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Unit objectives
Aftercompleting this unit, you should be
able to:
Create and initialize objects
Use the identity (==) operator
Identify and use primitive wrapper classes
Outline Java’s implementation of Strings, and
work with Strings
Explain the difference between the String and
StringBuffrer classes
Objects and messages
Objectsprovide more complex behavior
than primitive data types
Objects respond to messages
The dot "." operator is used to send a message
to an object
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Declaring and initializing objects
Just like primitives and arrays, objects must be declared
before they can be used
The declaration requires the type of the object
The type is the class of the object
Use = for assignment (including initialization)
Initialization of an object often uses the new operator
The new operator is used if you want to create a new object
An object can be initialized to null
Arrays of objects are declared just like arrays of primitives
Arrays of objects default to initialization with null
Examples:
Identity
The == relational operator
When this operator is used on objects, it tests for
exact object identity
Checks whether two variables reference the same
object
When this operator is used on primitive types, it
checks for equal values
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Wrapper classes
Primitives
have no associated methods; there is no
behavior associated with primitive data types
Each primitive data type has a corresponding
class, called a wrapper
Each wrapper object simply stores a single primitive
variable and offers methods with which to process it
Wrapper classes are included as part of the base
Java API
Using wrapper classes
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Strings
TheString type is a class, and not a
primitive data type
A String literal is made up of any number of
characters between double quotes:
String objects can be initialized in other
ways:
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Concatenating strings
The + operator concatenates Strings:
String a = "This" + " is a " + "String";
There are more efficient ways to concatenate
Strings (this will be discussed later)
Primitivetypes used in a call to println are
automatically converted to Strings
System.out.println("answer = " + 1 + 2 + 3);
System.out.println("answer = " + (1+2+3));
Do you get the same output from the above
examples?
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String messages
Strings are objects; objects respond to
messages
Use the dot (.) operator to send a message
String is a class, with methods (more later)
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Comparing strings
Several messages can be sent to a String to test for
equivalence with another String
oneString.equals(anotherString)
Tests for equivalence
Returns true or false
oneString.equalsIgnoreCase(anotherString)
Case insensitive test for equivalence
Returns true or false
oneString == anotherString is problematic
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StringBuffer
The StringBuffer class provides a more
efficient mechanism for building strings
String concatenation can get very expensive
String concatenation is converted by most
compilers - into a StringBuffer implementation
Ifbuilding a simple String, just concatenate; if
building a String through a loop, use a
StringBuffer
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Unit summary
In this unit, you should have learned to:
Create and initialize objects
Use the identity (==) operator
Identify and use primitive wrapper classes
Outline Java’s implementation of Strings, and
work with Strings
Explain the difference between the String and
StringBuffer classes
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