes of the class.
3. Methods (or behaviors, function, operation):
contains the dynamic behaviors of the class.
In other words, a class encapsulates the static attributes (data) and dynamic behaviors
(operations that operate on the data) in a box.
The followings figure shows a few examples of classes:

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The following figure shows two instances of the class Student, identified as "paul" and
"peter".

Unified Modeling Language (UML) Class and Instance Diagrams: The

above class diagrams are drawn according to the UML notations. A class is represented as a 3
-compartment box, containing name, variables, and methods, respectively. Class name is
shown in bold and centralized. An instance (object) is also represented as a 3-compartment
box, with instance name shown as instanceName:Classname and underlined.

Brief Summary
1. A class is a programmer-defined, abstract, self-contained, reusable software entity that
mimics a real-world thing.
2. A class is a 3-compartment box containing the name, variables and the methods.
3. A class encapsulates the data structures (in variables) and algorithms (methods). The
values of the variables constitute its state. The methods constitute its behaviors.
4. An instance is an instantiation (or realization) of a particular item of a class.

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2.3Class Definition
In Java, we use the keyword class to define a class. For examples:
public class Circle {
double radius;
String color;
double getRadius() {...}
double getArea() {...}

// class name
// variables

// methods

}
public class SoccerPlayer {
int number;
String name;
int x, y;
void run() {...}
void kickBall() {...}

// class name
// variables

// methods

The syntax for class definition in Java is:

[AccessControlModifier] class ClassName {
// class body contains definition of variables and methods
...
}

We shall explain the access control modifier, such as public and private, later.

Class Naming Convention: A class name shall be a noun or a noun phrase made up of
several words. All the words shall be initial-capitalized (camel-case). Use a singular noun for
class name. Choose

a meaningful and

self-descriptive

classname. For examples,

SoccerPlayer, HttpProxyServer, FileInputStream, PrintStream and SocketFactory.

2.4Creating Instances of a Class

To create an instance of a class, you have to:
1. Declare an instance identifier (instance name) of a particular class.
2. Construct the instance (i.e., allocate storage for the instance and initialize the instance)
using the "new" operator.
For examples, suppose that we have a class called Circle, we can create instances of Circle
as follows:
// Declare 3 instances of the class Circle, c1, c2, and c3
Circle c1, c2, c3;
// Allocate and construct the instances via new operator
c1 = new Circle();
c2 = new Circle(2.0);
c3 = new Circle(3.0, "red");

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// You can declare and construct in the same statement

Circle c4 = new Circle();

2.5Dot Operator
The variables and methods belonging to a class are formally called member variables and
member methods. To reference a member variable or method, you must:
1. first identify the instance you are interested in, and then
2. Use the dot operator (.) to reference the member (variable or method).
For example, suppose that we have a class called Circle, with two variables (radius and
color) and two methods (getRadius() and getArea()). We have created three instances of
the class Circle, namely, c1, c2 and c3. To invoke the method getArea(), you must first
identity the instance of interest, says c2, then use the dot operator, in the form of
c2.getArea(), to invoke the getArea() method of instance c2.
For example,
// Declare and construct instances c1 and c2 of the class Circle
Circle c1 = new Circle ();
Circle c2 = new Circle ();
// Invoke member methods for the instance c1 via dot operator
System.out.println(c1.getArea());
System.out.println(c1.getRadius());
// Reference member variables for instance c2 via dot operator
c2.radius = 5.0;
c2.color = "blue";

Calling getArea() without identifying the instance is meaningless, as the radius is unknown
(there could be many instances of Circle - each maintaining its own radius).
In general, suppose there is a class called AClass with a member variable called aVariable
and a member method called aMethod(). An instance called anInstance is constructed for
AClass. You use anInstance.aVariable and anInstance.aMethod().

2.6Member Variables
A member variable has a name (or identifier) and a type; and holds a value of that particular
type (as descried in the earlier chapter). A member variable can also be an instance of a
certain class (to be discussed later).

Variable Naming Convention: A variable name shall be a noun or a noun phrase

made up of several words. The first word is in lowercase and the rest of the words are initialcapitalized (camel-case), e.g., fontSize, roomNumber, xMax, yMin and xTopLeft. Take note
that variable name begins with an lowercase, while class name begins with an uppercase.
The formal syntax for variable definition in Java is:
[AccessControlModifier] type variableName [= initialValue];
[AccessControlModifier] type variableName-1 [= initialValue-1] [, type variableName-2

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For example,
private double radius;
public int length = 1, width = 1;

2.7Member Methods
A method (as described in the earlier chapter):
1. receives parameters from the caller,
2. performs the operations defined in the method body, and
3. returns a piece of result (or void) to the caller.
The syntax for method declaration in Java is as follows:
[AccessControlModifier] returnType methodName ([argumentList]) {
// method body or implementation
......
}

For examples:
public double getArea() {
return radius*radius*Math.PI;
}

Method Naming Convention: A method name shall be a verb, or a verb phrase made
up of several words. The first word is in lowercase and the rest of the words are initialcapitalized (camel-case). For example, getRadius(), getParameterValues().
Take note that variable name is a noun (denoting a static attribute), while method name is a
verb (denoting an action). They have the same naming convention. Nevertheless, you can
easily distinguish them from the context. Methods take arguments in parentheses (possibly
zero argument with empty parentheses), but variables do not. In this writing, methods are
denoted with a pair of parentheses, e.g., println(), getArea() for clarity.

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