SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Grouping objects

Collections and iterators

2.0

Main concepts to be covered

• Collections
• Loops
• Iterators
• Arrays

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 1

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

The requirement to group

objects
• Many applications involve collections of
objects:
– Personal organizers.
– Library catalogs.
– Student-record system.
• The number of items to be stored varies.
– Items added.
– Items deleted.

A personal notebook
• Notes may be stored.
• Individual notes can be viewed.
• There is no limit to the number of
notes.
• It will tell how many notes are
stored.
• Explore the notebook1 project.

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 2

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Class libraries
• Collections of useful classes.
• We don’t have to write everything
from scratch.
• Java calls its libraries, packages.
• Grouping objects is a recurring
requirement.
– The [Link] package contains
classes for doing this.

import [Link];

/**
* ...
*/
public class Notebook
{
// Storage for an arbitrary number of notes.
private ArrayList notes;

/**
* Perform any initialization required for the
* notebook.
*/
public Notebook()
{
notes = new ArrayList();
}

...
}

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 3

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Object structures with

collections

Adding a third note

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 4

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Features of the collection

• It increases its capacity as necessary.
• It keeps a private count (size()
accessor).
• It keeps the objects in order.
• Details of how all this is done are
hidden.
– Does that matter? Does not knowing how
prevent us from using it?

Using the collection

public class Notebook
{
private ArrayList notes;
...

public void storeNote(String note)

{
[Link](note); Adding a new note
}

public int numberOfNotes()

{
return [Link](); Returning the number of notes
} (delegation).

...
}
10

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 5

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Index numbering

11

Retrieving an object
Index validity checks
public void showNote(int noteNumber)
{
if(noteNumber < 0) {
// This is not a valid note number.
}
else if(noteNumber < numberOfNotes()) {
[Link]([Link](noteNumber));
}
else {
// This is not a valid note number.
}
}
Retrieve and print the note

12

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 6

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Removal may affect

numbering

13

Review
• Collections allow an arbitrary number
of objects to be stored.
• Class libraries usually contain tried-
and-tested collection classes.
• Java’s class libraries are called
packages.
• We have used the ArrayList class
from the [Link] package.

14

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 7

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Review
• Items may be added and removed.
• Each item has an index.
• Index values may change if items are
removed (or further items added).
• The main ArrayList methods are
add, get, remove and size.

15

Iteration
• We often want to perform some actions an
arbitrary number of times.
– E.g., print all the notes in the notebook. How
many are there?
• Most programming languages include loop
statements to make this possible.
• Java has three sorts of loop statement.
– We will focus on its while loop.

16

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 8

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

While loop pseudo code

General form of a while loop

while keyword
Boolean test
while(loop condition) {
loop body Statements to be repeated
}

Pseudo-code example to print every note

while(there is at least one more note to be printed) {

show the next note
}

17

A Java example
/**
* List all notes in the notebook.
*/
public void listNotes()
{
int index = 0;
while(index < [Link]()) {
[Link]([Link](index));
index++;
}
}
Increment by one

18

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 9

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Iterating over a collection

Returns an Iterator
[Link] object

Iterator it = [Link]();
while([Link]()) {
call [Link]() to get the next object
do something with that object
}

public void listNotes()

{
Iterator it = [Link]();
while([Link]()) {
[Link]([Link]());
}
}
19

The auction project

• The auction project provides further
illustration of collections and
iteration.
• Two further points to follow up:
– The null value.
– Casting. Used to store the result of get
into a variable:
• String message = (String) [Link](0);

20

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 10

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

Review
• Loop statements allow a block of
statements to be repeated.
• A Java while loop allows the
repetition to be controlled by a
boolean expression.
• Collection classes have special
Iterator objects that simplify
iteration over the whole collection.

21

Fixed-size collections
• Sometimes the maximum collection
size can be pre-determined.
• Programming languages usually offer
a special fixed-size collection type:
an array.
• Java arrays can store objects or
primitive-type values.
• Arrays use a special syntax.

22

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 11

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

The weblog-analyzer project

• Web server records details of each
access.
• Supports webmaster’s tasks.
– Most popular pages.
– Busiest periods.
– How much data is being delivered.
– Broken references.
• Analyze accesses by hour.

23

Creating an array object

public class LogAnalyzer

{
private int[] hourCounts; Array variable declaration
private LogfileReader reader;

public LogAnalyzer()
{
hourCounts = new int[24]; Array object creation
reader = new LogfileReader();
}
...
}

24

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 12

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

The hourCounts array

25

Using an array
• Square-bracket notation is used to access
an array element: hourCounts[...]
• Elements are used like ordinary variables.
– On the left of an assignment:
• hourCounts[hour] = ...;
– In an expression:
• adjusted = hourCounts[hour] – 3;
• hourCounts[hour]++;

26

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 13

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

The for loop

• Similar to a while loop.
• Often used to iterate a fixed number
of times.
• Often used to iterate over an array.

27

For loop pseudo-code

General form of a for loop

for(initialization; condition; post-body action) {

statements to be repeated
}

Equivalent in while-loop form

initialization;
while(condition) {
statements to be repeated
post-body action
}

28

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 14

SW08 - Object-Oriented Programming and Principles

A Java example
for loop version

for(int hour = 0; hour < [Link]; hour++) {

[Link](hour + ": " + hourCounts[hour]);
}

while loop version

int hour = 0;
while(hour < [Link]) {
[Link](hour + ": " + hourCounts[hour]);
hour++;
}

29

Review
• Arrays are appropriate where a fixed-
size collection is required.
• Arrays use special syntax.
• For loops offer an alternative to
while loops when the number of
repetitions is known.
• For loops are often used to iterate
over arrays.

30

© M. Kölling, University of Southern Denmark 15