Comp 248

Introduction to Programming
Chapter 1 - Getting Started
Dr. Aiman Hanna
Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

These slides has been extracted, modified and updated from original slides of Absolute Java 3 rd Edition by Savitch;
which has originally been prepared by Rose Williams of Binghamton University. Absolute Java is published by
Pearson Education / Addison-Wesley.

Copyright © 2007-2016 Pearson Addison-Wesley

Copyright © 2008-2016 Aiman Hanna
All rights reserved
 Origins of the Java Language
 Created by Sun Microsystems team led by James
Gosling (1991)
 Originally designed for programming home
appliances
 Difficult task because appliances are controlled by a
wide variety of computer processors
 Team developed a two-step translation process to
simplify the task of compiler writing for each class of
appliances
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 Origins of the Java Language
 Java evolved to a general purpose programming
language, that is very suitable for many Internet
applications

 The syntax of expressions and assignments is

similar to that of other high-level languages,
such as C++

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 Origins of the Java Language
 Significance of Java translation process
 Writing a compiler (translation program) for each type of
appliance processor would have been very costly
 The same rule applies to writing compilers: different
compilers are needed for different systems
(processor/Operating System)
Example:

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Origins of the Java Language
 Instead, Java designers developed intermediate language that
is the same for all types of processors: Java byte-code

 One compiler is designed to translate Java Source code to

byte code.

 The byte-code is viewed as suitable to every machine (actually

it is not; it is only suitable to a fictitious, or imaginary
machine; which we refer to as Virtual Machine)

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Origins of the Java Language
 The byte-code can be viewed as suitable to every
machine since it is easily possible to write a small
program (interpreter) to translate byte-code into the
proper machine code for each processor

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 Objects and Methods
 Java is an object-oriented programming (OOP)
language
 Programming methodology that views a program as
consisting of objects that interact with one another by
means of actions (called methods; sometimes referred
to as functions)
 All programming constructs in Java, including
methods, are part of a class
 Objects of the same kind are said to have the same
type or be in the same class
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 Java Application Programs
 There are two types of Java programs: applications and
applets

 A Java application program or "regular" Java program is a

class with a method named main

 When a Java application program is run, the run-time system

automatically invokes the method named main

 All Java application programs start with the main method

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 Applets
 A Java applet (little Java application) is a Java program that
is meant to be run from a Web browser

 Can be run from a location on the Internet

 Can also be run with an applet viewer program for debugging

 Applets always use a windowing interface

 In contrast, application programs may use a windowing

interface or console (i.e., text) I/O
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 Java Program Structure

// comments about the class

public class MyProgram
{
class header

class body

Comments can be placed almost anywhere

}

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 Java Program Structure
// comments about the class
public class MyProgram
{

// comments about the method

public static void main (String[] args)
{
method header
method body
}

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 A Sample Java Application
Program
 Greetings.java (MS-Word file)

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 System.out.println
 Java programs work by having things called
objects perform actions
 System.out: an object used for sending output
to the screen
 The actions performed by an object are called
methods
 println: the method or action that the
System.out object performs

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 System.out.println
 Invoking or calling a method: When an object performs
an action using a method

 Method invocation syntax (in order): an object, a dot

(period), the method name, and a pair of parentheses
 Arguments: Zero or more pieces of information needed by
the method that are placed inside the parentheses
Examples:
System.out.println("This is an argument");
System.out.println();
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 Variable declarations
 Variable declarations in Java are similar to those
in other programming languages

 Simply give the type of the variable followed by its

name and a semicolon

Examples:
int numOfDoors;
double price;

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 Using = and +
 In Java, the equal sign (=) is used as the
assignment operator
 The variable on the left side of the assignment
operator is assigned the value of the expression on the
right side of the assignment operator
numOfDoors = 4;

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 Using = and +
 In Java, the plus sign (+) can be used to denote
addition or concatenation
Examples:
int total;
total = 2 + 5;

Using +, two strings can also be connected together

System.out.println("2 plus 5 is " + total);

 MathOperations1.java (MS-Word file)

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 Compiling a Java Program or
Class
 Each class definition must be in a file whose name is
the same as the class name followed by .java
 For example, the class FirstProgram must be in a file
named FirstProgram.java

 Each class is compiled with the command javac

followed by the name of the file in which the class
resides
javac FirstProgram.java

 The result is a byte-code program whose filename is the same

as the class name followed by .class
FirstProgram.class
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 Running a Java Program
 A Java program can be given the run command (java)
after all its classes have been compiled

 Only run the class that contains the main method (the
system will automatically load and run the other classes, if
any)

 The main method begins with the line:

public static void main(String[ ] args)

 Follow the run command by the name of the class only (no
.java or .class extension)
java FirstProgram

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 Syntax and Semantics
 Syntax: The arrangement of words and
punctuations that are legal in a language, the
grammar rules of a language

 Semantics: The meaning of things written while

following the syntax rules of a language

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 Tip: Error Messages
 Bug: A mistake in a program
 The process of eliminating bugs is called debugging

 Syntax error: A grammatical mistake in a

program
 The compiler can detect these errors, and will output
an error message saying what it thinks the error is,
and where it thinks the error is

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 Tip: Error Messages
 Run-time error: An error that is not detected until a
program is run
 The compiler cannot detect these errors: an error message is
not generated after compilation, but after execution

 Logic error: A mistake in the underlying algorithm for a

program
 The compiler cannot detect these errors, and no error message is generated
after compilation or execution, but the program does not do what it is
supposed to do

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 Identifiers
 Identifier: The name of a variable or other item (class,
method, object, etc.) defined in a program

 The name of a Java identifier may include letters, digits, or

the underscore symbol, and must not start with a digit

 Java identifiers can theoretically be of any length

 Java is a case-sensitive language: Rate, rate, and RATE

are the names of three different variables

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 Identifiers
 Which of the following is a valid identifier?
 IntRate (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 Five_speed (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 5_speed (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 _5 speed (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 MercedesSL500 (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 Time.and.space (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 ___3 (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)
 Less<5 (A: Valid, B: Not Valid)

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 Identifiers
 Keywords and Reserved words: Identifiers that have a
predefined meaning in Java
 Cannot be used to name anything else
public class void static

 Predefined identifiers: Identifiers that are defined in

libraries required by the Java language standard
 They can be redefined, however this could be confusing and
possibly dangerous since this would change their standard
meaning; so do not do that even if it is allowed hy the
language!
System String println
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 Naming Conventions
 Start the names of variables, methods, and objects with
a lowercase letter, indicate "word" boundaries with an
uppercase letter, and restrict the remaining characters to
digits and lowercase letters
topSpeed bankRate1 timeOfArrival

 Start the names of classes with an uppercase letter and,

otherwise, adhere to the rules above
FirstProgram MyClass String

 Note that this is just one possible convention

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 Variable Declarations
 Every variable in a Java program must be declared before it is used
 A variable declaration tells the compiler what kind of data (type) will be
stored in the variable

 The type of the variable is followed by one or more variable names

separated by commas, and terminated with a semicolon
Examples:
int numberOfBeans;
double distance, price, totalWeight;

 Variables are typically declared just before they are used or at the start of
a block (indicated by an opening brace { )

 Basic types in Java are called primitive types

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Primitive Types

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Assignment Statements With Primitive Types

 In Java, the assignment statement is used to

change the value of a variable
 The equal sign (=) is used as the assignment operator
 An assignment statement consists of a variable on the
left side of the operator, and an expression on the right
side of the operator
Variable = Expression;

 An expression consists of a variable, number, or mix of

variables, numbers, operators, and/or method
invocations
temperature = 98.6;
count = numberOfBeans;

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Assignment Statements With Primitive Types

 When an assignment statement is executed, the expression is

first evaluated, and then the variable on the left-hand side of
the equal sign is set equal to the value of the expression
distance = rate * time;

 Note that a variable can occur on both sides of the

assignment operator
count = count + 2;

 The assignment operator is automatically executed from

right-to-left, so assignment statements can be chained
number2 = number1 = 3;

 MathOperations2.java (MS-Word file)

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 Tip: Initialize Variables
 A variable that has been declared but that has not yet
been given a value by some means is said to be
uninitialized
 In certain cases, such as local variables inside a method,
the compiler will fail if an uninitialized variable is used
(to read from)
 In other cases an uninitialized variable is given a
default value
 It is best not to rely on this
 Explicitly initialized variables have the added benefit of
improving program clarity
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 Tip: Initialize Variables
 The declaration of a variable can be combined with its
initialization via an assignment statement
int count = 0;
double distance = 55 * .5;
char grade = 'A';
double total = Price + taxes;

 Note that some variables can be initialized and others can

remain un-initialized in the same declaration
int initialCount = 50, finalCount;
 Initialization1.java (MS-Word file)
 Initialization2.java (MS-Word file)
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 Shorthand Assignment
Statements
 Shorthand assignment notation combines the assignment operator
(=) and an arithmetic operator

 It is used to change the value of a variable by adding, subtracting,

multiplying, or dividing by a specified value

 The general form is

Variable Op= Expression
which is equivalent to
Variable = Variable Op (Expression)
 The Expression can be another variable, a constant, or a more
complicated expression
 Some examples of what Op can be are +, -, *, /, or %

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 Shorthand Assignment Statements

Example: Equivalent To:

count += 2; count = count + 2;
sum -= discount; sum = sum – discount;
bonus *= 2; bonus = bonus * 2;
time /= time =
rushFactor; time / rushFactor;
change %= 100; change = change % 100;
amount *= amount = amount *
count1 + count2; (count1 + count2);
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 Assignment Compatibility
 In general, the value of one type cannot be stored in a
variable of another type
int intVariable = 2.99; //Illegal
 The above example results in a type mismatch because a
double value cannot be stored in an int variable

 However, there are exceptions to this

double doubleVariable = 2;
 For example, an int value can be stored in a double type

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 Assignment Compatibility
 More generally, a value of any type in the following list can be
assigned to a variable of any type that appears to the right of it
byteshortintlongfloatdouble
char
 Note that as your move down the list from left to right, the range of
allowed values for the types becomes larger

 An explicit type cast is required to assign a value of one type to a

variable whose type appears to the left of it on the above list
(e.g., double to int)

 Note that in Java an int cannot be assigned to a variable of

type boolean, nor can a boolean be assigned to a variable
of type int
 MathOperations3.java (MS-Word file)
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 Constants
 Constant (or literal): An item in Java which has one
specific value that cannot change

 Constants of an integer type may not be written with a

decimal point (e.g. 10, not 10.0)

 Constants of a floating-point type can be written in ordinary

decimal fraction form (e.g., 367000.0 or 0.000589)

 Constant of a floating-point type can also be written in

scientific (or floating-point) notation (e.g., 3.67e5 or 5.89e-4)
 Note that the number before the e may contain a decimal point, but
the number after the e may not

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 Constants
 Constants of type char are expressed by placing a
single character in single quotes (e.g., 'Z')

 Constants for strings of characters are enclosed by

double quotes (e.g., "Welcome to Java")

 There are only two boolean type constants, true

and false
 Note that they must be spelled with all lowercase letters

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 Naming Constants
 Instead of using "anonymous" numbers in a program, always
declare them as named constants, and use their name instead

public static final int INCHES_PER_FOOT = 12;

public static final double RATE = 0.14;

 This prevents a value from being changed inadvertently. It alsohas the

added advantage that when a value must be modified, it need only be
changed in one place
 Note the naming convention for constants: Use all uppercase letters, and
designate word boundaries with an underscore character

 MathOperations4.java (MS-Word file)

 MathOperations5.java (MS-Word file)
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Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. Copyright © 2007 Aiman Hanna. All rights reserved.
 Arithmetic Operators and Expressions

 As in most languages, expressions can be formed

in Java using variables, constants, and arithmetic
operators

 These operators are + (addition), - (subtraction), *

(multiplication), / (division), and % (modulo,
remainder)

 An expression can be used anyplace it is legal to use

a value of the type produced by the expression
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Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. Copyright © 2007 Aiman Hanna. All rights reserved.
 Arithmetic Operators and Expressions
 If an arithmetic operator is combined with two int operands,
then the resulting type is int

 If an arithmetic operator is combined with one or two double

operands, then the resulting type is double

 If different types are combined in an expression, then the

resulting type is the right-most type on the following list that is
found within the expression
byteshortintlongfloatdouble
Char

 Exception: If the type produced should be byte or short (according

to the rules above), then the type produced will actually be an int. In
other words, an expression never evaluates to the types byte or short

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Increment & Decrement Operators
 The increment operator (++) adds one to the value
of a variable
 If n is equal to 2, then n++ or ++n will change the
value of n to 3

 The decrement operator (--) subtracts one from

the value of a variable
 If n is equal to 4, then n-- or --n will change the
value of n to 3
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Increment & Decrement Operators
 When either operator precedes its variable, and is part of an
expression, then the expression is evaluated using the changed
value of the variable
 If n is equal to 6, then 2*(++n) evaluates to 14

 When either operator follows its variable, and is part of an

expression, then the expression is evaluated using the original
value of the variable, and only then is the variable value changed
 If n is equal to 6, then 2*(n++) evaluates to 12

 In both of the above cases, the value of n will finally be changed

to 7

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 Parentheses and Precedence
Rules
 An expression can be fully parenthesized in order to
specify exactly what sub-expressions are combined with
each operator

 If some or all of the parentheses in an expression are

omitted, Java will follow precedence rules to determine, in
effect, where to place them

 However, it's best (and sometimes necessary) to include them

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Precedence Rules

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 Precedence and Associativity
Rules
 When the order of two adjacent operations must be
determined, the operation of higher precedence (and its
apparent arguments) is grouped before the operation of
lower precedence
base + rate * hours is evaluated as
base + (rate * hours)

 When two operations have equal precedence, the order

of operations is determined by associativity rules

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Precedence and Associativity
Rules
 Unary operators of equal precedence are grouped right-to-left
+-+rate is evaluated as +(-(+rate))

 Binary operators of equal precedence are grouped left-to-

right
base + rate + hours is evaluated as
(base + rate) + hours

 Exception: A string of assignment operators is grouped

right-to-left
n1 = n2 = n3; is evaluated as n1 = (n2 = n3);

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 Pitfall: Round-Off Errors in Floating-Point
Numbers
 Floating point numbers are only approximate quantities
 Mathematically, the floating-point number 1.0/3.0 is equal to
0.3333333 . . .

 A computer has a finite amount of storage space

 It may store 1.0/3.0 as something like 0.3333333333, which is slightly
smaller than one-third

 Computers actually store numbers in binary notation, but the

consequences are the same: floating-point numbers may lose
accuracy

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 Integer and Floating-Point
Division
 When one or both operands are a floating-point type, division
results in a floating-point type
15.0/2 evaluates to 7.5

 When both operands are integer types, division results in an

integer type
 Any fractional part is discarded
 The number is not rounded
15/2 evaluates to 7

 Be careful to make at least one of the operands a floating-point

type if the fractional portion is needed

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 The % (Modula) Operator
 The % operator is used with operands of type int to
recover the information lost after performing integer
division
15/2 evaluates to the quotient 7
15%2 evaluates to the remainder 1
16%4 evaluates to the remainder 0

 The % operator can be used to count by 2's, 3's, or any

other number
 To count by twos, perform the operation number % 2, and
when the result is 0, number is even

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 Type Casting
 A type cast takes a value of one type and produces a value of
another type with an "equivalent" value

 If n and m are integers to be divided, and the fractional portion of the

result must be preserved, at least one of the two must be type cast to a
floating-point type before the division operation is performed
double ans = n / (double)m;

 Note that the desired type is placed inside parentheses immediately in

front of the variable to be cast

 Note also that the type and value of the variable to be cast does not
change

 MathOperations6.java (MS-Word file)

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More Details About Type Casting
 When type casting from a floating-point to an integer type, the
number is truncated, not rounded
 (int)2.9 evaluates to 2, not 3

 When the value of an integer type is assigned to a variable of a

floating-point type, Java performs an automatic type cast called a
type coercion
double d = 5;
 In contrast, it is illegal to place a double value into an int
variable without an explicit type cast
int i = 5.5; // Illegal
int i = (int)5.5 // Correct

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 Escape Sequences
 A backslash (\) immediately preceding a
character (i.e., without any space) denotes an
escape sequence or an escape character

 The character following the backslash does not have

its usual meaning

 Although it is formed using two symbols, it is

regarded as a single character
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Escape Sequences

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 Comments
 A line comment begins with the symbols //, and causes
the compiler to ignore the remainder of the line
 This type of comment is used for the code writer or for a
programmer who modifies the code

 A block comment begins with the symbol pair /*, and

ends with the symbol pair */
 The compiler ignores anything in between
 This type of comment can span several lines
 This type of comment provides documentation for the users
of the program

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Comments & Named Constant

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 The Class String
 There is no primitive type for strings in Java

 The class String is a predefined class in Java that is used to

store and process strings

 Objects of type String are made up of strings of characters

that are written within double quotes
 Any quoted string is a constant of type String
"Live long and prosper."

 A variable of type String can be given the value of a String

object
String blessing = "Live long and prosper.";

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 Concatenation of Strings
 Concatenation: Using the + operator on two strings in order to
connect them to form one longer string
 If greeting is equal to "Hello ", and javaClass is equal to
"class", then greeting + javaClass is equal to "Hello
class"

 Any number of strings can be concatenated together

 When a string is combined with almost any other type of item,

the result is a string
 "The answer is " + 42 evaluates to
"The answer is 42"

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 Classes, Objects, and Methods
 A class is the name for a type whose values are objects

 Objects are entities that store data and take actions

 Objects of the String class store data consisting of strings
of characters

 The actions that an object can take are called methods

 Methods can return a value of a single type and/or perform
an action
 All objects within a class have the same methods, but each
can have different data values

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 Classes, Objects, and Methods
 Invoking or calling a method: a method is called into
action by writing the name of the calling object,
followed by a dot, followed by the method name,
followed by parentheses

 The parentheses contain the information (if any) needed by

the method

 This information is called an argument (or arguments)

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 String Methods
 The String class contains many useful methods for string-
processing applications

 A String method is called by writing a String object, a dot, the

name of the method, and a pair of parentheses to enclose any arguments

 If a String method returns a value, then it can be placed anywhere that

a value of its type can be used
String greeting = "Hello";
int count = greeting.length();
System.out.println("Length is " +
greeting.length());

 Always count from zero when referring to the position or index of a

character in a string

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 1 of 8)

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 2 of 8)

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 3 of 8)

1-64
Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 4 of 8)

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 5 of 8)

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 6 of 8)

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Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 7 of 8)

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 Some Methods in the Class String
(Part 8 of 8)

 Strings1.java (MS-Word file)

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String Indexes

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 String Processing
 A String object in Java is considered to be immutable, i.e., the
characters it contains cannot be changed

 There is another class in Java called StringBuffer that has

methods for editing its string objects

 However, it is possible to change the value of a String

variable by using an assignment statement
String name = "Soprano";
name = "Anthony " + name;

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 Character Sets
 ASCII: A character set used by many programming languages
that contains all the characters normally used on an English-
language keyboard, plus a few special characters
 Each character is represented by a particular number

 Unicode: A character set used by the Java language that includes

all the ASCII characters plus many of the characters used in
languages with a different alphabet from English

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 Program Documentation
 Java comes with a program called javadoc that
will automatically extract documentation from
block comments in the classes you define
 As long as their opening has an extra asterisk (/**)

 Ultimately, a well written program is self-

documenting
 Its structure is made clear by the choice of identifier
names and the indenting pattern
 When one structure is nested inside another, the inside
structure is indented one more level

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