A class in the context of Java are templates that are used to create objects and to define object data types and methods. Core properties include the data types and methods that may be used by the object. All class objects should have the basic class properties. Classes are groups and objects are items within each group.
What Is a Class?
In the real world, you'll often find many individual objects all of the same kind. There may be thousands of other bicycles in existence, all of the same make and model. Each bicycle was built from the same set of blueprints and therefore contains the same components. In object-oriented terms, we say that your bicycle is an instance of the class of objects known as bicycles. A class is the blueprint from which individual objects are created.
The following Bicycle class is one possible implementation of a bicycle:
class Bicycle {
int cadence = 0;
int speed = 0;
int gear = 1;
void changeCadence(int newValue) {
cadence = newValue;
}
void changeGear(int newValue) {
gear = newValue;
}
void speedUp(int increment) {
speed = speed + increment;
}
void applyBrakes(int decrement) {
speed = speed - decrement;
}
void printStates() {
System.out.println("cadence:" +
cadence + " speed:" +
speed + " gear:" + gear);
}
}
The syntax of the Java programming language will look new to you, but the design of this class is based on the previous discussion of bicycle objects. The fields cadence, speed, and gear represent the object's state, and the methods (changeCadence, changeGear, speedUp etc.) define its interaction with the outside world.
You may have noticed that the Bicycle class does not contain a main method. That's because it's not a complete application; it's just the blueprint for bicycles that might be used in an application. The responsibility of creating and using new Bicycle objects belongs to some other class in your application.
Here's a BicycleDemo class that creates two separate Bicycle objects and invokes their methods:
class BicycleDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Create two different
// Bicycle objects
Bicycle bike1 = new Bicycle();
Bicycle bike2 = new Bicycle();
// Invoke methods on
// those objects
bike1.changeCadence(50);
bike1.speedUp(10);
bike1.changeGear(2);
bike1.printStates();
bike2.changeCadence(50);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(2);
bike2.changeCadence(40);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(3);
bike2.printStates();
}
}
The output of this test prints the ending pedal cadence, speed, and gear for the two bicycles:
cadence:50 speed:10 gear:2
cadence:40 speed:20 gear:3
The following Bicycle class is one possible implementation of a bicycle:
class Bicycle {
int cadence = 0;
int speed = 0;
int gear = 1;
void changeCadence(int newValue) {
cadence = newValue;
}
void changeGear(int newValue) {
gear = newValue;
}
void speedUp(int increment) {
speed = speed + increment;
}
void applyBrakes(int decrement) {
speed = speed - decrement;
}
void printStates() {
System.out.println("cadence:" +
cadence + " speed:" +
speed + " gear:" + gear);
}
}
The syntax of the Java programming language will look new to you, but the design of this class is based on the previous discussion of bicycle objects. The fields cadence, speed, and gear represent the object's state, and the methods (changeCadence, changeGear, speedUp etc.) define its interaction with the outside world.
You may have noticed that the Bicycle class does not contain a main method. That's because it's not a complete application; it's just the blueprint for bicycles that might be used in an application. The responsibility of creating and using new Bicycle objects belongs to some other class in your application.
Here's a BicycleDemo class that creates two separate Bicycle objects and invokes their methods:
class BicycleDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Create two different
// Bicycle objects
Bicycle bike1 = new Bicycle();
Bicycle bike2 = new Bicycle();
// Invoke methods on
// those objects
bike1.changeCadence(50);
bike1.speedUp(10);
bike1.changeGear(2);
bike1.printStates();
bike2.changeCadence(50);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(2);
bike2.changeCadence(40);
bike2.speedUp(10);
bike2.changeGear(3);
bike2.printStates();
}
}
The output of this test prints the ending pedal cadence, speed, and gear for the two bicycles:
cadence:50 speed:10 gear:2
cadence:40 speed:20 gear:3
Classes
The introduction to object-oriented concepts in the lesson titled Object-oriented Programming Concepts used a bicycle class as an example, with racing bikes, mountain bikes, and tandem bikes as subclasses. Here is sample code for a possible implementation of a Bicycle class, to give you an overview of a class declaration. Subsequent sections of this lesson will back up and explain class declarations step by step. For the moment, don't concern yourself with the details.
public class Bicycle {
// the Bicycle class has
// three fields
public int cadence;
public int gear;
public int speed;
// the Bicycle class has
// one constructor
public Bicycle(int startCadence, int startSpeed, int startGear) {
gear = startGear;
cadence = startCadence;
speed = startSpeed;
}
// the Bicycle class has
// four methods
public void setCadence(int newValue) {
cadence = newValue;
}
public void setGear(int newValue) {
gear = newValue;
}
public void applyBrake(int decrement) {
speed -= decrement;
}
public void speedUp(int increment) {
speed += increment;
}
}
A class declaration for a MountainBike class that is a subclass of Bicycle might look like this:
public class MountainBike extends Bicycle {
// the MountainBike subclass has
// one field
public int seatHeight;
// the MountainBike subclass has
// one constructor
public MountainBike(int startHeight, int startCadence,
int startSpeed, int startGear) {
super(startCadence, startSpeed, startGear);
seatHeight = startHeight;
}
// the MountainBike subclass has
// one method
public void setHeight(int newValue) {
seatHeight = newValue;
}
}
MountainBike inherits all the fields and methods of Bicycle and adds the field seatHeight and a method to set it (mountain bikes have seats that can be moved up and down as the terrain demands).
Declaring Classes
You have seen classes defined in the following way:
class MyClass {
// field, constructor, and
// method declarations
}
This is a class declaration. The class body (the area between the braces) contains all the code that provides for the life cycle of the objects created from the class: constructors for initializing new objects, declarations for the fields that provide the state of the class and its objects, and methods to implement the behavior of the class and its objects.
The preceding class declaration is a minimal one. It contains only those components of a class declaration that are required. You can provide more information about the class, such as the name of its superclass, whether it implements any interfaces, and so on, at the start of the class declaration. For example,
class MyClass extends MySuperClass implements YourInterface {
// field, constructor, and
// method declarations
}
means that MyClass is a subclass of MySuperClass and that it implements the YourInterface interface.
You can also add modifiers like public or private at the very beginning—so you can see that the opening line of a class declaration can become quite complicated. The modifiers public and private, which determine what other classes can access MyClass, are discussed later in this lesson. The lesson on interfaces and inheritance will explain how and why you would use the extends and implements keywords in a class declaration. For the moment you do not need to worry about these extra complications.
In general, class declarations can include these components, in order:
Modifiers such as public, private, and a number of others that you will encounter later.
The class name, with the initial letter capitalized by convention.
The name of the class's parent (superclass), if any, preceded by the keyword extends. A class can only extend (subclass) one parent.
A comma-separated list of interfaces implemented by the class, if any, preceded by the keyword implements. A class can implement more than one interface.
The class body, surrounded by braces, {}.
References:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/class.html
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/classes.html
A class can be defined as a template or blue print that describes the states and behaviors that object of its type support.
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