Lecture 29, CS 302-6, November 9

  1. Various things
    1. Program 3

                                                               i.     How to get started – first threshold (pop up window)

1.    Use stump methods

                                                             ii.     You know everything you need to get started now

                                                            iii.     Randomness – not as strict as previous programs

1.    Have fun with it

    1. Exam 2

                                                               i.     Structure:

1.    Part 1 – Write a whole program

2.    Part 2 - Using instantiable classes

3.    Part 3 – Coding an instantiable class

4.    Part 4 – Arrays and Arraylists

                                                             ii.     Last spring’s exam was longer than intended (in case you’re worried)

                                                            iii.     How to prepare?

1.    We won’t code sample/last spring in class – you should do it yourself

2.    Test your code in eclipse

  1. Review:
    1. Steps to testing

                                                               i.     Plan

                                                             ii.     Do

                                                            iii.     Test

    1. Object Oriented Thinking
    2. Parallel Arrays
    3. Overriding toString
    4. Helper Instance Methods

                                                               i.     Note about this – you can use this.method

  1. References recap
    1. Reference vs object
    2. Stack vs heap
    3. Two variables can have the same reference
    4. Object vs primitive
    5. Null

                                                               i.     Null string vs “” string (empty string)

    1. This

                                                               i.     Java doesn’t always require us to use it, but we can

  1. .equals vs == reminders
    1. .equals compares the objects the references are pointing to
    2. == compares what’s stored by the variable, be it a reference or a primitive
    3. use == to test whether an object is null

                                                               i.     if you try to call .equals from null object, runtime error (null pointer)

  1. Class members
    1. Definition –something defined at the Class (not object) level
    2. Think of these as some property of the class, shared across all object instances
    3. We declare class members using the static keyword

                                                               i.     Why static?  Leftover from C languages…doesn’t really relate to Java

    1. You access class members with <ClassName>.<memberName>;
  1. Class Variables
    1. These are often referred to as static variables
    2. Usually private
    3. How to declare:

private static <type> <name> = ?;

    1. Shared by all instances
    2. Examples – ID numbers, front of the line, etc
    3. Think of as existing somewhere in heap, outside of objects

                                                               i.     <ClassName>.<VarName>=?

  1. Class Constants
    1. Often referred to as static constants
    2. Usually public
    3. How to declare:

public static final <type> <NAME> = ?;

    1. Example – Math.PI
    2. Vs instance constants

                                                               i.     Defined in method, not static

    1. Use – Class.var from calling class
  1. Class Methods
    1. Often referred to as static methods
    2. Usually public
    3. How to declare:

                                                               i.     public static <returnType> <name>(<args>){}

                                                             ii.     These are the methods we’ve mostly been working with up until this point!

    1. Note – these cannot directly access instance members – since those are outside of instances.
    2. How to use – Class.method from calling class.

                                                               i.     Example – Math.pow(a,b);

  1. Merging driver class with instantiable class
    1. You don’t actually need a separate tester class
    2. Can put main method in class with other stuff – it is just another static method
    3. Example – BankAccount.java
  2. HW – For Friday – Get started on P3 – try to get your window to pop up