Iya Abubakar Institute of ICT,

Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

Introduction to Programming I (DCS105).
Introduction

Problem solving in everyday life

People make decisions every day to solve problems that affects their lives. The problems
may be as unimportant as what to watch on television or as important as choosing a new
profession. If a bad decision is made, time and recourses are wasted , so it is important that
people know how to make decisions well. –There are six steps to follow to ensure the best
decision. These six steps in problem solving include the following:

1. Identify the problem: the first step toward solving a problem is to identify the
problem, in a classroom situation; most problems have been identified for you and
given to you in the form of written assignments or problems out of a book. However
when you are doing a problem solving outside the classroom, you need to make sure
you identify the problem before you star solving it. If you don’t know what the
problem is, you cannot solve it.

2. Understand the problem: You must understand what is involved in the problem
before you can continue toward the solution. This includes understanding the
knowledge base of the person or machine for whom you are solving the problem. If
you are setting up a solution for a person, then you must know what that person
knows. A different set of instructions might have to used depending on this
knowledge base. For example, you would use a more detailed set of instructions to
tell someone how to find a restaurant in your city if he has a limited knowledge of
the city than if he knows it well. When you are working with a computer, its
knowledge base is the limited instructions the computer can understand in the
particular language or application you are using to solve the problem. Knowing the
knowledge base is very important since you cannot use any instructions outside this
base. You also must know your knowledge base. You cannot solve a problem if you
do not know the subject. For example, to solve a problem involving calculus, you
must know calculus; to solve a problem involving accounting, you must know
accounting. You must be able to communicate with your client and be able to
understand what is involved in solving the problem.

3. Identify alternative ways to solve the problem : this list should be as complete
as possible. You might want to contact/talk to other people to find other solutions
than those you have identified. Alternative solutions must be acceptable ones. You
could go from Kaduna to Lagos by road, but this would probably not an acceptable
solution to your travel needs.

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 4. Select the best way to solve the problem from the list of alternative
solutions: here, you need to identify and evaluate the pros and cons of each
possible solution before selecting the best one. In order to do this, you need to select
criteria for the evaluation. These criteria will serve as the guidelines for evaluating
each solution.

5. List instructions that enable you to solve the problem using the selected
solution: these numbered, step-by-step instructions must fall within the knowledge
base set up in step 2. No instructions can be used unless the individual or the
machine can understand it. This can be very limiting, especially when working with
computers.

6. Evaluate the solution: to evaluate or test the solution means to check its result
to see if it is correct, and to see if it satisfies the needs of the person(s) with the
problem. If the result is either incorrect or unsatisfactory, then the problem solver
must start the process again.

Types of Problem Solving

Problems do not always have straightforward solutions. Some problems, such as balancing a
checkbook or baking a cake, can be solved with a series of actions. These solutions are called
algorithmic solutions. Once the alternatives have been eliminated, and the best among
several alternative had been chosen for balancing the checkbook, the solution can be
reached by completing the actions in steps. These steps are called algorithm. The solutions
of other problems, such as how to buy the best stock or whether to expand the company,
are not straightforward. These solutions require reasoning built on knowledge and
experience, and a process of trial and error. Solutions that cannot be reached through a
direct set of steps are called heuristic solutions.

The problem solver can use the six steps for both algorithmic and heuristic solutions.
However, in step 6, evaluating the solution, the correctness and appropriateness of heuristic
solutions are far less certain. It’s easy to tell if your completed checkbook balance is correct
and satisfactory, but it’s hard to tell if you have bought the best stock. With heuristic
solution, the problem solver will often need to follow the six steps more than once, carefully
evaluating each possible solution before deciding which is best. Furthermore, this same
solution may not be correct and satisfactory at another time, so the problem solver may
have to re-evaluate and resolve the same problem later. The stock that did well in January
may do poor in June.

Most problems require a combination of the two kinds of solutions.

Problem Solving with Computers

Solution means the instructions listed in step 5 of problem solving _the instructions that
must be followed to produce the best results. Results means the outcome or the completed
computer-assisted answer. Program means the set of instructions that make up the solution
after they have been coded into a particular language.

Computers are built to deal with algorithmic solutions, which are often time consuming for
humans. People are better than computers at developing heuristic solution. Solving a

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complicated calculus problem or alphabetizing 10,000 names is an easy task for computers,
but the problem of how to throw a ball or how to speak English is not. The difficulty lies in
the programming. How can problems such as how to throw a ball or speak English be solved
in a set of steps that the computer can understand?

The field of computers that deals with heuristic types of problems is called artificial
intelligence. Artificial intelligence enables a computer to do things like build its own
knowledge bank and speak in a human language. As a result, the computer’s problem
solving abilities are similar to those of human being. Artificial intelligence is an expanding
computer field.

Until computers can be built to think like humans, people will process most heuristic
solutions and computers will process many algorithmic solutions. Therefore, this course will
deal only with algorithmic solutions. Heuristic problem solving can help determine
alternative solutions. However, for computer use, they must be transformed into an
algorithmic format.

Difficulties with Problem Solving

People have many problems with problem solving. Some have not been taught how to solve
problems. Others are afraid to make decision for fear it will be the wrong one. Often, when
people go through the problem-solving process, they complete one or more of the steps
inadequately. They may not define the problem correctly or may not generate a sufficient
list of alternative. When choosing the best alternative, they may eliminate good alternatives
or list the pros and cons too hastily. They may not use a logical sequence of steps in their
solution, or they may focus on details before the framework for the solution is in place.
Finally, they may incorrectly or haphazardly evaluate the solution.

The problem-solving process is not easy. It takes practice and time to perfect, but in the long
run the process to be of great benefit.

When solving problems on the computer, one of the most difficult tasks for the problem
solver is writing the instructions. Take the task of deciding which number is the largest from
a group of three numbers. Almost anyone can immediately tell which is the largest, but
many cannot explain the steps they followed to arrive at it. Most people will say, “I can’t
explain how I know, I just know it!” This explanation is not good enough for the computer.
The computer is a tool that will perform only tasks that the user can explain.

Has a specific system of communication that the programmers and users must learn. This
system demands that no step in the solution to a program is left unstated and that all steps
be in the proper order. You must assume the computer knows nothing except what you tell
it, and think of it as an ignorant but efficient aid to problem solving.

What is a Computer?
A computer is an electronic device that accepts, stores and processes data under the control
of stored program and produce information. It includes both hardware and software. In
general, hardware comprises the visible, physical elements of the computer examples are:
mouse, keyboard, Central Processing Unit (CPU), Memory and software provides the
invisible instructions that control the hardware and make it perform specific task. Writing

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instructions for computers to perform a task is called computer programming. Knowing
computer hardware is not essential to your learning a programming language, but it does
help you understand better the effect of the program instructions. In this section we will
introduce computer hardware components and their functions.

A computer consists of the following major hardware components:

 Central Processing Unit (CPU)

 Memory (main memory)
 Storage devices (e.g.,disks, CDs, tapes)
 Input and Output devices (e.g., monitor, keyboard, mice, printers)
 Communication devices (e.g., modem, network interface cards)

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The central processing unit (CPU) is the comuter’s brain. It receives instructions from the
memory and executes them. The CPU usually has two components: a control unit (CU) and
arithmetic/logic unit (ALU). The CU controls and coordinate the actions of the other
components, it tells the input unit when information should be read into the memory unit
and tells the ALU unit when information from the memory unit should be used in
calculations and tells the output unit when to send information from the memory unit to
certain output devices. The ALU performs numeric operations (addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division) and logical operations (comparisons).

Memory
This rapid-access, relatively low-capacity “warehouse” section retains information that has
been entered through the input unit, making it immediately available for processing when
needed. The memory unit also retains processed information until it can be placed on
output unit. Information in the memory unit is volatile – it is typically lost when the
computer’s power is off. The memory unit is often called memory or primary memory.

A program and its data must be brought to memory before they can be executed.

A byte is the minimum storage unit. A small number such as 4 can be stored in a single byte.
To store a number that cannot be fit into a single byte, the computer uses several adjacent
bytes. No two data items can share or split the same byte.

A memory byte is never empty, but its initial content may be meaningless to your program.
The current content of a memory byte is lost whenever new information is places in it.

Every byte has a unique address. The address is used to locate the byte for storing and
retrieving data. Since byte can be accessed in any order, the memory is also referred to as
random access memory (RAM). Today’s personal computers usually have at least 1 gigabyte
(1GB), and terabyte (TB). A kilobyte is 210 – 1024 bytes.

Storage Devices
Storage device is where the computer used to store programs and data permanently for
future use. These programs and data are moved to memory when the CPU actually need
them, because memory is faster than storage devices. The four main types of storage

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devices are: Disk drives e.g., hard disk, CDs (compact disk) and DVDs (digital versatile disk /
digital video disk), tape drives and USB flash drives

Input and Output Devices

Input and output devices let the user communicate with the computer. The common input
devices are keyboard and mice. The common output devices are monitors and printers.

The Keyboard
A computer keyboard resembles a typewriter keyboard with extra keys added for certain
special functions.

Function keys are located at the top of the keyboard and are numbered with prefix F. Their
used depends on the software.

A modifier key (e.g. Shift, Alt, Ctrl) that modifies the normal action of another key when the
two are pressed in combination.

Numeric keypad this is located on the right hand corner of the keyboard, is a separate keys
for quick input of numbers.

Arrow keys, located between the m ain keypad and the numeric keypad, they are used to
move the cursor up, down, left, and right.

The Insert, Delete, Page up and Page Down keys are located above the arrow keys, are used
in word processing for performing insert, delete, page up and page down.

The Mouse
A mouse is a pointing device. It is used to move an electronic pointer called a cursor around
the screen or to click on an the screen to trigger it to respond.

The Monitor
The monitor displays information (text and graphics). The screen resolution and dot pitch
determine the quality of the display.

The screen resolution specifies the number of pixel per square inch. Pixels (short for “picture
elements”) are tiny dots that form an image on the screen. A common for a 17inch screen is
1024 pixels wide and 768 pixels high. The resolution can be change manually. The higher the
resolution, the sharper and clearer the image is.

The dot pitch is the amount of space between pixels in millimetres. The smaller the dot
pitch, the better the display.

Communication Devices
Computers can be networked through communication devices, such as the dialup modem
(modulator/demodulator), DSL (digital subscriber line), cable modem, network interface
card, and wireless.

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Programs
Computer programs, known as software, are instructions to the computer, telling it what to
do. Computers do not understand human languages, so you need to use computer
languages in computer programs. Programming is the creation of a program that is
executable by a computer and performs the required tasks.

Machine Language, Assembly Language and High Level Language

Programmers write instructions in various programming languages, some directly
understandable by computers and others requiring intermediate translation steps.
Hundreds of such languages are in use today. These may be divided into three general types:

1. Machine languages
2. Assembly languages
3. High-level languages

Machine language: Any computer can directly understand only its own machine language.
This is the computer’s “natural language,” defined by its hardware design. It is in the form
of binary code, so in telling the machine what to do, you have to enter binary code.
Programming in machine language is a tedious process. Moreover, the programs are highly
difficult to read and modify. For example, to add two numbers, you might have to write an
instruction in binary like this:

1101101010011010

Assembly language: is a low-level programming language in which a mnemonic is used to

represent each of the machine-language instructions. For example, to add two numbers, you
might write an instruction in assembly language code like this:

ADDF3 R1, R2, R3

Assembly languages were developed to make programming easy. However, since the
computer cannot understand assembly language, a program called an assembler is used to
convert assembly-language programs into machine code

Assembly source file Machine code file

ADDF R1, R2, R3 Assembler 1101101010011010

Fig.1 Above: Assembler translates assembly-language instructions to machine language

High level language: this allow you to write instructions that look almost like everyday
English and contain commonly used mathematical notations. For example , the high-level
language statement that computes the area of a circle with radius 5:

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Area = 5 * 5 * 3.1415;

Among the more than one hundred high-level languages, the following are well known:

 COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language)

 FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation)
 BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)
 Pascal (named for Blaise Pascal)
 Ada (named for Ada Lovelace)
 C (developed by the designer of B)
 Visual Basic (Basic-like Visual Language developed by Borland)
 Delphi (Pascal-like visual language developed by Borland)
 C++ (an object-oriented language, based on C)
 C# (a Java-like language developed by Microsoft)
 Java

Welcome to Java- a powerful computer programming language that is fun for novices to
learn and appropriate foe experienced programmers to use in building substantial
enterprise information systems. This hand book is an effective learning tool for each of these
audiences.

We use Ms Word processors to write documents, Web browsers to explore the Internet,
email to programs to send email. These are all examples of software that runs on
computers. Software is developed using programming languages. There are many
programming languages so why Java? The answer is that Java enables users to develop and
deploy applications on the Internet for servers, desktop computers, and small hand-held
devices.

A program written in high-level language is called a source program or source code. Since a
computer cannot understand a source program, a program called a compiler is used to
translate it into a machine-language program. The machine-language program is then linked
with other supporting library code to form an executable files.

Operating system
The operating system (OS) is the most important program that runs on a computer, which
manages and controls a computer’s activities. The popular operating systems are Microsoft
Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Application programs, such as a Web browser or a word
processor, cannot run without an operating system. The interrelationship of hardware,
operating system, application software, and the user is shown in figure below:

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 User

Application Programs

Operating System

Hardware

Fig. 2 The operating system is the software that controls and manages the system

The major tasks of an operating system are:

 Controlling and monitoring system activities

 Allocating and assigning system resource
 Scheduling operations

The Java Language Specification, API, JDK, and IDE

Computer languages have strict rules of usage. If you do not follow the rules when writing a
program, the computer will be unable to understand it.. the java language specification and
java API define the java standard.

The application program interface (API) contains predefined classes and interface for
developing Java programs. The java language is stable, but the API is still expanding. At the
sun java website ([Link]), you can view and download the latest version of the Java
API.

Java SE, EE, and ME Java is a full-fledge and powerful language that can be used in many
ways. It comes in three editions: Java Standard Edition (Java SE), Java Enterprise Edition
(Java EE) and Java Micro Edition (Java ME). Java SE can be used to develop client-side
standalone applications or applets. Java EE can be used to develop server-side applications
such as Java servlets and Javaserver Pages. Java ME can be used to develop applications for
mobile devices, such as cell phones. This course uses Java SE to introduce Java
Programming.

Typical Java Development Environment

We now explain the commonly used steps in creating and executing a Java application using
a Java development environment

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Java programs normally go through five phases—edit, compile, load, verify and execute. We
discuss these phases in the context of the JDK

Phase-1: Edit
When we write a Java program on any editor & save it, then it is stored in a disk with an
extension of .java. This .java file is platform-independent therefore a Java program (.java
file) written in one operating system can be used in any operating system.

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Phase-2: Compile
The compiler’s work is to convert the high-level language to bytecodes then store it with an
extension of .class. To compile a program called [Link], we use the “javac”
command.

javac [Link]

After developing the Java program, we compile it through the “javac” command. The
compiler checks for syntax errors, and if everything is correct then it starts translating
the .java file else it gives a compile-time error. After compilation of the .java file, the .java
file is translated to .class file. similar to the .java file, the .class file is also platform-
independent.

Phase-3: Load
The class loader reads the code, compiles it, and puts those bytecodes from the disk to
primary memory. From the class loader, the codes are stored in primary memory.

When we execute the “java” command to run the Java application then the .class file (which
contains bytecode) is loaded into the RAM, and this task is done by the class loader. The
class loader also loads any of the .class files provided by the Java that your program uses.

Phase-4: Verify
This step confirms that the bytecodes are valid and make sure that they do not risk the Java security
restrictions.

Phase-5: Execute
In this step, the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) reads the byte and translates it to the language that the
machine can understand that is machine language then executes the program and stores it in values
in primary memory. This machine language will be different for different operating systems.

Writing Simple Program

Let us begin with a simple Java program that displays the message “Welcome to Java” on
the console. Example 1:

The line numbers are displayed for reference purposes but are not part of the program. So
don’t type line numbers in your program.

Line 2 define a class. Every Java program must have at least one class. Each class has a name.
By convention, class names start with an uppercase letter. In this example, the class name is
Welcome.
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Line 4 define the main method. In order to run a class , the class must contain a method
named main. The program is executed from the main method.

A method is a construct that contains statements. The main method in this program
contains the [Link] statement. This statement prints a message "Welcome to
Java Programming!" to the console (line 4). Every statement in Java ends with a semicolon
(;) known as the statement terminator.

Reserved words or keywords, have a specific meaning to the compiler and cannot be used
for other purposes in the program. For example, when the compiler sees the word class, it
understands that the word after class is the name for the class. Other reserved words in this
program are public, static, and void.

Line 1 and line 6 are comments that documents what the program is and how it is
constructed. Comments help programmers to communicate and understand the program.
They are not programming statements and thus are ignored by the compiler. In Java,
comments are preceded by two slashes (//) on a line, called a line comment, or enclosed
between /* and */ on one or several lines, called a block comment. When the compiler
sees //, it ignores all text after // on the line. When it sees /*, it scans for the next */ and
ignores any text between /* and */. Here are examples of comments:

//This application program prints welcome to Java!

/* This application program prints welcome to Java! */

/* This application program

prints welcome to Java! */

A pair of braces in a program forms a block that groups the program’s components. In Java,
each block begins with an opening brace ({) and ends with a closing brace (}). Each class has
a block that groups the data and methods of the class. Every method has a method block
that groups the statements in the method. Blocks can be nested, meaning that one block
can be placed within another.

Creating, Compiling, and Executing a Java Program

You have to create your program and compile it before it can be executed. If your program
has compilation errors, you have to modify the program to fix them, then recompile it. If
your program has runtime errors or does not produce the correct result, you have to modify
the program, recompile it, and execute it again.

Note: The source file must end with extension .java and must have exactly the same name
as the public class name. For example, the file for the source code above should be named
[Link]. since the public class name is Welcome.

A Java compiler translates a Java source file into a Java bytecode file. The following
command compiles [Link]

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To prepare to compile the program, open a command window and change to the directory
where the program is stored. Many operating systems use the command cd to change
directories. For example,

c:\Users\ABU0151\Desktop\Java>

to compile the program, type

javac [Link]

If the program contains no syntax error, the preceding command creates a new file called
[Link] containing the platform-independent Java bytecodes that represent our
application. To execute the program, type

Modifying Our First Java Program

In this section, we modify the example 1 to print text on one line by using multiple
statements and to print on several lines by using a single statement.

Displaying a single line of text with multiple statements

Welcome to Java Programming! can be displayed several ways. Class Welcome1, shown in
below, uses two statements (lines 9–10) to produce the same output as the previous
program. [Note: From this point forward, we highlight only the new and key features in each
code listing, as we’ve done for lines 9–10.]

Lines 9-10 of method main

[Link]("Welcome to ");

[Link]("Java Programming!");

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Display one line of text in the command window. The first statement uses [Link]’s
method print to display a string. Unlike println, after displaying its argument print does not
position the output cursor at the beginning of the next line in the command window- the
next character the program displays will appear immediately after the last character that
print displays. Thus, line 10 positions the first character in its argument (the letter “J”)
immediately after the last character that line 9 displays (the space character before the
string’s closing double-quote character).each print or println statement resumes displaying
characters from where the last print or println statement stopped displaying characters.

Displaying Multiple Lines of Text with a Single Statement

A single statement can display multiple lines by using newline characters, which indicate to
[Link]'s print and println methods when to position the output cursor at the beginning
of the next line in the command window. Like blank lines, space characters and tab
characters, newline characters are white-space characters. The program below outputs four
lines of text, using newline characters to determine when to begin each new line.

Normally, the characters in a string are displayed exactly as they appear in the double
quotes. Note, however, that the two characters \ and n do not appear on the screen. The
backslash (\) is called an escape character. It indicates to [Link]’s print and println
methods that a “special character” is to be output.

Escape Sequence in Java

An escape sequence in java is a combination of specific characters or a sequence of
characters with a backslash. Whenever the escape sequence is encountered in a string literal
then it is replaced with a special character or sometimes with a sequence of characters. We
use them to represent the special characters that either cannot be directly typed into the
string literally or have special meaning.

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There are total of 8 escape sequence in java.
\t: It is used to insert a tab in the text.

\b: It is used to insert a backspace in the text.

\’: It is used to insert a single quote of character in

the text.

\f: It is used to insert a form feed in the text.

\”: It is used to insert a double-quote character in the

text.

\n: It is used to insert a new line in the text.

\r: It is used to insert a carriage return in the text.

\: It is used to insert a backslash character.

Displaying Text with printf

The [Link] method (f means "formatted") displays formatted data. Program
below uses this method to output the strings "Welcome to" and "Java Programming!". Lines
9–10

Displaying multiple lines with method [Link].

The method call specifies two arguments, when a method requires multiple arguments, the
arguments are placed in a comma-separated list.

Line 9-10 represent only one statement. Java allows large statements to be split over many
line.

Format specifiers begin with a percent sign (%) and are followed by a character that
represents the data type. For example, the format specifier %s is a placeholder for a string.

List of Format Specifiers in Java

%c character.

%d decimal (integer) number (base 10)

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 %e exponential floating-point number.

%f floating-point number.

%i integer (base 10)

%o octal number (base 8)

%s String.

%u unsigned decimal (integer) number.

Displaying Text in a Message Dialog Box (GUI)

We can rewrite our previous program to display the text in a message dialog box. To do so,
you need to the showMessageDialog method in the JOptionPane class.

This program uses a Java class JOptionPane (line 9). Java’s predefined classes are grouped
into packages. JOptionPane is in the [Link] package. JOptionPane is imported to the
program using the import statement in line 4 so that the compiler can locate the class
without the full name [Link]. JOptionPane.

Note: if you replace JOptionPane on line with

[Link](...), you don’t need to import it in line 4.
[Link] is the full name for the JOptionPane class.

The showMessageDialog method is a static method. Such a method should be invoked by

using the class name followed by a dot operator (.)and the method name with arguments.

The first argument can always be null. Null is a Java keyword, the second argument is a
string for the text to be displayed.

There are several ways to use the showMessageDialog method. For the time being, you
need to know only two ways. One is to use a statement, as shown in the example below.

String x = “Welcome to Java!”;

[Link](null,x);

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Where x is a string for the text to be displayed.

The other way is to use a statement like this one:

String x = “Welcome to Java!”;

String y = “Welcome”;

[Link](null,x,y,[Link]
ATION_MESSAGE);

Where x is a string for the text to be displayed, and y is a string for the title of the message
box. The fourth argument causes the icon (i) to be displayed in the message box.

Writing Simple Programs

Let’s look at a simple problem for computing the area of a circle. How do we write a
program for solving this problem?

Writing a program involves designing algorithms and translating algorithms into code. An
algorithms describes how a problem is solved in terms of the actions to be executed and the
order of their execution. Algorithms can be described in natural languages or in pseudocode
(i.e natural language mixed with programming code). The algorithm for computing area of a
circle is as follows:

1. Read in the radius

2. Compute the area using following formula
area¿ radius∗radius∗π
3. Display the area.

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Assume that we have chosen ComputeArea as the class name. The outline of the program
would look like this:

Public class ComputeArea{

Public static void main(String[] args){

//Step 1: Read in radius

//Step 2: Compute area

//Step 3: Display the area

Declare radius and area as double-precision floating point numbers. The program can be
expanded as follows:

Public class ComputeArea{

Public static void main(String[] args){

double radius;

double area;

//Step 1: Read in radius

//Step 2: Compute area

//Step 3: Display the area

The first step is to read in radius. Reading a number from the keyboard is not a simple
matter. For the time being, let us assign a fixed value to radius in the program.

The second step is to compute area by assigning the result of the expression radius * radius
* 3.14159 to area.

In the final step, display area on the console by using the [Link] method.

The complete program is shown below:

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Variables such as radius and area correspond to memory locations. Every variable has a
name, a type, a size and a value. Line 3 declares that radius can store a double value. The
value is not define until you assign a value. Line 7 assigns 20 into radius. Similarly, line4
declares variable area, and line 10 assigns a value into area.

The plus (+) sign has two meanings: one for addition and the other for concatenating strings.
It combines two strings if two of the operands are strings. If one of the operand is a
nonstring, the nonstring value is converted into a string and concatenated with the other
string.

Caution: a string constant cannot be cross lines in the source code. Thus the following
statement would result in a compile error:

[Link](“Introduction to Java

Programming,By Y. Daniel Liang”)

To fix the error, break the string into separate substrings, and use the concatenation
operator (+) to combine them:

[Link](“Introduction to Java Programming,” +

“By Y. Daniel Liang”)

Reading Input from the Console

Java uses [Link] to refer to standard input devices. Console input is not directly
supported in Java, but you can use the Scanner class to create an object to read input from
[Link] as follows:

Scanner input = new Scanner ([Link]);

The syntax new Scanner ([Link]) creates an object of the Scanner type. The syntax
Scanner input declares that input is a variable whose type is Scanner. The whole line Scanner
input = new Scanner ([Link]); creates a Scanner object and assigns its reference to the
variable input.

Methods for Scanner Objects

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Method Description

nextBoolean() Reads a boolean value from the user

nextByte() Reads a byte value from the user

nextDouble() Reads a double value from the user

nextFloat() Reads a float value from the user

nextInt() Reads a int value from the user

nextLine() Reads a String value from the user

nextLong() Reads a long value from the user

nextShort() Reads a short value from the user

For now we will see how to read a number that includes a decimal point by invoking the
nextDouble() method. Other methods will be covered when they are used. We will rewrite
the previous example to prompt the user to enter a radius.

The statement in line 10 reads an input from the keyboard.

double radius = [Link]();

after the user enters a number and presses the Enter key, the number is read and assigned
to radius.

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Average of two numbers

Identifiers
Identifiers are a sequence of characters to identify something in a program. They are names
given to a class, variable, package, method, or interface and allow the programmer to refer
to the specific item from any place in the program. In our last example ComputeAverage,
main,input, num1, num2, average are the names of things that appear in the program, such
names are called identifiers. All identifiers must obey the following rules:

 An identifier is a sequence of characters that consists of letters, digits, underscores

(_), and dollar signs ($)
 An identifier must start with a letter, an underscore (_), or a dollar sign ($). It cannot
start with a digit.
 An identifier cannot be a reserved word (Java keywords) e.g. class, public, String, etc.
 An identifier cannot be true, false, or null.
 An identifier can be of any length.

ComputeAverage, main,input, num1, num2, average are legal identifiers, whereas 2A, and
d+4 are not because they do not follow the rules. The Java compiler detects illegal identifiers
and reports syntax errors.

Note: Since Java is case sensitive, area, Area, and AREA are all different identifiers.

Variables
Variables are used to store values to be used later in a program. They are called variables
because their values can be changed. In our previous example we have seen variables like:
radius, area, num1, num2, average etc of double-precision, floating point type. You can
assign any numerical value to these variables and their values can be reassigned. For
example, you can write the code

//Compute the first area

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 Radius = 2.5;

area = radius * radius * 3.14159;

[Link](“The are is: “ + area + “ for radiu: “

+ radius);

//Compute the second area

Radius = 3.0;

area = radius * radius * 3.14159;

[Link](“The are is: “ + area + “ for radiu: “

+ radius);

Variables Declaration
The variable declaration tells the compiler to allocate appropriate memory space for the
variable based on its data type. The syntax for declaring a variable is:

datatype variableName;

Here are some examples of the variable declations:

int count;

double radius;

float interestRate;

If variables are of the same data type, they can be declared together, as follows:

datatype variable1, variable2, variable3,...... variablen;

Examples:

int i, j, k;

You can also declare a variable and initialize it in one step. For example:

int count = 1;

You can also use shorthand form to declare and initialize variables of the same type
together. For example,

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 int i = 1, j=2;

Assignment statements and Assignment Expressions

In Java, the equal sign (=) is used as the assignment operator. The syntax for assignment
statement is as follows:

Variable = expression;

For example

int x = 1;

double radius = 1.0;

x = 5 * (3 / 2) +3 *2;

A variable can also be used in an expression. For example:

x=x+1

Named constant
This represents permanent data that never changes. In our ComputeArea program, π is a
constant. If you use it frequently, you don’t want to keep typing 3.14159; instead, you can
declare a constant for π. Here is the syntax for declaring a constant:

final datatype CONSTANTNAME = VALUE;

A constant must be declared and initialixed in the same statement. The word final is a Java
keyword for declaring a constant.

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Numeric Data Types and Operations
The compiler allocates memory space for each variables or constant according to its data
type. Java provides eight primitives data types for numeric values, characters, and Boolean
values. This section introduces numeric data types.

Java uses four types for integers: byte, short, int, and long. Choose the type that is appropriate
for your variables. It also uses two types for floating-point numbers: float and double. The
double type is twice as big as float.

Numeric Operators
The operators for numeric data types include the standard arithmetic operators as shown
below:

Operator Name Description Example

+ Addition Adds together two values x + y

- Subtraction Subtracts one value from another x - y

* Multiplication Multiplies two values x * y

/ Division Divides one value by another x / y

% Modulus Returns the division remainder x % y

++ Increment Increases the value of a variable ++x

by 1

-- Decrement Decreases the value of a variable --x

by 1

Shorthand operators
Very often the current value of a variable is used, modified, and then reassigned back to the
same variable. Example:

i = i+8;

Java allows you to combine assignment and addition operators using a shorthand operator.
For example, the preceding statement can be written as:

i += 8;

Shorthand Operators
Operator Name Example Equivalent

+= Addition assignment i += 8 i = i + 8

-+ Subtraction assignment i -= 8 i = i - 8

*= Multiplication i *= 8 i = i * 8
assignment

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/= Division assignment i /= 8 i = i /8

%= Remainder assignment i %= 8 i = i % 8

Numeric Type Conversions

You can assign a value to a numeric variable whose type supports a larger range of values;
thus, for instance, you can assign a long value to a float variable. You cannot, however assign
a value to a variable of a type with smaller range unless you use type casting. Casting is an
operation that converts a value of one data type into a value of another data type. Casting a
variable of a type with a small range to a variable of a type with larger range is known as
widening a type. Casting a variable of a type with a large range to a variable of a type with
smaller range is known as narrowing a type.

The syntax is the target type in parenthesis, followed by the variable’s name or the value to
be cast. For example:

[Link]((int)1.7);

displays 1. When double value is cast into an int value, the fractional part is truncated.

[Link]((double)1/2);

displays 0.5, because 1 is cast to 1.0 first, then divided by 2. However, the statement

[Link](1/2);

displays 0, because 1 and 2 are both integers and the resulting value should also be an
integer.

Character Data Type and Operations

The character data type, Char, is used to represent a single character. A character literal is
enclosed in single quotation marks. Consider the following code:

char letter = ‘A’;

char numChar = ‘4’;

Casting between char and Numeric Types

A char can be cast into any numeric type, and vice versa. When an integer is cast into a char,
only its lower 16 bits of data are used, the other part is ignored. For example:

char ch = (char)0xAB0041; //the lower 16 bits hex code

//0041 is assigned to ch

[Link]((ch)); //ch is character A

Note: all numeric operators can be applied to char operands. A char operand is
automatically cast into a number if the other operand is a number or a character. If the

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other operand is a string, the character is concatenated with the string. For example, the
following statements

The String Type and the String functions

String is actually a predefined class in the Java library just like the classes System,
JOptionPane, and Scanner. The String is not a primitive type. It is known as reference type.
To declare a String variable with the value “Welcome to Java” use:

String message = “Welcome to Java”;

Two Strings can be concatenated. The plus sign (+) is the concatenated operator, if two of
the operands are a String. If one of the operands is nonstring, the nonstring value is
converted into a sting and concatenated with the other string. Here are some examples:

String message = “Welcome ” + ”to ” + ”Java”;

String str = “Chapter “ + 2;

The shorthand += operator can also be used for string concatenation. For example:

Message += “ and Java is fun”;

String Methods

Method Description Return Type

Returns the character at the

charAt() char
specified index (position)

Returns the Unicode of the

codePointAt() character at the specified int
index

codePointBefore() Returns the Unicode of the int

character before the

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 specified index

Returns the number of Unicode

codePointCount() int
values found in a string.

Compares two strings

compareTo() int
lexicographically

Compares two strings

compareToIgnoreCase() lexicographically, ignoring int
case differences

Appends a string to the end

concat() String
of another string

Checks whether a string

contains() contains a sequence of boolean
characters

Checks whether a string

contains the exact same
contentEquals() sequence of characters of the boolean
specified CharSequence or
StringBuffer

Returns a String that

copyValueOf() represents the characters of String
the character array

Checks whether a string ends

endsWith() with the specified boolean
character(s)

Compares two strings. Returns

equals() true if the strings are boolean
equal, and false if not

Compares two strings,

equalsIgnoreCase() boolean
ignoring case considerations

Returns a formatted string

format() using the specified locale, String
format string, and arguments

Encodes this String into a

sequence of bytes using the
getBytes() byte[]
named charset, storing the
result into a new byte array

getChars() Copies characters from a void

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 string to an array of chars

Returns the hash code of a

hashCode() int
string

Returns the position of the

first found occurrence of
indexOf() int
specified characters in a
string

Returns the canonical

intern() representation for the string String
object

Checks whether a string is

isEmpty() boolean
empty or not

Returns the position of the

last found occurrence of
lastIndexOf() int
specified characters in a
string

Returns the length of a

length() int
specified string

Searches a string for a match

matches() against a regular expression, boolean
and returns the matches

Returns the index within this

String that is offset from
offsetByCodePoints() int
the given index by
codePointOffset code points

Tests if two string regions

regionMatches() boolean
are equal

Searches a string for a

specified value, and returns
replace() String
a new string where the
specified values are replaced

Replaces the first occurrence

of a substring that matches
replaceFirst() String
the given regular expression
with the given replacement

replaceAll() Replaces each substring of String

this string that matches the
given regular expression with

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 the given replacement

Splits a string into an array

split() String[]
of substrings

Checks whether a string

startsWith() starts with specified boolean
characters

Returns a new character

subSequence() sequence that is a CharSequence
subsequence of this sequence

Returns a new string which is

substring() the substring of a specified String
string

Converts this string to a new

toCharArray() char[]
character array

Converts a string to lower

toLowerCase() String
case letters

Returns the value of a String

toString() String
object

Converts a string to upper

toUpperCase() String
case letters

Removes whitespace from both

trim() String
ends of a string

Returns the string

valueOf() representation of the String
specified value

Example of some of the String methods:

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Boolean Data Type
Java has eight primitive data types and boolean is one of them. Such data type has only two
possible values i.e. a Java boolean variable can be either “true” or “false”. This is the same
value that is returned by all the rational operators (a<b or b>c…. etc).

A boolean data type is also used in conditional checks using if statements or loops. Given
below is the syntax of boolean Java.

Syntax:

boolean variable_name = true/false;

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Relational / Comparison Operators
Operators Description Example

== Is equal to 3 == 5 returns false

!= Not equal to 3 != 5 returns true

> Greater than 3 > 5 returns false

< Less than 3 < 5 returns true

>= Greater than or equal to 3 >= 5 returns false

<= Less than or equal to 3 <= 5 returns true

You can also compare characters. Comparing characters is the same as comparing their
Unicodes. For example ‘a’ is larger than ‘A’ because the Unicode of ‘a’ is larger than the
Unicode of ‘A’.

If Statements
The previous example displays a message such as “6 + 2 = 7 is: false” if you wish the message
to be “6 + 2 = 7 is: incorrect” you have to use a selection statement to carry out this minor
change.

One-Way if statements
A one-way if statement executes an action if and only if the condition is true. The syntax for
a one-way if statement is shown below:

If (Boolean-expression) {

Statement(s);

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 }

If the Boolean-expression evaluates to true, the statements in the block are executed. As an
example, see the following code:

If (radius >=0) {

area = radius * radius* PI;

[Link](“The area for the circle of

radius: “ +

Radius + “ is: “ + area);

The block braces ({}) can be omitted if they enclose a single statement. For example, the
following statements are equivalent:

if (i > 0) {
If (i > 0)
[Link](“i
is positive”); [Link](“i is
positive”);
}

Example below is a program that prompts a user to enter an integer. If the number is a
multiple of 7, print number is a multiple of 7. If the number is divisible by 2, print number is
even.

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Two-Way if Statements
A one-way if statement takes action if the specified condition is true. If the condition is false,
nothing is done. But what if you want to take alternative actions when the condition is false?
You can use a two-way if statement. The actions that a two-way if statement specifies differ
based on whether the action is true or false.

Here is the syntax for a two-way if statement:

If (Boolean-expression) {

Statement(s)-for-the-true-case;

Else {

Statement(s)-for-the-false-case;

If the Boolean-expression evaluates to true, the statement(s) for the true case are executed;
otherwise, the statement(s) for the false case are executed. For example, consider the
following code:

If (radius >=0) {

Page 32 of 57
 double area = radius*radius*PI;

[Link]("The area for the circle of radius " +

radius + " is: " + area);

else {

[Link](“Nagative input”);

If the radius >= 0 is true, area is computed and displayed; if it is false, the message
“Nagative input” is printed.

Here is another example of using the if ... else statement. The example check whether a
number is even or odd, as follows

If (num % 2 ==0)

[Link](num + “ is even.”);

else

[Link](num + “ is odd.”);

Nested if Statements
Nested if refers to an if statement within an if statement. When we write an inner if
condition within an outer if condition, then it is referred to as a nested if statement in java.
No limit to the depth of the nesting. For example, the following is a nested if statement:

If (i > k) {

If (j > k)

[Link](“i and j are greater than k”);

else

[Link](“i is less than or equal to k);

The if (j > k ) statement is nested inside the if (i > k) statement.

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The nested if statement can be used to implement multiple alternatives. The statement
below, for instance, assigns a letter grade to the variable grade according to the score, with
multiple alternatives.
if (score >= 90.0) if (score >= 90.0)
grade = ‘A’; grade = ‘A’;
else else if (score >= 80.0;
if (score >= 80.0) Equivalent grade = ‘B’;
grade = ‘B’; else if (score >= 70.0)
else grade = ‘C’;
if (score >= 70.0) if (score >= 60.0)
grade = ‘C’; grade = ‘D’;
if (score >= 60.0) else
grade = ‘D’; grade = ‘F’;
else
grade = ‘F’;

The first condition (score >=90.0) is tested. If it is true, the grade becomes ‘A’. If it is false,
the second condition (score >=80.0) is tested. If the second condition is true, the grade
becomes ‘B’. If that condition is false, the third condition and the rest of the conditions
continue to be tested until a condition is met or all of the conditions prove to be false. If all
of the conditions are false, the grade becomes ‘F’. Note that a condition is tested only when
all of the conditions that come before it are false.

Common Errors in Selection Statements

 Forgetting Necessary Braces. For example:

If (radius >=0) { If (radius >=0)

area = radius * radius* PI; area = radius * radius* PI;
[Link](“The area for the circle “ + [Link](“The area for the circle “ +
“of radius: “ + Radius + “ is: “ + area); “of radius: “ + Radius + “ is: “ + area);
}

(a) Correct (b) Wrong

 Wrong semicolon at the if Line. For example:
Empty Block
Empty Block
If (radius >=0) { }
If (radius >=0) ; { area = radius * radius* PI;
area = radius * radius* PI; [Link](“The area for the circle “ +
[Link](“The area for the circle “ + “of radius: “ + Radius + “ is: “ + area);
“of radius: “ + Radius + “ is: “ + area);
}

Suppose you want to write a program that randomly generates two single-digit
integers,num1 and num2, with num1 >= num2 and display to the student a question such as
“What is 9 – 2?” after the student enters the answer, the program displays a message
indicating whether it is correct. The program may work as follows

 Generate two single-digit integers into num1 and num2.

 If num1 < num2, swap num1 with num2.
 Prompt the student to answer “What is num1 – num2?”.

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  Check the student’s answer and display whether the answer is correct.

Logical Operators

A logical operator is a symbol or word used to connect two or more relational/ comparison
expressions such that the value of the compound expression produced depends only on that
of the original expressions and on the meaning of the operator. Common logical operators
include AND (&&) , OR (||), exclusive OR (^) and NOT (!).

A year is a leaf year if it is divisible by 4 but not by 100 or if it is divisible by 400, the program
below accept from the user a year and determine if the year is a leaf year or not.

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Switch Statements
Instead of writing many if..else statements, you can use the switch statement. The switch
statement selects one of many code blocks to be executed. A switch works with the byte,
short, char, and int primitive data types. It also works with enumerated types, and String.

Syntax of switch statement

switch(expression) {

case value1:

// code block

break;

case values2:

// code block

break;

case valuesN:

// code block

break;

default:

// code block

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The switch statement observes the following rules:

 The switch expression is evaluated once, and must be enclosed in parentheses.

 The value1, ..., and valuesN must have the same data type as the value of the switch-
expression. Note that value1, ... valueN are constant expressions, meaning that they
cannot contain variables, such as x+1.
 If there is a match, the associated block of code is executed.
 The break and default keywords are optional, and will be described later in this
chapter.
 The case statements are checked in sequential order, but the order of the order of
the cases does not matter. However, it is a good programming style to follow the
logical sequence of the cases and place the default case at the end. For example,
below is a program that prompt a user to enter a number of a day (1 -7) and the
program will display the day.

Conditional Expressions
You might want to assign a value that is restricted by certain conditions. For example, the
following statement assigns 1 to y if x is greater than 0, and -1 to y if x is greater than or
equal 0.

if (x > 0)

y = 1;

else

y = -1;

Alternatively, as in this example, you can use a conditional expression to achieve the same
result.

y = (x > 0)? 1 : -1;

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The syntax of conditional expression is as shown below:

Boolean-expression ? expression1 : expression2;

Operator Precedence and Associativity

Operator precedence and associativity determine the order in which operators are
evaluated.

Operator Precedence Chart

Precedence Operator

var++ and var—(Postfix)

+, - (unary plus and minus), ++var and --var

(type)(Casting)

! (Not)

*,/,% (Multiplication, division, and remainder)

+, - (Binary addition and subtraction)

<, <=, >, >= (Comparison)

==, != (Equality)

^ (Exclusive Or)

&& (AND)

|| (OR)

=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %= (Assignment operator)

Loops
Supposed that you need to print a string (e.g., “Welcome to Java!”) a hundred times. It
would be tedious to have to write the following statement a hundred times:

100׿

So, how do you solve this problem?

Java provides a powerful construct called a loop that controls how many times an operation
or a sequence of operations is performed in succession.

Loops are constructs that control repeated executions of a block of statements. The concept
of looping is fundamental to programming. Java provides three types of loop statements:
while loops, do-while loops, and for loops.

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The while Loop
The syntax for the while loop is as follows:

while (loop-continuation-condition) {

//Loop body

Statement(s);

Using while loop the above problem can be solve easily as follows:

int count = 0;

while (count < 100){

[Link](“Welcome to Java!”);

Count++;

In this example, you know exactly how many times (99 – 0 +1) the loop body needs to be
executed. We use 99 because 100 is not inclusive.

Here is another example to help understand how loop works:

int sum = 0, i = 1;

while (i < 10){

sum = sum +i;

i++;

[Link](“Sum is: “ + sum); //sum is 45

If i < 10 is true, the program adds i to sum. Variable i is initially set to 1, then incremented to
2, 3, and up to 10, when i is 10, i < 10 is false, the loop exits. So the sum is 1 + 2 + 3 + .. + 9 =
45.

What happens if the loop is mistakenly written as follows:

int sum = 0, i = 1;

while (i < 10){

sum = sum +i;

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 }

The loop is infinite; because i is always 1 and i < 10 will always be true.

Below is program GuessNumberOneTime that prompts user to guess a number, the next
example is the same program using loop.

The while statement checks the condition before executing the statement(s), if the condition
is false, the loop terminate.

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The do-while loop
The do-while loop is a variation of the while loop. Its syntax is given below:

do {

//Loop body;

Statement(s);

} while (loop-continuation-condition);

The do-while loop executes the loop body first, then checks the loop-continuation-condition
to determine whether to continue or terminate the loop.

The loop body is executed first. Then the loop-continuation-condition is evaluated. If the
evaluation is true, the loop body is executed again; if it is false, the do-while loop
terminates. The difference between a while loop and do-while loop is the order in which the
loop-continuation-condition is evaluated and the loop body is executed.

Controlling a Loop with a Sentinel Value

A sentinel value is a special value that is used to terminate a loop. A loop that uses sentinel
value to control its execution called sentinel-controlled loop.

The program below reads and calculates the sum of an unspecified number of integers. The
input 0 (sentinel value) signifies the end of the input.

The for loop

In general, the syntax of a for loop is as follows:

for (i = initial-action; loop-continuation-condition;

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 action-after-each-iteration) {

//Loop body;

Statement(s);

The for loop statement starts with the keyword for, followed by a pair of parentheses
enclosing the control structure of the loop. The control structure is followed by the loop
body enclosed inside braces. The initial-action, loop-continuation-
condition, and action-after-each-iteration are separated by semicolons.

A for loop generally uses a variable to control how many times the loop body is executed
and when the loop terminates. This variable is referred to as a control variable. For example,
the following for loop prints Welcome to Java! A hundred times.

int i;

for (i = 0; i <100; i++) {

[Link](“Welcome to Java!”);

If there is only one statement in the loop as in the above example, the braces can be
omitted.

Nested loops

Nested loops consist of an outer loop and one or more inner loops. Each time the outer loop
is repeated; the inner loops are reentered, and started anew.

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Finding Greatest Common Divisor
The greatest common divisor of two integers 4 and 2 is 2. The greatest common divisor of
two integers 16 and 24 is 8. How do you find the greatest common divisor? Let the two input
integers be n1 and n2. You know that number 1 is a common divisor, but it may not be the
greatest common divisor. So, you can check whether k (for k = 2, 3, 4, and so on) is a
common divisor for n1 and n2, until k is greater than n1 or n2. Store the common divisor in a
variable named gcd. Initially, gcd is 1. Whenever a new common divisor is found, it becomes
the gcd. When you have checked all the possible common divisors from 2 up to n2 or n2, the
value in variable gcd is the greatest common divisor. The idea can be translated into
following program:

Page 43 of 57
Keywords break and continue
The break and continue statements are the jump statements that are used to skip some
statements inside the loop or terminate the loop immediately without checking the test
expression. These statements can be used inside any loops such as for, while, do-while loop.

Break: The break statement in java is used to terminate from the loop immediately. When a
break statement is encountered inside a loop, the loop iteration stops there, and control
returns from the loop immediately to the first statement after the loop. Basically, break
statements are used in situations when we are not sure about the actual number of iteration
for the loop, or we want to terminate the loop based on some condition.

Syntax :

break;

In Java, a break statement is majorly used for:

 To exit a loop.
 Used as a “civilized” form of goto.
 Terminate a sequence in a switch statement.

Using break to exit a loop

Using break, we can force immediate termination of a loop, bypassing the conditional
expression and any remaining code in the body of the loop. When we use break inside the
nested loops, it will only break out of the innermost loop.

Example:

The continue statement in Java is used to skip the current iteration of a loop. We can use
continue statement inside any types of loops such as for, while, and do-while loop. Basically

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continue statements are used in the situations when we want to continue the loop but do
not want the remaining statement after the continue statement.

Syntax:

continue;

Using continue to continue a loop

Using continue, we can skip the current iteration of a loop and jumps to the next iteration of
the loop immediately.

The program GuessNumber can also be written using a break statement, as shown below:

Displaying Prime Number

An integer greater than 1 is prime if its only positive divisor is 1 and itself. For example, 2, 3,
5, and 7 are prime numbers, but 4, 6, 8, and 9 not.

Page 45 of 57
Methods

Introduction
Suppose that you need to find the sum of integers from 1 to 10,from 20 to 30 and from 35
to 45, respectively, you may write the code as follows:

int sum = 0;

for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)

sum +=i;

[Link](“Sum from 1 to 10 is: “ + sum);

int sum = 0;

for (int i = 20; i <= 30; i++)

sum +=i;

[Link](“Sum from 20 to 30 is: “ + sum);

int sum = 0;

for (int i = 35; i <= 45; i++)

sum +=i;

[Link](“Sum from 35 to 45 is: “ + sum);

The above code is very similar, except that the starting and ending integers are different.
Wouldn’t it be nice defining a method. The method is for creating reusable code.

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The syntax for defining a method is as follows:

Modifier returnValueType methodName(list of parameters){}

The first line is the method header which consist of modifier, return-type, method-name,
parameter-list.

A method may return a value. The return-type is the data type of the value the method
returns. Some methods perform desired operations without returning a value. In the above
case, the return-type is the keyword int, and for main method the return-type is void as well
as in [Link], [Link],println and [Link]. If a method
returns a value, it is called a value-returning method, otherwise it is a void method.

The variables defined in the method header are known as formal parameters or simply
parameters. A parameter is like a placeholder. When a method is invoked, you pass a value

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to the parameters. This value is referred to as an actual parameter or argument. The
parameter list refers to the type, order, and number of the parameters of a method. The
method name and the parameter list together constitute the method signature. Parameters
are optional; that is a method may contain no parameters. For example, the method
[Link]() method has no parameters.

The method body contains a collection of statements that define what the method does.
The method body of the max method uses an if statement to determine which number is
larger and return the value of that number.

Calling a Method
To use a method, you have to call or invoke it. There are two ways to call a method,
depending on whether the method returns a value or not.

 If the method returns a value, a call to the method is usually treated as a value. For
example,

int larger = Max(3,4);

calls max(3,4) and assigns the result of the method to the variable larger. Another example
of a call that is treated as value is:

[Link](Max(3,5));

which prints the return value of the method call Max(3,4).

 If the method returns void, a call to the method must be a statement. For example,
the method println returns void. The following call is a statement:

[Link](“Welcome to Java!”);

When a program calls a method, program control is transferred to the called method. A
called method returns control to the caller when its return statement is executed or when
its method ending closing brace is reached.

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This program contains the main and max methods. The main method is just like any other
method except that it is invoked by the JVM.

The main method’s header is always the same. Like the one in this example, it includes the
modifiers public and static, return value type void, method name main, and a parameter of
the String[] type. String indicates that the parameter is an array of String.

The statements in main may invoke other methods that are defined in the class that
contains the main method or in other classes. In this example, the main method invokes
max(i,j), which is defined in the same class with main method.

When the max method is invoked, variable i’s value 6 is passed to num1, and variable j’s
value is passed to num2in the max method. The flow of control is transfers to the max
method. The max method is executed. When the return statement in the max method is
executed, the max method returns the control to its caller (in this case the caller is the main
method).

void Method Example

This section show how to define and invoke a void method. Below is a program that defines
a method named printGrade and invoke it to print the grade for a given score:

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Passing Parameters by Values
When you invoke a method with a parameter, the value of the argument is passed to the
parameter. This is referred to as pass-by-value. If the argument is a variable rather than a
literal value, the value of the variable is passed to the parameter. The variable is not
affected, regardless of the changes made to the parameter inside the method.

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The program above shows that: the values of num1 and num2 have not been swapped even
after calling the swap method. The values of the arguments num1 and num2 are passed to
n1 and n2, but n1 and n2 have their own memory locations independent of num1 and
num2. Therefore, changes in n1 and n2 do not affect the contents of num1 and num2.

Modularizing Code
Methods can be used to reduce redundant code and enable code reuse. Methods can also
be used to modularize code and improve the quality of the program.

You can rewrite [Link] using as method as shown below:

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Advantages of modularizing code
 It isolates the program for computing a problem from the rest of the code in the
main method. Thus, the logic becomes clear and the program is easier to read.
 The errors on computing the problem are confined in the method, which narrows the
scope of debugging.
 The method can be reused by other programs.

[Link] can also be rewritten using methods as below:

The Scope of Variable

The scope of a variable is the part of the program where the variable can be referenced. A
variable defined inside a method is referred to as a local variable.

The scope of a local variable starts from its declaration and continues to the end of the block
that contains the variable. A local variable must be declared and assigned a value before it
can be used

A parameter is a local variable. The scope of a method parameter covers the entire method.

A variable declared in the initial-action part of a for-loop header has its scope in the entire
loop. But a variable declared inside a for-loop body has its scope limited in the loop body
from its declaration to the end of the block that contains the variable.

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Arrays
Supposed , for instance, that you need to read 100 numbers, compute their average, and
find out how many numbers are above the average. Your program first read the numbers
and compute their average, then compare each number with the average to determine
whether it is above the average. In order to do this task, the numbers must all be stored in
variables. You have to declare 100 variables and repeatedly write almost identical code 100
times. Writing a program this way is impractical. So, how do we solve this type of problem?

Java and most other high-level language provide a data structure, the array, which stores a
fixed-size sequential collection of elements of the same type. In the present case, you can
store all 100 numbers into an array and access them through a single array variable. The
solution may look like this:

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An array is collection of variables of the same type, the same name but different index.
Instead of declaring individuals variables such as num0, num1, ..., and mu,99, you declare
one array variable such as numbers and use numbers[0], numbers[1]..., numbers[99] to
represent individual variables.

Declaring array Variables

To use an array in a program, you must declare a variable to reference the array and specify
the array’s elements type. Here is the syntax for declaring an array variable:

elementType[] arrayRefVar;

The elemetType can be any data type, and all elements in the array will have the same name
and data type but different index. For example, the following code declares a variable myList
that references an array of double elements.

double[] myList;

Creating Arrays
Unlike declarations for primitive data type variables, the declaration of an array variable
does not allocate ant space in memory for the array. It creates only storage location for the
reference to an array. If a variable does not contain a reference to an array, the value of the
variable is null. You cannot assign elements to an array unless it has already been created.
After an array variable is declared, you can create an array by using the new operator with
the following syntax:

arrayRefVar = new elementType[arraySize];

This statement does two things:

 It creates an array using ne elementType[arraySize];

 It assigns the reference of the new created array to the variable arrayRefVar.

Declaring an array variable, creating an array, and assigning the reference of the array to the
variable can be combined in one statement as shown below:

elementType[] arrayRefVar = new elementType[arraySize];

or

elementType arrayRefVar[] = new elementType[arraySize];

Here is an example of such statement

double[] myList = new double[10];

or

double myList[] = new double[10];

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This statement declares an array variable, myList, creates an array of ten elements of double
type, and assigns its reference to myList. To assign values to the elements, use the syntax:

arrayRefVar[index] = value;

For example, the following code initializes the array.

myLis[0] = 4.6;

myLis[1] = 14.6;

myLis[2] = 56.5;

myLis[3] = 34.6;

myLis[4] = 23.67;

myLis[5] = 174.566;

myLis[6] = 94.788;

myLis[7] = 12.36;

myLis[8] = 3.54;

myLis[9] = 45.365;

myLis[0] = 34.16;

Array Size and Default Values

When space for an array is allocated, the array size must be given, specifying the numbers of
elements that can be stored in it. The size of an array cannot be changed after the array is
created. Size can be obtained using [Link]. For example, [Link] is 10.

When an array is created, its elements are assigned the default value of 0 for the numeric
primitive data types, ‘/u0000’ for char types, and false for Boolean types.

Array Indexed Variables

The array elements are accessed through the index. Array indices are 0 based; that is, they
range from 0 to [Link]-1. In our previous example, myList holds ten double
values, and the indices are from 0 to 9.

Each element in the array is represented using the following syntax, known as indexed
variable:

arrayRefVar[index];

For example, myList[9] represents the last element in the array myList.

After an array is created, an indexed variable can be used in the same way as a regular
variable. For example, the following code add the values in myList[0] and myList[1] to
myList[2].
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 myList[2] = myList[0] + myList[2];

The following loop assigns 0 to myList[0], 1 to myList[1], 2 to myList[2], ..., and 9 to

myList[9]:

For (int i = 0; i < [Link]; i++){

myList[i] = i;

Array Initializers
Array initializer is the short hand notation which combines in one statement declaring an
array, creating an array, and initializing an array, using the following syntax:

elementType[] arrayRefVar = {value0, value1,..., valuek};

or

elementType arrayRefVar[] = {value0, value1,..., valuek};

For example:

double[] myList = {1.6, 3.5, 4.6, 6.7};

or

double myList[] = {1.6, 3.5, 4.6, 6.7};

This statement declares, creates, and initializes the array myList with four elements.

Processing Arrays
When processing array elements, you will often use for loop- for two reasons:

 All of the elements in the array are of the same type. They are evenly processed in
the same fashion repeatedly using a loop.
 Since the size of the array is known, it is natural to use a for loop.

Assume the array is created as follows:

double myList[] = new myList[10];

Here are some examples of processing arrays:

1. Initialising arrays with input values from keyboard:

[Link] input = new [Link]([Link]);

[Link](“Enter: “ + [Link] + “ values”);

For (int i = 0; i < [Link]; i++)

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 myList[i] = [Link]();

2. Initialising arrays with random values between 0.0 to 100.0, but less than 100.

For (int i = 0; i < [Link]; i++)

myList[i] = [Link]()*100;

3. Displaying all array elements

For (int i = 0; i < [Link]; i++)

[Link](myList[i]);

4. Summing all array elements

double total = 0;

For (int i = 0; i < [Link]; i++)

Total +=myList[i];

For-each Loops
Java supports a convenient for loop, known as a for-each loop or enhanced for loop, which
enables you to traverse the array sequentially without using an index variable. For example:

For (double u: myList)

[Link](u);

You can read the code as “for each element u in myList do the following.” Note that the
variable u must be declared the same type as the elements in myList.

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