What is Java?

Java is:

Object Oriented

Platform independent:

Simple

Secure

Architectural- neutral

Portable

Robust

Multi-threaded

Interpreted

High Performance

Distributed

Dynamic

Java Environment Setup:

Java SE is freely available from the link Download Java. So you download a version based on
your operating system.
You can refer to installation guide for a complete detail.

Java Basic Syntax:

Object - Objects have states and behaviors. Example: A dog has states-color, name, breed
as well as behaviors -wagging, barking, eating. An object is an instance of a class.

Class - A class can be defined as a template/ blue print that describe the behaviors/states
that object of its type support.

Methods - A method is basically a behavior. A class can contain many methods. It is in

methods where the logics are written, data is manipulated and all the actions are executed.

Instant Variables - Each object has its unique set of instant variables. An object's state is
created by the values assigned to these instant variables.

First Java Program:

Let us look at a simple code that would print the words Hello World.
public class MyFirstJavaProgram{

/* This is my first java program.

* This will print 'Hello World' as the output
*/

public static void main(String []args){

System.out.println("Hello World"); // prints Hello World
}
}

About Java programs, it is very important to keep in mind the following points.

Case Sensitivity - Java is case sensitive which means identifier Hello and hellowould have
different meaning in Java.

Class Names - For all class names the first letter should be in Upper Case.
If several words are used to form a name of the class each inner words first letter should be
in

Upper

Case.

Example class MyFirstJavaClass

Method Names - All method names should start with a Lower Case letter.
If several words are used to form the name of the method, then each inner word's first letter
should

be

in

Upper

Case.

Example public void myMethodName()

Program File Name - Name of the program file should exactly match the class name.
When saving the file you should save it using the class name (Remember java is case

sensitive) and append '.java' to the end of the name. (if the file name and the class name do
not

match

your

program

will

not

compile).

Example : Assume 'MyFirstJavaProgram' is the class name. Then the file should be saved
as 'MyFirstJavaProgram.java'

public static void main(String args[]) - java program processing starts from the main()
method which is a mandatory part of every java program..

Java Identifiers:
All Java components require names. Names used for classes, variables and methods are called
identifiers.
In java there are several points to remember about identifiers. They are as follows:

All identifiers should begin with a letter (A to Z or a to z ), currency character ($) or an

underscore (_).

After the first character identifiers can have any combination of characters.

A key word cannot be used as an identifier.

Most importantly identifiers are case sensitive.

Examples of legal identifiers:age, $salary, _value, __1_value

Examples of illegal identifiers : 123abc, -salary

Java Modifiers:
Like other languages, it is possible to modify classes, methods, etc., by using modifiers. There are
two categories of modifiers.

Access Modifiers : default, public , protected, private

Non-access Modifiers : final, abstract, strictfp

We will be looking into more details about modifiers in the next section.

Java Variables:

We would see following type of variables in Java:

Local Variables

Class Variables (Static Variables)

Instance Variables (Non static variables)

Java Arrays:
Arrays are objects that store multiple variables of the same type. However an Array itself is an
object on the heap. We will look into how to declare, construct and initialize in the upcoming
chapters.

Java Enums:
Enums were introduced in Java 5.0. Enums restrict a variable to have one of only a few predefined
values. The values in this enumerated list are called enums.
With the use of enums it is possible to reduce the number of bugs in your code.
For example if we consider an application for a fresh juice shop it would be possible to restrict the
glass size to small, medium and Large. This would make sure that it would not allow anyone to
order any size other than the small, medium or large.

Example:
class FreshJuice{

enum FreshJuiceSize{ SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE }

FreshJuiceSize size;
}

public class FreshJuiceTest{

public static void main(String args[]){

FreshJuice juice = new FreshJuice();
juice.size = FreshJuice. FreshJuiceSize.MEDIUM ;
System.out.println("Size :" + juice.size);
}

Note: enums can be declared as their own or inside a class. Methods, variables, constructors can
be defined inside enums as well.

Java Keywords:
The following list shows the reserved words in Java. These reserved words may not be used as
constant or variable or any other identifier names.
abstract

assert

boolean

break

byte

case

catch

char

class

const

continue

default

do

double

else

enum

extends

final

finally

float

for

goto

if

implements

import

instanceof

int

interface

long

native

new

package

private

protected

public

return

short

static

strictfp

super

switch

synchronized

this

throw

throws

transient

try

void

volatile

while

Comments in Java
Java supports single line and multi-line comments very similar to c and c++. All characters available
inside any comment are ignored by Java compiler.
public class MyFirstJavaProgram{

/* This is my first java program.

* This will print 'Hello World' as the output
* This is an example of multi-line comments.
*/

public static void main(String []args){

// This is an example of single line comment
/* This is also an example of single line comment. */
System.out.println("Hello World");
}
}

Data Types in Java

There are two data types available in Java:

Primitive Data Types

Reference/Object Data Types

Primitive Data Types:

There are eight primitive data types supported by Java. Primitive data types are predefined by the
language and named by a key word. Let us now look into detail about the eight primitive data types.

byte

short

int

long

float

double

boolean

char

Reference Data Types:

Reference variables are created using defined constructors of the classes. They are used to
access objects. These variables are declared to be of a specific type that cannot be
changed. For example, Employee, Puppy etc.

Class objects, and various type of array variables come under reference data type.

Default value of any reference variable is null.

A reference variable can be used to refer to any object of the declared type or any
compatible type.

Example : Animal animal = new Animal("giraffe");

Java Literals:
A literal is a source code representation of a fixed value. They are represented directly in the code
without any computation.
Literals can be assigned to any primitive type variable. For example:
byte a = 68;
char a = 'A'

String literals in Java are specified like they are in most other languages by enclosing a sequence
of characters between a pair of double quotes. Examples of string literals are:
"Hello World"
"two\nlines"
"\"This is in quotes\""

Java language supports few special escape sequences for String and char literals as well. They
are:

Notation

Character represented

\n

Newline (0x0a)

\r

Carriage return (0x0d)

\f

Formfeed (0x0c)

\b

Backspace (0x08)

\s

Space (0x20)

\t

tab

\"

Double quote

\'

Single quote

\\

backslash

\ddd

Octal character (ddd)

\uxxxx

Hexadecimal UNICODE character (xxxx)

Java Access Modifiers:

Java provides a number of access modifiers to set access levels for classes, variables, methods
and constructors. The four access levels are:

Visible to the package. the default. No modifiers are needed.

Visible to the class only (private).

Visible to the world (public).

Visible to the package and all subclasses (protected).

Java Basic Operators:

Java provides a rich set of operators to manipulate variables. We can divide all the Java operators
into the following groups:

The Arithmetic Operators:

Operator

Description

Example

Addition - Adds values on either side of the operator

A + B will give
30

Subtraction - Subtracts right hand operand from left hand

operand

A - B will give 10

Multiplication - Multiplies values on either side of the operator

A * B will give
200

Division - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand

B / A will give 2

Modulus - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand and

returns remainder

B % A will give
0

++

Increment - Increase the value of operand by 1

B++ gives 21

--

Decrement - Decrease the value of operand by 1

B-- gives 19

The Relational Operators:

Operator

Description

Example

==

Checks if the value of two operands are equal or not, if yes then
condition becomes true.

(A == B) is
not true.

!=

Checks if the value of two operands are equal or not, if values are
not equal then condition becomes true.

(A != B) is
true.

>

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of

right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

(A > B) is not
true.

<

Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right
operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

(A < B) is
true.

>=

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the

value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

(A >= B) is
not true.

<=

Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the

value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.

(A <= B) is
true.

The Bitwise Operators:

Operator

Description

Example

&

Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if

it exists in both operands.

(A & B) will give 12 which is

0000 1100

Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in

eather operand.

(A | B) will give 61 which is

0011 1101

Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in

one operand but not both.

(A ^ B) will give 49 which is

0011 0001

Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and

has the efect of 'flipping' bits.

(~A ) will give -61 which is 1100

0011 in 2's complement form
due to a signed binary number.

<<

Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands

value is moved left by the number of bits
specified by the right operand.

A << 2 will give 240 which is

1111 0000

>>

Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands

value is moved right by the number of bits
specified by the right operand.

A >> 2 will give 15 which is

1111

>>>

Shift right zero fill operator. The left operands

value is moved right by the number of bits
specified by the right operand and shifted
values are filled up with zeros.

A >>>2 will give 15 which is

0000 1111

The Logical Operators:

Operator

Description

Example

&&

Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non zero
then then condition becomes true.

(A && B) is
false.

||

Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands are non

zero then then condition becomes true.

(A || B) is
true.

Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to reverses the logical state of

its operand. If a condition is true then Logical NOT operator will
make false.

!(A && B) is
true.

The Assignment Operators:

Operator

Description

Example

Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from right

side operands to left side operand

C = A + B will assigne
value of A + B into C

+=

Add AND assignment operator, It adds right operand to

the left operand and assign the result to left operand

C += A is equivalent to
C=C+A

-=

Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts right

operand from the left operand and assign the result to
left operand

C -= A is equivalent to
C=C-A

*=

Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies right

operand with the left operand and assign the result to
left operand

C *= A is equivalent to
C=C*A

/=

Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand

with the right operand and assign the result to left
operand

C /= A is equivalent to
C=C/A

%=

Modulus AND assignment operator, It takes modulus

using two operands and assign the result to left operand

C %= A is equivalent to
C=C%A

<<=

Left shift AND assignment operator

C <<= 2 is same as C =
C << 2

>>=

Right shift AND assignment operator

C >>= 2 is same as C =
C >> 2

&=

Bitwise AND assignment operator

C &= 2 is same as C =
C&2

^=

bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operator

C ^= 2 is same as C =
C^2

|=

bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operator

C |= 2 is same as C =
C|2

Misc Operators
There are few other operators supported by Java Language.

Conditional Operator ( ? : ):
Conditional operator is also known as the ternary operator. This operator consists of three
operands and is used to evaluate boolean expressions. The goal of the operator is to decide which
value should be assigned to the variable. The operator is written as :
variable x = (expression) ? value if true : value if false

instanceOf Operator:

This operator is used only for object reference variables. The operator checks whether the object is
of a particular type(class type or interface type). instanceOf operator is wriiten as:
( Object reference variable ) instanceOf

(class/interface type)

Precedence of Java Operators:

Category

Operator

Associativity

Postfix

() [] . (dot operator)

Left to right

Unary

++ - - ! ~

Right to left

Multiplicative

*/%

Left to right

Additive

+-

Left to right

Shift

>> >>> <<

Left to right

Relational

> >= < <=

Left to right

Equality

== !=

Left to right

Bitwise AND

&

Left to right

Bitwise XOR

Left to right

Bitwise OR

Left to right

Logical AND

&&

Left to right

Logical OR

||

Left to right

Conditional

?:

Right to left

Assignment

= += -= *= /= %= >>= <<= &= ^= |=

Right to left

Comma

Left to right

The while Loop:

A while loop is a control structure that allows you to repeat a task a certain number of times.

Syntax:
The syntax of a while loop is:
while(Boolean_expression)
{
//Statements
}

The do...while Loop:

A do...while loop is similar to a while loop, except that a do...while loop is guaranteed to execute at
least one time.

Syntax:
The syntax of a do...while loop is:
do
{
//Statements
}while(Boolean_expression);

The for Loop:

A for loop is a repetition control structure that allows you to efficiently write a loop that needs to
execute a specific number of times.
A for loop is useful when you know how many times a task is to be repeated.

Syntax:
The syntax of a for loop is:
for(initialization; Boolean_expression; update)
{
//Statements
}

Enhanced for loop in Java:

As of java 5 the enhanced for loop was introduced. This is mainly used for Arrays.

Syntax:
The syntax of enhanced for loop is:
for(declaration : expression)
{
//Statements
}

The break Keyword:

The break keyword is used to stop the entire loop. The break keyword must be used inside any
loop or a switch statement.
The break keyword will stop the execution of the innermost loop and start executing the next line of
code after the block.

The continue Keyword:

The continue keyword can be used in any of the loop control structures. It causes the loop to
immediately jump to the next iteration of the loop.

In a for loop, the continue keyword causes flow of control to immediately jump to the update
statement.

In a while loop or do/while loop, flow of control immediately jumps to the Boolean
expression.

Syntax:
The syntax of a continue is a single statement inside any loop:
continue;

The if Statement:
An if statement consists of a Boolean expression followed by one or more statements.

Syntax:
The syntax of an if statement is:
if(Boolean_expression)
{
//Statements will execute if the Boolean expression is true
}

The if...else Statement:

An if statement can be followed by an optional else statement, which executes when the Boolean
expression is false.

Syntax:
The syntax of a if...else is:
if(Boolean_expression){
//Executes when the Boolean expression is true
}else{
//Executes when the Boolean expression is false
}

The if...else if...else Statement:

An if statement can be followed by an optional else if...else statement, which is very usefull to test
various conditions using single if...else if statement.

Syntax:
The syntax of a if...else is:

if(Boolean_expression 1){
//Executes when the Boolean expression 1 is true
}else if(Boolean_expression 2){
//Executes when the Boolean expression 2 is true
}else if(Boolean_expression 3){
//Executes when the Boolean expression 3 is true
}else {
//Executes when the one of the above condition is true.
}

Nested if...else Statement:

It is always legal to nest if-else statements. When using if , else if , else statements there are few
points to keep in mind.

An if can have zero or one else's and it must come after any else if's.

An if can have zero to many else if's and they must come before the else.

Once an else if succeeds, none of he remaining else if's or else's will be tested.

Syntax:
The syntax for a nested if...else is as follows:
if(Boolean_expression 1){
//Executes when the Boolean expression 1 is true
if(Boolean_expression 2){
//Executes when the Boolean expression 2 is true
}
}

The switch Statement:

A switch statement allows a variable to be tested for equality against a list of values. Each value is
called a case, and the variable being switched on is checked for each case.

Syntax:

The syntax of enhanced for loop is:

switch(expression){
case value :
//Statements
break; //optional
case value :
//Statements
break; //optional
//You can have any number of case statements.
default : //Optional
//Statements
}

Java Methods:
A Java method is a collection of statements that are grouped together to perform an operation.
When you call the System.out.println method, for example, the system actually executes several
statements in order to display a message on the console.
In general, a method has the following syntax:
modifier returnValueType methodName(list of parameters) {
// Method body;
}

A method definition consists of a method header and a method body. Here are all the parts of a
method:

Modifiers: The modifier, which is optional, tells the compiler how to call the method. This
defines the access type of the method.

Return Type: A method may return a value. The returnValueType is the data type of the
value the method returns. Some methods perform the desired operations without returning
a value. In this case, the returnValueType is the keyword void.

Method Name: This is the actual name of the method. The method name and the
parameter list together constitute the method signature.

Parameters: A parameter is like a placeholder. When a method is invoked, you pass a

value to the parameter. This value is referred to as actual parameter or argument. The
parameter list refers to the type, order, and number of the parameters of a method.
Parameters are optional; that is, a method may contain no parameters.

Method Body: The method body contains a collection of statements that define what the
method does.

Java Classes & Objects:

Object - Objects have states and behaviors. Example: A dog has states-color, name, breed
as well as behaviors -wagging, barking, eating. An object is an instance of a class.

Class - A class can be defined as a template/ blue print that describe the behaviors/states
that object of its type support.

A sample of a class is given below:

public class Dog{
String breed;
int age;
String color;

void barking(){
}

void hungry(){
}

void sleeping(){
}
}

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 instantiated when the class is loaded. Instance variables can be
accessed from inside any method, constructor or blocks of that particular class.

Class variables . Class variables are variables declared with in a class, outside any
method, with the static keyword.

Exceptions Handling:
A method catches an exception using a combination of the try and catch keywords. A try/catch
block is placed around the code that might generate an exception. Code within a try/catch block is
referred to as protected code, and the syntax for using try/catch looks like the following:
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionName e1)
{
//Catch block
}

Multiple catch Blocks:

A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. The syntax for multiple catch blocks looks like
the following:
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1)
{
//Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType2 e2)
{

//Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType3 e3)
{
//Catch block
}

The throws/throw Keywords:

If a method does not handle a checked exception, the method must declare it using
thethrows keyword. The throws keyword appears at the end of a method's signature.
You can throw an exception, either a newly instantiated one or an exception that you just caught, by
using the throw keyword. Try to understand the different in throws and throw keywords.

The finally Keyword

The finally keyword is used to create a block of code that follows a try block. A finally block of code
always executes, whether or not an exception has occurred.
Using a finally block allows you to run any cleanup-type statements that you want to execute, no
matter what happens in the protected code.
A finally block appears at the end of the catch blocks and has the following syntax:
try
{
//Protected code
}catch(ExceptionType1 e1)
{
//Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType2 e2)
{
//Catch block
}catch(ExceptionType3 e3)
{
//Catch block
}finally

{
//The finally block always executes.
}