Java Objects

First:
An Introduction to
Computer Programming
using Java and BlueJ

Copyright 2008
Rick Gee

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. i
Preface to the reader.......................................................................................................... xii
To students .................................................................................................................... xii
To teachers ................................................................................................................... xiv
To everyone ................................................................................................................. xvi
Acknowledgements......................................................................................................... xvii
Notes ............................................................................................................................... xvii
Chapter 0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1
Learning objectives:........................................................................................................ 1
What is computer science?.............................................................................................. 1
Hardware......................................................................................................................... 1
Software .......................................................................................................................... 2
Programming languages.................................................................................................. 3
Summary ......................................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 1 Classes and objects identity, state, and behaviour ....................................... 5
Learning objectives:........................................................................................................ 5
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 5
Definitions....................................................................................................................... 5
Classes............................................................................................................................. 7
The Student class ............................................................................................................ 8
Class diagrams ............................................................................................................ 9
Datatypes................................................................................................................... 10
The Professor class ....................................................................................................... 12
Tradeoffs of storing the name as one field versus several ............................................ 12
Behaviours .................................................................................................................... 14
A first look at Java ........................................................................................................ 15
Documentation.......................................................................................................... 17
Programming Style documentation........................................................................ 18
Class declaration ....................................................................................................... 18
Programming Style class names ............................................................................ 18
Instance variables...................................................................................................... 19
Programming Style instance variables................................................................... 19
Constructor(s) ........................................................................................................... 20
Programming Style constructors............................................................................ 22
Getters and setters ..................................................................................................... 23
Programming Style getters and setters................................................................... 24
toString...................................................................................................................... 24
Programming Style toString .................................................................................. 25
Creating another class, the College............................................................................... 26

Summary ....................................................................................................................... 28
Exercises ....................................................................................................................... 29
Chapter 2 Introducing BlueJ .......................................................................................... 31
Learning objectives:...................................................................................................... 31
Introduction................................................................................................................... 31
BlueJ ............................................................................................................................. 31
Creating a new project .............................................................................................. 32
Virtual machines and bytecode ................................................................................. 35
Testing the Student class........................................................................................... 35
Inspecting an object .................................................................................................. 37
Unit testing - definition............................................................................................. 39
Unit testing with BlueJ.............................................................................................. 40
Unit testing the results ........................................................................................... 46
Smoke testing................................................................................................................ 47
The Professor class ....................................................................................................... 48
The College class .......................................................................................................... 48
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 48
Exercises ....................................................................................................................... 50
Chapter 3 Making decisions........................................................................................... 53
Learning objectives:...................................................................................................... 53
The if statement............................................................................................................. 53
Boolean algebra ........................................................................................................ 53
Boolean algebra an example .................................................................................. 55
A revised toString method ........................................................................................ 55
Using the Java documentation .............................................................................. 56
Programming style if statements............................................................................ 58
Simpler tests.................................................................................................................. 59
More complicated tests ................................................................................................. 59
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 62
Exercises ....................................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 4 Inheritance ..................................................................................................... 67
Learning objectives:...................................................................................................... 67
Abstract classes ............................................................................................................. 67
The Person class........................................................................................................ 68
toString in an abstract class................................................................................... 69
The Person class, continued ...................................................................................... 71
The Student class a derived class........................................................................... 72
The Professor class ................................................................................................... 73
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 73
Exercises ....................................................................................................................... 74
Chapter 5 An Address class ........................................................................................... 77
Learning objectives:...................................................................................................... 77
Introduction................................................................................................................... 77
Adding an address......................................................................................................... 77
The Address class ..................................................................................................... 78
ii

The Address class the code .................................................................................... 78

The Address class the code in detail ................................................................... 80
The Address class getters and setters..................................................................... 82
Person uses Address.................................................................................................. 83
Making copies (cloning) ........................................................................................... 84
The Address class unit testing................................................................................ 86
Testing Address cloning ........................................................................................... 87
The reserved word null ............................................................................................. 87
The College class and addresses ................................................................................... 88
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 88
Exercises ....................................................................................................................... 89
Chapter 6 Dates.............................................................................................................. 91
Learning objectives:...................................................................................................... 91
Introduction................................................................................................................... 91
How old is a person?..................................................................................................... 91
Dates ......................................................................................................................... 91
Details about calendars ............................................................................................. 92
The MyDate class a simplification ........................................................................ 93
Programming style a skeleton for a class........................................................... 94
Primitive types ...................................................................................................... 94
Digression ............................................................................................................. 95
The MyDate class the code .................................................................................... 95
The MyDate class unit tests ................................................................................... 97
Using MyDate objects............................................................................................... 98
Simplifying the class diagram................................................................................... 99
Retirement of a professor........................................................................................ 100
Retirement of a professor - unit tests ...................................................................... 102
Programming style common errors.......................................................................... 103
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 104
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 105
Chapter 7 Collections, part 1 ....................................................................................... 107
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 107
Life is complicated...................................................................................................... 107
Collections the college model contains....................................................................... 108
The Java Collections Framework................................................................................ 110
A set ............................................................................................................................ 111
A collection of professors ........................................................................................... 112
HashSet ....................................................................................................................... 113
Generic collections...................................................................................................... 113
Programming style .................................................................................................. 115
HashSet<Professor>.................................................................................................... 115
The equals method .................................................................................................. 116
The hashCode method............................................................................................. 117
How many items are in a set? ..................................................................................... 118
What are the elements in the set?................................................................................ 119
Traversing a collection with a for loop ................................................................... 119
iii

Adding a professor...................................................................................................... 120

Cloning a professor ................................................................................................. 121
Removing a professor ................................................................................................. 122
Traversing a collection with an Iterator object and a while loop............................ 122
Another collection of professors the department ..................................................... 125
Listing all the employees ........................................................................................ 126
The Singleton pattern.............................................................................................. 127
Listing all the employees, continued ...................................................................... 128
Collection of departments ........................................................................................... 129
Collection of students ................................................................................................. 130
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 130
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 131
Chapter 8 Collections, part 2 ....................................................................................... 133
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 133
Introduction................................................................................................................. 133
A collection of courses................................................................................................ 133
The Course class ......................................................................................................... 133
Course unit tests................................................................................................... 134
Formatting the output.............................................................................................. 134
A collection of courses, continued.............................................................................. 136
The Section class......................................................................................................... 136
Set? List?............................................................................................................. 136
What is a section? ................................................................................................... 138
The Singleton pattern revisited ................................................................................... 141
Listing a collection in order ........................................................................................ 141
Comparable ............................................................................................................. 142
Comparators ............................................................................................................ 142
Unit testing the comparator..................................................................................... 145
Alternative versions of the comparator................................................................... 146
Producing an alphabetical list of professors ............................................................... 146
The for-each statement, revisited............................................................................ 147
BlueJ revisited......................................................................................................... 148
Producing a professor list in numeric order................................................................ 148
Passing a Comparator to a method.......................................................................... 149
Registering students in sections .................................................................................. 151
Producing an alphabetic class list ............................................................................... 152
The for-each statement, revisited............................................................................ 154
Producing a class list in numeric order ....................................................................... 154
Students enrol in sections............................................................................................ 155
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 155
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 156
Chapter 9 Collections, part 3 ....................................................................................... 157
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 157
Introduction................................................................................................................. 157
The Meeting class ....................................................................................................... 157
Instance variables.................................................................................................... 158
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Behaviours .............................................................................................................. 158

Time arithmetic ....................................................................................................... 158
Section uses Meeting .................................................................................................. 160
The if statement, revisited................................................................................... 162
Creating the collection of Meeting objects ............................................................. 163
Section uses Meeting displaying the times .............................................................. 165
Arrays...................................................................................................................... 165
StringBuffer ............................................................................................................ 167
Adjusting to different colleges................................................................................ 168
Another for loop...................................................................................................... 170
Processing all the meetings ......................................................................................... 170
Manipulating StringBuffers ........................................................................................ 170
Placing data in StringBuffers .................................................................................. 170
Converting numbers to day of the week ................................................................. 172
Processing second and subsequent meetings .......................................................... 174
A lot of code............................................................................................................ 174
Programming Style ..................................................................................................... 177
Course contains Section.............................................................................................. 178
Mark, and Student contains Mark............................................................................... 180
Professor contains Section .......................................................................................... 181
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 181
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 182
Chapter 10 - Collections, part 4 ...................................................................................... 183
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 183
Introduction................................................................................................................. 183
Grade Average ............................................................................................................ 183
When to calculate an average ................................................................................. 183
Weighted average.................................................................................................... 184
The transcript method - original version................................................................. 184
Knowing when a semester changes ........................................................................ 185
Transcript a skeleton for changes ........................................................................ 185
When the semester changes .................................................................................... 186
Integer division ................................................................................................... 187
When the semester remains the same ..................................................................... 188
The declarations ...................................................................................................... 188
The overall average................................................................................................. 189
The transcript String problems and deficiencies.................................................. 189
The String class and its methods............................................................................. 190
Details of split ..................................................................................................... 191
Details of indexOf and lastIndexOf .................................................................... 192
Reversing a String................................................................................................... 192
Palindromes............................................................................................................. 193
The transcript String reordering........................................................................... 194
The transcript String problems and deficiencies, continued................................ 196
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 199
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 200

Chapter 11 - Exceptions.................................................................................................. 201

Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 201
Definition .................................................................................................................... 201
Examples..................................................................................................................... 202
Runtime and nonruntime exceptions .......................................................................... 203
Creating and throwing exceptions .............................................................................. 204
Catching exceptions .................................................................................................... 208
CloneNotSupportedException ................................................................................ 209
Bad input data ......................................................................................................... 209
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 210
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 211
Chapter 12 Persistence, part 1...................................................................................... 213
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 213
Warning to the reader.................................................................................................. 213
Why persistence? ........................................................................................................ 213
External devices .......................................................................................................... 214
Streams........................................................................................................................ 214
Persistence via object serialization ............................................................................. 215
Object serialization - Address ................................................................................. 216
Object serialization MyDate ................................................................................ 219
Object serialization Meeting and Mark................................................................ 219
Object serialization Person, Student, Professor ................................................... 220
Object serialization some subtleties..................................................................... 220
Object serialization creating writeObject and readObject methods..................... 221
Object serialization Section and Student ............................................................. 223
Object deserialization Section and Student.......................................................... 224
Programming style .................................................................................................. 227
Object serialization Section and Student, revisited.............................................. 227
Object serialization Professor .............................................................................. 227
Object serialization College ................................................................................. 228
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 228
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 229
Chapter 13 Persistence, part 2...................................................................................... 231
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 231
Persistence via XML................................................................................................... 231
A Digression - Scalable Vector Graphics ................................................................... 231
Using an XMLEncoder - no collections ................................................................. 232
Using an XMLDecoder - no collections ................................................................ 234
Using an XMLEncoder - collection ........................................................................ 237
Using an XMLDecoder - collection........................................................................ 242
Programming Style ................................................................................................. 243
Using XML summary .......................................................................................... 243
Persistence via databases ............................................................................................ 244
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 244
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 245

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Chapter 14 - Creating a GUI Data entry screens, part 1 .............................................. 247

Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 247
Warning to the reader.................................................................................................. 247
Introduction................................................................................................................. 247
GUI ............................................................................................................................. 248
Some HCI considerations ........................................................................................... 249
Layout managers ......................................................................................................... 250
Installing the RelativeLayout layout manager ............................................................ 251
Creating a data entry screen........................................................................................ 251
How the data entry screen should look ................................................................... 252
Import statements.................................................................................................... 252
Creating the JFrame ................................................................................................ 253
Making the JFrame visible...................................................................................... 255
Explaining the code................................................................................................. 255
The JFrame.......................................................................................................... 256
The layout manager............................................................................................. 256
The labels ............................................................................................................ 256
The label constraints ........................................................................................... 257
The other labels................................................................................................... 258
Textfields ............................................................................................................ 259
Other textfields.................................................................................................... 260
Summarizing building a data entry screen.............................................................. 260
Displaying the frame............................................................................................... 260
Create the frame .................................................................................................. 260
Position and size the frame ................................................................................. 261
Make it visible..................................................................................................... 261
Keep it visible ..................................................................................................... 261
Exit...................................................................................................................... 261
Displaying the frame............................................................................................... 261
Answering some questions ..................................................................................... 262
Buttons ........................................................................................................................ 263
Cancel button .......................................................................................................... 264
Create the button ................................................................................................. 264
Add it to the frame .............................................................................................. 264
Create its constraints ........................................................................................... 264
Add the constraints to the layout manager.......................................................... 265
Create a mnemonic ............................................................................................. 265
The default button ............................................................................................... 265
Button action....................................................................................................... 265
The OK Button.................................................................................................... 265
Alternative layout managers ................................................................................... 266
ActionCommands, ActionEvents, and ActionListeners ............................................. 266
ActionCommand ..................................................................................................... 266
Creating an ActionListener ..................................................................................... 266
Linking an ActionListener to a JButton.................................................................. 267
Programming Style ................................................................................................. 267

vii

Displaying the frame............................................................................................... 267

Behind the Cancel Button ....................................................................................... 269
Editing data ................................................................................................................. 269
Verifying year and month ....................................................................................... 269
Verifying the day of the month............................................................................... 271
Data entry for other classes......................................................................................... 274
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 274
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 275
Chapter 15 - Creating a GUI Data entry screens, part 2 .............................................. 277
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 277
Introduction................................................................................................................. 277
Building the Section data entry screen........................................................................ 277
Create the frame ...................................................................................................... 279
Create a column of panels....................................................................................... 279
Create the three panels ............................................................................................ 279
Place the column in the frame................................................................................. 280
Create the top panel ................................................................................................ 280
Place boxes in the panel ...................................................................................... 281
Decorate the panels ................................................................................................. 282
Create the middle panel .......................................................................................... 282
Labels .................................................................................................................. 282
The meetings....................................................................................................... 284
Arrays...................................................................................................................... 285
Create the middle panel, continued............................................................................. 287
Radio buttons .......................................................................................................... 287
ButtonGroup ....................................................................................................... 287
An array of radio buttons .................................................................................... 288
An array of textfields .......................................................................................... 288
Checkboxes ......................................................................................................... 288
Placing the arrays in the frame............................................................................ 289
InputVerifiers.......................................................................................................... 291
ActionListeners for radio buttons ........................................................................... 293
ActionListeners for checkboxes.............................................................................. 293
ActionEvents....................................................................................................... 294
Decorate the middle panel ...................................................................................... 294
The bottom panel ........................................................................................................ 294
Which layout manager should we choose? ............................................................. 295
Button ActionListeners ........................................................................................... 295
Done!........................................................................................................................... 296
Summarizing building a data entry screen.................................................................. 297
Some general comments on data entry ....................................................................... 297
Beyond data entry ....................................................................................................... 298
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 299
Chapter 16 - Creating a GUI Menus ............................................................................ 301
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 301
Introduction................................................................................................................. 301
viii

Creating the menus ..................................................................................................... 301

Definitions............................................................................................................... 301
Designing the menu system .................................................................................... 302
Implementing the menu .......................................................................................... 302
Accessibility............................................................................................................ 305
Completing the menu.................................................................................................. 305
Performing actions ...................................................................................................... 306
Help............................................................................................................................. 307
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 307
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 308
Chapter 17 - Applets ....................................................................................................... 309
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 309
Introduction................................................................................................................. 309
Creating an applet ....................................................................................................... 309
Running an applet ....................................................................................................... 310
An applet (as created by BlueJ) under the microscope............................................... 312
init ........................................................................................................................... 315
start.......................................................................................................................... 316
stop.......................................................................................................................... 316
paint......................................................................................................................... 317
destroy..................................................................................................................... 317
getAppletInfo .......................................................................................................... 318
getParameterInfo..................................................................................................... 318
Hello world ................................................................................................................. 320
A problem ............................................................................................................... 321
Squares ........................................................................................................................ 322
Canadian flag .............................................................................................................. 322
Creating HTML to run an applet ................................................................................ 322
A quick introduction to HTML............................................................................... 324
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 325
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 326
Chapter 18 Design Patterns.......................................................................................... 331
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 331
Introduction................................................................................................................. 331
Interface pattern .......................................................................................................... 333
Marker interface pattern.............................................................................................. 334
Creator pattern ............................................................................................................ 334
High Cohesion ............................................................................................................ 335
Low Coupling ............................................................................................................. 335
Observer or Event listener .......................................................................................... 335
Delegation ................................................................................................................... 336
Factory ........................................................................................................................ 336
Lazy initialization pattern ........................................................................................... 336
Singleton pattern ......................................................................................................... 337
Model-view-controller (MVC) ................................................................................... 337
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 338
ix

Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 339

Chapter 19 - Mathematical examples ............................................................................. 341
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 341
Introduction................................................................................................................. 341
BigInteger ................................................................................................................... 341
The java.lang.Math package ................................................................................... 342
BigInteger, continued.................................................................................................. 343
Rational numbers ........................................................................................................ 344
Adding rational numbers......................................................................................... 346
Subtracting, multiplying, and dividing rational numbers ....................................... 347
Inverting a rational number..................................................................................... 347
Converting a rational number to a double............................................................... 347
What if ints are not big enough? ............................................................................. 348
Complex numbers ....................................................................................................... 348
Arithmetic operations and complex numbers ......................................................... 348
Implementing ComplexNumber ............................................................................. 349
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 349
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 350
Chapter 20 - Mathematical methods ............................................................................... 351
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 351
Introduction................................................................................................................. 351
Greatest common divisor (gcd)................................................................................... 351
A recursive greatest common divisor method ........................................................ 352
Sample greatest common divisor calculations ........................................................ 353
Fibonacci numbers ...................................................................................................... 354
Iterative Fibonacci method ..................................................................................... 354
Recursive Fibonacci method................................................................................... 355
The factorial function.................................................................................................. 356
The choose function.................................................................................................... 357
A Formula!.............................................................................................................. 357
Recursive choose method ....................................................................................... 358
The Ackermann function ............................................................................................ 359
Definition of the Ackermann function.................................................................... 359
Recursive implementation of the Ackermann function .......................................... 359
Dynamic programming ............................................................................................... 360
Storing the data - Fibonacci .................................................................................... 360
Serializing the data - Fibonacci............................................................................... 362
Deserializing the data - Fibonacci........................................................................... 363
Storing the data Ackermann function .................................................................. 364
Serializing the data Ackermann function............................................................. 365
Deserializing the data Ackermann function......................................................... 366
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 367
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 368
Chapter 21 - Threads, and other topics ........................................................................... 369
Learning objectives ..................................................................................................... 369

Introduction................................................................................................................. 369
Threads - definition..................................................................................................... 369
Threads and Swing...................................................................................................... 370
Inner classes ................................................................................................................ 371
Refactoring.................................................................................................................. 373
public static void main(String[] args) ......................................................................... 373
Output and input ......................................................................................................... 375
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 375
Exercises ..................................................................................................................... 376
In Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 377
References....................................................................................................................... 379
Printed Reference materials ........................................................................................ 379
Online references ........................................................................................................ 380
Appendix 1 Sample lab assignments ........................................................................... 381
Introduction................................................................................................................. 381
Lab Assignment 0 - Getting to know you................................................................... 382
Lab Assignment 1 - Players ........................................................................................ 387
Lab Assignment 2 - Teams and Leagues .................................................................... 389
Lab Assignment 3 - Reporting.................................................................................... 391
Lab Assignment 4 - Data Entry Screens ..................................................................... 393
Lab Assignment 5 - And now for something completely different ............................ 394
Lab Assignment 6 - Mathematics I............................................................................. 396
Lab Assignment 7 - Mathematics II............................................................................ 397
Subsequent lab assignments........................................................................................ 399
Index ............................................................................................................................... 401
Index ............................................................................................................................... 401

xi

Preface to the reader

Oh no, not another Java textbook!
That is perhaps a valid comment, but wait until youve had a chance to look at this one.
There is a lot of discussion amongst teachers about when to introduce objects in Java. I
feel that objects should be introduced early, as early as possible, perhaps on the first day
of an introductory course. I also believe that students should use a large application as an
example, so they can see the advantages of objects. Reflecting these ideas, this is not just
another Java book.

To students
What is computer science? How does this textbook help you study computer science?
Much, but not all, of computer science involves using a computer to solve a problem. The
instructions to solve the problem are written as a program or programs, instruction which
the computer performs.
In this book we gloss over some of the details of how the program you write is translated
into something which the computer can carry out, and we focus on how to write good
programs. By good, we mean clear, easy-to-read, well-documented, efficient, and
tested.
Clear, easy-to-read, and well-documented go together. Can someone else read your
program and understand what it does? If not, you have failed in creating something which
can be used. This is because programs are continually changing. The problem they are
solving changes, or a better solution becomes available. If you or someone else can not
understand what you have written, then how can you improve or change it? How can you
fix it if it contains an error?
Efficient means that the program carries out its task quickly, or with a small amount of
computer resources. Often these two characteristics are in conflict; a program may work
faster when you give it more memory. But a detailed discussion of efficiency is beyond
the scope of this course.
Tested means that you can trust the results the program produces. We emphasize unit
testing using a tool named JUnit, which allows us to test each portion of the program
separately, and together. It allows us to save the tests and reuse them whenever we make
a change to the programs.
When we write programs, we use the Java language. This is a modern language which I
find very enjoyable and easy to use. The language itself is very simple, and gains much of
xii

its power from libraries which people have created to carry out specialised tasks. There
are many other languages available so you will need to learn many languages during your
career in computing. Java is a good language with which to start.
A significant part of learning Java is becoming familiar with the documentation
describing these libraries; it is available online. The number of libraries is truly amazing.
This is a measure of the popularity of Java and the various types of programs it is used to
create.
We will use a tool called BlueJ to help us integrate all these features the Java language,
JUnit testing, and the Java libraries. Since BlueJ is written in Java, it is a constant
reminder of what you can produce using Java.
For much of this book, we use one example. The example is a North American college,
what some call post-secondary education and others call tertiary education. At this
college, the professors teach students who are enrolled in sections of courses. A course is
a collection of related topics. Students sign up to take many different courses. Since there
are limits on how many students a professor can teach at one time, when there are many
students wanting to take a course there may be a number of different sections of the
course being offered, perhaps all taught by the same professor, perhaps taught by
different professors.
Some courses are best taught using lectures, where the professor teaches and the students
participate by listening and asking questions. Some are best taught using labs, where the
students are doing predefined activities, and the professors provide assistance. Some are
best taught using seminars, where the students study material on their own and present
their discoveries to the rest of the class. Some courses use a mix of two or all of these.
Whether a course uses lectures, labs, or seminars, there are meeting times associated with
each.
The academic year is divided into three portions, called semesters. The semesters run
from September through December, January through April, and May through August.
A section of a course offered in one semester is different from a section of a course
offered in a different semester.
In order to complete a program of study, perhaps resulting in a diploma or a degree,
students may take a course more than once, with marks being awarded for each attempt.
To model this college, we need a way to save large amounts of data.
Some have suggested that an introductory textbook like this should use many small
examples, rather than one large example. But others have suggested that the way to see
the benefits of objects is to see them in a large project. I agree with the latter perspective.

xiii

The exercises at the end of each chapter include other examples, some small and some
large. The lab assignments included in the appendix also include a large project. I hope
you find it interesting. Although it is based on a sports league, it should be
understandable even if you are not interested in sports.
I hope you enjoy the approach I have used here.
Note that I do assume you have used computers before and are familiar with some of the
terminology. I do not assume any programming experience.

To teachers
Like many textbooks, this one arose out of a perceived need. I wanted to teach an
introductory programming course using Java, and I wanted to do it objects-first. I could
not find a textbook that met my needs, so I decided to create my own. The competition
was between additions, and other competitors were not yet available. In the time it has
taken to complete this book, other competitors have appeared. To see this textbook
published, I have used the Creative Commons approach.
When I began writing, Java 5 was the most powerful version of Java available at the time.
Since then, Java 6 has become available, but it does not appear to affect anything here.
I used BlueJ version 2.1.2 as it was the most recent stable version at the time. Since then
other versions have become available. Newer versions offer support for team work. I
have not included a discussion of that aspect in this textbook, but it would make a
valuable addition to the course.
In checking all the code in this textbook, I have used version 2.2 along with the
Checkstyle extension.
BlueJ does not include the most-recent version of JUnit, but the version included serves
to introduce the idea of unit testing.
My reviewers have given me much interesting feedback. One thing which caused many
of them some difficulty is the use of one large project to form the examples in this book.
Of course, using one example in the lab assignments also caused similar concern. In the
preface to students I have explained the project for the benefit of those who are not
familiar with the way a North American college or university works.
Also in the preface to students, I addressed the question of one large example instead of
several small ones. Basically, the problem is that it is very easy to write small problems
using objects, but the objects are not crucial to success. That is, you could write the small
programs without using objects if you wished. But I believe that using objects is an
important way of designing your software, so I want to force people to use objects. Thus I
need a language which forces everything to be an object (Java almost meets that

xiv

requirement.), or I need a project which is so large that you must use objects. I have taken
the second approach, in the example in the textbook, and in the lab assignments.
Notice that after a while I find I have exhausted the North American college example of
ideas. At that point we look at some other examples, starting with mathematics.
My reviewers have also asked why is <that topic> included. Depending on the reviewer,
<that topic> could be persistence, GUIs, applets, patterns, and/or mathematics. I have
included them because I feel they are important topics, which can be appreciated by
students learning to program for the first time.
However, you may wish to omit any or all of those topics. All of those chapters are not
dependent on the rest of the book, except that there is some persistence in the
mathematical chapters but you could omit that too, should you prefer.
Other brief sections which present interesting but non-essential material are shown with a
grey background.
Like this.
I have used this textbook as the basis of a two-semester course, to be followed by a data
structures course. That is, instead of teaching the ACM courses CS1 and CS2, we cover
the content in three semesters. I had a small group of students. A colleague has used the
textbook with a group of 60 students. (He had trouble with it since he is not an objectsfirst person.) We find that the material in this book is adequate for about 80% of a twosemester course. That is, it covers all the material in CS1 plus a little of CS2. For the rest
of the course we use material specific to Okanagan College, related to the environment
and follow-up course. Thus, this textbook is more than adequate for a one-semester
course, and there are chapters, mentioned above, which you could omit without
disturbing the integrity of the course. But should you be using this textbook for a twosemester course, be prepared to supplement it towards the end of the second semester.
The team work features of BlueJ 2.2 would be an ideal supplement.

xv

To everyone
Thank you for purchasing this book. I hope it meets your needs. Remember that Dr
Samuel Johnson said The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new
things familiar, and familiar things new., a quotation which I found at
http://www.chiasmus.com/welcometochiasmus.shtml. I hope I have those powers.
Should you have any comments, positive or negative, and especially if you find any
errors or omissions or unclear sections, please contact me.
Rick Gee
Okanagan College
Kelowna, BC
Canada
rgee at okanagan dot bc dot ca
p.s. Yes, I am Canadian, so the spelling in this book is Canadian, and the examples are, in
many ways, Canadian.

xvi

Acknowledgements
Id like to thank my colleagues Rob McArthur (Okanagan College) and Joseph Fall
(Capilano University) for their help in the writing of the examples in this manual.
I would also like to thank my students, Andrew Faraday, Jonathan Gaudet, Nicholas
Goertz, Maria Nemes, and Brandon Potter for their patience and assistance while we used
this textbook for the first time. Rob McArthur and his students used the textbook in a
revised form.
I would like to thank the reviewers who provided me with interesting and challenging
feedback.

Rick Gee
Kelowna, BC
Summer 2008

Notes
Statements in the Java language are shown using this font. Java snippets,
including variable and class names referred to in the body of the text, are also shown
using this font. Thus, Address is the name of a class we create but address is
the place a person lives. Similarly Person is a class but a person is a member of the
human species, Student is a class but a student is a person, Professor is a class but
a professor is a person, and Section is a class but a section is a specific offering of a
course.
The occasional paragraph is shown with a light-grey background. This is additional
material, which expands on the material nearby. While interesting, the material is not
crucial.
All the examples used assume the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, and have been run
through BlueJ 2.2.
The first time a word is defined, it is shown in italics.

xvii

xviii

Chapter 0 Introduction
Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Describe hardware
Describe software
Name a few programming languages
Say why the author believes Java is the appropriate language to use to introduce
programming

What is computer science?

Computer science is not the study of computers themselves; that would be computer
engineering. Computer science is the study of the use of computers in various parts of
life, both commercial and non-commercial. Perhaps we should call it computing
science, the study of computing. Some universities and colleges have done that.
To study computer science, we need to understand how to design solutions to problems,
solutions which often use computers. To understand computers, we need to understand
hardware, software, and programming.

Hardware
Hardware is the parts of a computer which you can touch. Some define hardware as the
parts of a computer you can hit when something goes wrong. The hardware is capable of
responding to instructions on how to do a task. These instructions come via
programming. Depending on the programming, a computer may perform various tasks.
Thus, an MP3 player is not a computer, since it performs only one task, but a computer
can function as an MP3 player. A telephone is not a computer, but a computer can
function as a telephone (with the addition of a microphone and speakers.) An address
book (a personal digital assistant, or PDA) is not a computer, but a computer can function
as an address book.
A computer transforms data into information. Data is the things we know or are given.
Data includes the students who have enrolled in a course and the marks they have earned.
Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that
adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.
(http://www.orafaq.com/glossary/faqglosi.htm) For example, the raw data about the
students in a class can be transformed into a class list, or information. The marks students

earn can be transformed into semester averages, information which will in turn become
data for determining which scholarships students win.
It all depends on what programming can be done for the computer.
Hardware the parts of a computer which you can touch. This includes:
Central Processing Unit (CPU) the brains of the computer. This is the part of the
computer which carries out the instructions given by a program. Modern
computers often have two or more CPUs, often on one chip. Heinrich Rudolf
Hertz was a German physicist in the late 1800s. His name has been adopted as
the unit to measure frequency. 1 hertz = 1 oscillation of a wave per second. The
speed of the CPU used to be measured in megahertz (millions of cycles per
second, abbreviated MHz) but is now measured in gigahertz (billions, or
thousands of millions, of cycles per second, abbreviated GHz). In general, the
faster the CPU, the better, although when you have multiple CPUs (or cores) you
can use a slower speed.
Random Access Memory (RAM) used to store data while a program is running.
In general, the more RAM your computer contains, the better. In the old days,
RAM was measured in kilobytes (KB). Then it became cheaper and computers
contained megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) of memory. The reason you want
more memory is twofold. First, you can run larger, and hence more powerful,
programs. Second, you can have more programs in memory simultaneously, with
the CPU giving each a portion of its time.
Read-only Memory (ROM) a portion of memory which uses a battery to retain
its contents when the power to the computer is turned off. ROM is used for things
like configuration information, and a boot program, which is executed when the
power is first turned on. ROM is more expensive than RAM, so you will have less
ROM than RAM, often much less.
Monitor the screen on which output from a program is displayed. This output
may be text or graphics.
Keyboard used for input. There are many different layouts for keyboards
(Where is the backspace key?) depending on the manufacturer of the keyboard
and many different special keys. The keyboard for a Macintosh computer has an
Apple key, for example.
Mouse or trackball used for input, clicking buttons or selecting items from a
menu. We will use the mouse quite extensively to control BlueJ.

Software
Every computer has some programming available for it. This includes an operating
system (Windows XP or Vista, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris, etc.). The operating
system allows other programs to run. When you get an operating system, it often comes
with some other programs word processing, calendar, browser, various utility
programs, a few games.

You will be using some parts of the operating system in your labs, to locate files you
have created, to make backup copies of them, and to run programs.
You may also want to create new programs, perhaps one to track the inventory in your
warehouse, or to track the hours worked by employees and pay them. Or perhaps you will
want to create programs to help you write more programs. Perhaps you want to create a
game. For those tasks, you need a programming language and the ability to use it. Or you
may need the money to hire someone who does.

Programming languages
Programming is done using a variety of languages, in a variety of styles. You may have
heard of BASIC, C, Pascal, etc. These are all programming languages which have been
used in the past and continue to be used, to some degree. Today there are many languages
in common use including Java, C++, C#, and Visual Basic.
Why are there so many different programming languages? Because they were designed to
serve special purposes. BASIC (an acronym formed from the phrase Beginners Allpurpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was designed in 1963 as a tool for teaching people to
program. C was developed in 1972 for use with the UNIX operating system. (And yes, ts
predecessor language was called B.) Pascal was developed in 1970 as a language for
teaching people how to program.
When you learn your first programming language, its good to start with an easier one, so
I have chosen Java. Why Java?
Its a language commonly used today, and is being used more and more as time goes by.
It is a powerful language. That is, it allows you to do many different tasks and thus has
applicability in a wide variety of domains (different areas of programming games,
database, and student registration are examples) on a variety of platforms. These
platforms include mainframes, personal computers, and mobile devices like cellphones
(the North American term) or mobile phones (used by the rest of the world).
Java is a language that uses a popular programming paradigm, object-oriented
programming. What is a paradigm? Its a way of thinking about what you are doing. Its
the set of practices that define a scientific discipline during a particular period of time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm)
Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia, in which the entries in the encyclopaedia are
written by people like you and me. That means there is a certain risk in using Wikipedia
as a source. How do you know that the author is reliable?
In general, I have found that the articles about computer science are reliable and I will
quote many of them in the material that follows.

In programming, a paradigm is a way of creating programs, using popular techniques

which allow you to create good programs. Over time, paradigms change as people
develop different, hopefully better, ways of doing things. At one time, the paradigm was
structured programming. Now, the dominant paradigm is object-oriented. Perhaps we
should define what we mean by object-oriented.
That is one of the topics in chapter 1.

Summary
In computing, hardware, software, and programming are combined to create instructions
to control a computer. The instructions are expressed in a programming language, using a
particular programming paradigm. Java supports the object-oriented paradigm.

Chapter 1 Classes and objects identity, state, and

behaviour
Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Define class
Define object
Draw a class diagram
Implement simple classes in Java
Define method, constructor, getters, setter
Create constructors, getters, and setters
Describe some primitive datatypes and some datatypes represented by classes
Document Java code
Describe the purpose of, and implement, a toString method

Introduction
This chapter contains a lot of material, so youll want to take it slowly. First we discuss
what objects and classes are, and how we model them.
Then we discuss how to write a class.
Then we look at BlueJ, the tool we will be use to help us in our modelling and our
coding.
Then we look at JUnit, the tool we will use to test the programming that we create.
Finally, we use what we have learned to create a second class.

Definitions
When you write a program, you provide the instructions to process pieces of data. Data
comes in many different types. Depending on the language you are using, you will have
different datatypes provided to you. You will probably have ways to create new
datatypes. In object-oriented programing, we create new datatypes by creating classes
and using the classes to create objects.

In computing, the word object has a very specific meaning an object is an instance of a
class. Similarly, the word class has a very specific meaning a blueprint for creating
objects.
But those definitions are circular; they dont tell us anything. We need to explore the
concepts of object and class more fully before we can understand the definitions.
So what is an object? Since we are talking about computer programming, an object is a
representation, implemented using a computer language and stored in a computer, of
something in which we are interested. This something may be real, like a person or a
piece of furniture, or imaginary, like a mathematical function.
You, a student, are an object in a system involving college registration. There are many
students at a college; all are objects. All students have things in common, like name,
address, and student number.
A system involving college registration will need other objects. Each course the college
offers is an object. You receive a final mark in each course you take, so there can be
associations between one object and another. When two objects are related in some way,
we say there is an association between the objects. You, a student, register in a section,
and a section is an object. There is an association between a student and a section. One
object may participate in many associations. For example, you are registered in sections,
you earn marks in courses, and you may incur library fines.
But think about this for a moment. There are many student objects enrolled at Okanagan
College. All these objects have some things in common; they each have a name, a student
number, and an address. They each have a associations with sections of a course. Each
section has an association with a course.
Whenever you find things having common features, you create a blueprint for creating
objects, rather than just creating objects.
Thus we have a definition of a class a blueprint for creating objects.
This idea of a blueprint also works in other areas as well. Think of a new building
containing apartments (flats). Many of the apartments have the same layout. They were
all made from the same blueprint. Many of the floors of the building have the same
layout. They are all made from the same blueprint. And look at some of the new
subdivisions being built around our cities. Many of the houses in those subdivisions look
alike; they are made from the same blueprint.
In the building in which I have recently purchased a home, some of the units are identical
and some are mirror-images of each other. But they are built from the same blueprint.

And we have a definition of an object an instance of a class. In computing, an object

has an identity (its name), it has state (the values which it knows), and behaviours (the
things it can do, like tell you about its state).
In the construction examples above, several apartments may have the same layout, but
they are different appartments. They too have identities (apartment number 307, for
example), state (the names of the occupants), and behaviours (what is the rent and when
was it last paid?) Houses have identities (the street address), state (including the owner
and the colour of the front door), and behaviours (who owns the house? Is it owneroccupied?)
So what is object-oriented (OO) programming?
It is a programming style (a paradigm) which uses classes and objects. An OO language
is one which supports OO programming (OOP). It allows you to create classes and
objects. A pure object-oriented language lets you use only the OO style.
C++ is not a pure OO language. This is because of its roots in the C language. Smalltalk
is a pure OO language. Java is not a pure OO language but it comes close. As we will see,
there are a few things in Java that are not objects.

Classes
We have identified student as a class whose objects are in this room. What other
classes can we identify in this room?
Well, depending on the application, we could consider the room itself. It has a room
number and a capacity. A Room class could represent a room. Note that I have shown the
name Room in a different typeface, one which I have reserved for code in the Java
language. This indicates that we may be implementing the Room class in Java.
The word code means the instructions we write in Java. These usually are statements. A
statement in English is a complete thought. A statement in Java is a complete instruction
to the computer.
Looking for other objects in the room, we could consider the desks, the chairs, and the
tables themselves. They may have serial numbers attached. They have a description. A
Furniture class could represent them.
All your textbooks have an ISBN, a title, and an author. A Textbook class could
represent a textbook.
Your professor represents a class. Your professor has a name and an employee number,
the same way you have a name and a student number. A Professor class could
represent a professor.
7

So we are surrounded by objects and can use our language to determine the classes from
which they are instantiated (created as instances.) Once we have identified the classes,
we will go on and identify the associations between them.
So where do we start when we want to model these real-world classes?
Why do we want to model real-world classes in a computer? Perhaps we would like to be
able to determine the effects on our institution if we reduced the class size. How many
more sections of courses would we need to offer? Do we have enough classrooms? A
model would help answer those questions.
Those questions are relatively simple, and we could do the experiment in the real world.
Some experiments are not so simple. To add an environmental note, we have been adding
large amounts of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) to the atmosphere
during the past 250 years. We are now finding that this has an effect. The weather is
becoming more changeable. Most glaciers are melting, whether they are in the
mountains, the Arctic, or the Antarctic. Plants are blooming earlier than previously seen.
The Inuit of the Canadian Arctic are seeing birds (the American Robin, for example)
which they have never seen before; they had to create a new word for the American
Robin! We are making some serious changes to the world, without knowing the
consequences of these changes. Would it not have been better to make a model and do
the experiments there?
When I first began teaching, there was some discussion about nuclear winter. This was
the idea that if there was a nuclear war, the resulting explosions would throw so much
dust into the atmosphere that the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth
would be reduced significantly. This would lower the temperature, and reduce much of
the plant growth. Again, this is not something we would like to do in the real-world to see
what would happen. Well, we may actually try something like this if a large volcano
erupts.
So how do we make models using the Java language?

The Student class

Lets begin with the people in the room. We identified two types of people in the room
(not male and female!), students and professor(s). We will model them with Student
and Professor classes.
What standard am I using for the name of a class?
Right, the first letter is capitalised. When the name of a class includes several words, each
is capitalised. Thus, in a different example, we might have a DepartmentStore class.

Class diagrams
We need to be able to describe these two classes, using some language. In this course we
will use two languages. One, called the Unified Modelling Language (the UML), will be
used for drawing diagrams; after all, a picture is supposed to be worth 1000 words. When
we use words, we will use the Java programming language. (Note that Java is also an
island in Indonesia and a synonym for coffee. There are many coffee jokes associated
with Java, including JavaBeans and the coffee cup logo. There are no Indonesian island
jokes of which I am aware, however.)
In the UML, a class is represented by a rectangle, displaying one, two, or three
subsections. The first subsection always appears, and it contains the name of the class.
The second subsection of the rectangle contains the attributes (the names of the data
items, the pieces of data which an object contains), whose values we discussed earlier.
This subsection is optional in the UML but is obviously necessary when you translate the
diagrams into Java.
The third subsection of the rectangle contains the names of the methods the class
supports. These are the behaviours we discussed earlier. This subsection is optional in the
UML but is obviously necessary when you translate the diagrams into Java.
Thus, lets consider the UML representation of a Student class. It can be represented
simply as follows.

This represents a class. All that we know about the class is its name. We dont know its
attributes. We dont know its methods. But we usually need to know more about the
class.
Consider the attributes of a Student object, an object instantiated from the Student
class. Remember that a Student class is simply a blueprint, describing what a
Student object knows and can do.
We have already mentioned that a student has a name and a student number. Thus a
Student object will have attributes named studentNumber and studentName.
Since names are not unique, everyone needs a number, which will be unique; no other

student will have that number. The Registrars Office is responsible for ensuring that the
student numbers are unique. Part of that responsibility is to ensure that once a student has
graduated, her student number is not reused.
In a previous career, I worked for a company which reused employee numbers. That
caused many problems when you looked at historical data for employees who were no
longer with the company. Their numbers may have been reused two or more times so
information on two or more employees would be combined.
Attribute names do not begin with a capital letter. If an attribute name contains several
words, then the second and subsequent words are capitalised. As English is my native
language, the attribute names consist of English words. There is nothing to stop you from
using words in your native language to create attribute names.
These are two different attributes of every Student object, so they can be shown in the
Student class diagram. Every Student has a name and a number, as each of you do.
Thus, the UML notation of the Student class, showing the attributes is

Note that BlueJ apparently does not allow this form of the class symbol. These class
diagrams are created by a free UML editor called Violet, available at
http://horstmann.com/violet.
Is it a problem that BlueJ only offers simplified UML diagrams? It would be a problem
were we developing a commercial product, but it doesnt seem to be a problem for our
project.

Datatypes
What type of data do we use to store the studentNumber and studentName?
Everything stored in a computer is stored as patterns of 0s and 1s, called bits. When you
collect eight bits and treat them together, as one byte, then a byte can represent 256
different values.
If you have one bit, then you can represent only the values 0 and 1. If you have two bits,
you can represent 00, 01, 10, and 11, four values. If you have three bits, you can

10

represent 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, and 111, eight values. Similarly, four bits
can represent 16 values, five bits can represent 32 bits, six bits can represent 64 values,
seven bits can represent 128 values, and eight bits can represent 256 values. In general,
when you have n bits, you can represent 2n values.
Having 256 possible values allows us to represent all the letters of the English alphabet,
the digits from 0 through 9, some punctuation symbols, plus a few other letters. However,
this does not represent letters in many other alphabets. To do that, we need to group the
bits into a larger unit.
The Unicode standard, described at http://www.unicode.org, uses 16 bits to represent
individual characters. That is apparently enough to represent all Earthly languages.
Klingon, an invented language used in the Star Trek television series and movies, is not
included.
Fortunately, Java has a datatype named String which contains characters, encoded
using the Unicode standards. If we can create the character, this datatype can represent it
faithfully.
What about studentNumber? One of the problems of the English language is its
ambiguity. Just because we use a particular word to describe something, that word is not
necessarily the best for the situation. At first glance you would assume
studentNumber is a number.
Java does support many different types of numbers. As we noted above, a bit is the
smallest unit of memory. A bit has only two values, one or zero, or on and off, depending
on how you look at it. Everything is stored as a collection of bits. Java has a number of
primitive datatypes, which are not objects. These include a byte which contains 8 bits
(256 values, representing integers from -128 to 127), a short which contains 16 bits
(representing integers from -32768 to 32767), an int which contains 32 bits
(representing integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647), and a long which contains 64
bits (representing integers from -263 to 263 1). All of these could be used to store
studentNumber as long as we know they are large enough (contain enough digits);
byte and short are not long enough, since student numbers at Okanagan College
contain nine digits. Thus int and long contain enough digits.
Java also has floats and doubles, to store numbers containing decimal points. At
least we know the studentNumber does not contain decimal points.
This discussion of numeric datatypes is interesting, but is studentNumber really a
number?
A good guideline in deciding whether something called a number is a number or
something else is to ask the question Is it going to be used in mathematical
calculations? If so, you should store it as some type of number. But a

11

studentNumber will probably not be used in calculations, so we could just store it as

a String as we did with the name of the student.
Thus a Student object has two attributes, both of which are of type String, since
studentName is obviously a String. Now the more-complete UML Student
representation is as follows.

No only do we see the name of the class, we see the names of the attributes and their
datatypes.

The Professor class

What is the corresponding UML representation for the Professor class? Recall that a
professor has a number and a name.

Well note for the moment that these two diagrams reflect a certain commonality. Well
explore that commonality later in this chapter.

Tradeoffs of storing the name as one field versus several

We discussed how to represent names and numbers-that-are-not-numbers earlier, but lets
revisit that discussion and look a little more closely at how to represent a name most
efficiently. The most important questions relate to how we will need the name. Will we
always use the whole name? Will we sometimes use the parts of the name separately?
I would argue that it is safest to assume we will sometimes need the whole name, and
sometimes the parts of the name. Perhaps we need to write a letter that begins Dear
Jane. Perhaps we need to create a transcript for Jane Doe.

12

If we store the name as one field, we would need to split it up whenever we needed the
parts. That may seem to be a straight-forward task, and its a well-known algorithm,
described below.
An algorithm is a series of instructions to solve a problem, in a finite amount of time,
using a finite amount of space. In this case, a possible algorithm is start at the beginning
of the string and look for the first space. The part before the space will give us the given
name, the part after the space will give us the family name. This algorithm expects the
string containing the name to have the first name at the beginning of the string, the last
name at the end.
Does that algorithm really solve the problem? What about Billy Bob Thornton (whose
given name is Billy Bob)? Our algorithm does not give the correct answer!
Many Asian names dont satisfy the conditions of the algorithm. The family name is
given first instead of last. Thus the algorithm will say that Yang Changji has a first name
of Yang, but that is actually his family name.
A similar algorithm (having similar problems) may be used to find the last, or family,
name. To identify the family name, just start at the end and work forward until we find
the first blank.
Does that algorithm really solve the problem? What about Manfred von Richthofen
(whose family name is von Richthofen). It appears we have a flaw in our logic.
Of course, there is also the problem of hyphenated names. Both first names and last
names may be hyphenated.
To get around the fact that breaking a name into its constituent parts is challenging (if not
impossible), we should store the first and family names separately, using attributes
firstName and familyName. Since we are modifying our design, we should
consider what other name-related fields we should include.
Perhaps a preferred name should be there. Not all Alberts like to be called Albert; they
may prefer Al or Bert or Bertie. Not all people like to be called by their given name.
Cholmondley David Smith may prefer to be called David, or Dave. (Cholmondley is
pronounced Chumly.) I use some software that uses my full name when it says goodbye;
thats too formal for my taste. So, lets have a preferredName attribute.
There may even be times when a persons middle name is required, so lets have a
middleName attribute.
If our program is to be useful in other cultures, we may wish to just use the attributes
name1, name2, and name3 and let the user of the program decide what to enter in each.

13

In addition, there will be times when a persons full name is required, so well store it as
well, but only for use when the full name is necessary.
I will, at least temporarily, use the word student as part of the attribute names for a
Student, and professor as part of the attribute names for a Professor. Thus the
UML diagrams for our Student and Professor classes look like this.

When we create instances of these classes (a Student object or a Professor object),

these objects contain the parts of the name. When we have several different objects,
students as an example, each object will contain a student number. In each object, the
student number will be contained in an attribute called studentNumber but, since the
objects will each have separate identities, it is no problem that studentNumber occurs
in each. Note that while we have used the term attribute, an equivalent term is instance
variable. Each instance of the class (each object) has the same attributes, and the value of
those attributes can change, or be variable. Hence the term instance variable is a
reasonable one.
But how do we tell the object what those values are? How do we retrieve those values
when we need them?

Behaviours
Recall that an object has identity (the name we give the object), state (the values it
contains), and behaviours (the things it can do.) First of all, we note that things is not a

14

very precise word. I would like to define behaviours as the messages to which an object
responds. We will send a remember that your given name attribute value is message to
a Student object and then we can, at some later time, send a please tell me what your
given name value is. message to that object and it will return the value it remembered.
In Java, methods receive the messages and respond appropriately.
This idea of sending messages to an object is a powerful one, and we can extend it to
sending messages to a class, in particular, a message like create an object of your class,
and here are the attribute values you need. Most classes contain a method, called a
constructor, which responds to this message. It will take all the attributes you supply,
save them appropriately, and then return an object for the program to use.
Similarly we will need messages to remember (or set) each of the individual attributes
(one message per attribute.) These messages are called setters. The values we provide to
be remembered are attached to the message through parameters. Another name for these
methods is mutators. They change, or mutate, the value an attribute contains.
We also need messages to retrieve the values of each of the individual attributes (one
message per attribute). These messages are called getters. Another name for these
methods is accessors. They access attributes.
Constructors, getters, and setters are usually not shown in the third subsection of a class
symbol, the area where methods are shown.
Later on, we will see a special type of class, a JavaBean. For these classes, there is a
constructor which takes no parameters, and a setter for every attribute. To create such an
object, first use the constructor to create an object whose attributes have some default
values. Then use the setters to specify the values you want. For now, our constructors will
take parameters.
Once we have the ability to create an object, we should have the ability to display it, to be
sure that it has been created correctly. Every object needs to be displayed, so the class
needs a method, usually called toString. This method converts an object to a humanreadable form suitable for display, perhaps through printing. Well see the code (Code is
computer-speak for anything written in a programming language.) for this method in the
next section of this chapter.

A first look at Java

So now we have a diagram which describes what a Student class contains and what it
does. Computers generally dont know how to interpret diagrams, so we must somehow
translate this diagram into Java code.

15

Heres part of the code for the Student class. Its followed by an explanation of the
individual statements.
/**
*
A Student
*/
public class Student {
private
private
private
private
private
private

String
String
String
String
String
String

studentNumber;
studentFirstName;
studentMiddleName;
studentLastName;
studentPreferredName;
studentFullName;

/**
*
@param studentNumber
9-digit student
*
number assigned by the college
*
@param studentFirstName
Student First Name
*
@param studentMiddleName
Student Middle Name
*
@param studentLastName
Student Last Name
*
@param studentPreferredName Student preferred
*
name or nickname
*
@param studentFullName
Student legal name
*/
public Student(String studentNumber,
String studentFirstName,
String studentMiddleName,
String studentLastName,
String studentPreferredName,
String studentFullName) {
this.studentNumber = studentNumber;
this.studentFirstName = studentFirstName;
this.studentMiddleName = studentMiddleName;
this.studentLastName = studentLastName;
this.studentPreferredName = studentPreferredName;
this.studentFullName = studentFullName;
} //end constructor
/**
*
@return student number
*/
public String getStudentNumber() {
return studentNumber;
}
/**

16

*
@param student number
*/
public void setStudentNumber(String studentNumber) {
this.studentNumber = studentNumber;
}
} // end class
Lets examine this code in detail, starting with the documentation.

Documentation
The class begins with some documentation, comments you make to read at a later time,
and comments which will be visible to anyone viewing the documentation for your class.
These comments typically explain the purpose of the code and give some information
about its contents.
In a Java class, the documentation section begins with /** and ends with */. If you have
done any programming before, you may be used to /* to begin a multi-line comment,
and */ to end it. While that style still is acceptable, there is a utility program named
javadoc which will process your Java program and identify the comments, as long as
they are preceded by /** and followed by */ Once it has identified the documentation,
it formats it into a readable, useful, form.
Normally the first block of comments in a class will contain information about the class.
It should include such information as the author (using the @author tag) and the date
the class was originally written, along with a revision history (using the @version tag).
Details on writing comments for the javadoc utility program are available at
http://java.sun.com/j2se/javadoc/writingdoccomments/index.html
It is important that you follow these standards for writing comments since javadoc is
accessible via BlueJ and you want your documentation to appear as professional as
possible.
Important points to note are the following.
o Documentation for a class must appear immediately before the class header.
Any import statements, which we will see later, must appear before the class
documentation.
o Documentation for a method must appear immediately before the method
header. The description of the method is the first complete sentence in the
documentation.
o Documentation for the parameters to the method, or the value returned, may
extend over several lines, if necessary.

17

You may be used to writing single-line comments that begin with //. As you can see
above, anything on the same line after // becomes a comment.

Programming Style documentation

Style is a way of expressing something, or the appearance of something. If you search the
web using the words programming style Java, you will find many sources that provide
the way to write Java programs. Throughout this book we will include small sections
describing appropriate style issues and, more importantly, we will use generally-accepted
good style.
Documentation is made a little easier when we use BlueJ as it generates some skeleton
documentation you for every class and method it creates. That is, it gives you the
beginning of the documentation. It gives some ideas of what your documentation should
say. As noted above, for every class, you should provide a description of the class (what
it represents). You should also provide a revision history, who wrote the class and
when, plus a description of the changes made by whom and when.
Following the class documentation, we begin to see Java statements.

Class declaration
The class header says public class Student.
This marks the first line of the class itself, giving the name of the class (Student), and
an indication (the word public) that it can be used by methods outside the class. Of
course it must be used by others; thats the whole point of having classes! Other people
dont need to reinvent your work. Yes, there are private classes and we will use some
ourselves, but they are relatively rare.
The body of the class, including its instance variables and methods, are enclosed in a pair
of braces, sometimes called curly brackets. Whether you place the opening brace on the
same line as the name of the class is the subject of discussion in some circles. It doesnt
really matter.

Programming Style class names

Class names are nouns, generally single (not plural) nouns. Thus we could have a class
names Textbook; we would not have a class named Textbooks. Be careful with your
class names; there are some words in English which are singular but end in the letter s.
For example, Player, Team, and League are all acceptable class names.

18

Statistics may be an acceptable class name, since the word statistics may be plural
or singular, and statistic may not be a meaningful word, depending on the situation.
Class names always begin with a capital letter. If the class name contains several words
all are capitalised, for example DepartmentStore.

Instance variables
Looking back at the code, we have six statements allocating memory for the six data
items (instance variables) that each object contains.
private
private
private
private
private
private

String
String
String
String
String
String

studentNumber;
studentFirstName;
studentMiddleName;
studentLastName;
studentPreferredName;
studentFullName;

Each of these lines is a separate Java statement. A Java statement ends with a semi-colon
(;). A Java statement may extend over more than one line, but it must eventually end with
a semi-colon.
Each student has a number and name(s). Note that all these instance variables are
declared private. The only way the outside world may access these variables is via the
getters and setters which we examine below.
The name of an instance variable begins with a lowercase letter. If the name actually
contains several words, the second and subsequent ones are usually capitalised.
studentNumber is a good example of this.
After identifying these instance variables as appropriate for a name, I read (in The Globe
and Mail, a newspaper published in Toronto, Canada, on, 2006-08-16) about the
inhabitants of Norfolk Island. Descendants of the Bounty mutineers, there are very few
family names represented. The phonebook for Norfolk Island includes nicknames for the
inhabitants. Perhaps we should include a nickname attribute!

Programming Style instance variables

All of these instance variables are of datatype String. That is they are instances of the
String class; thus they are objects!

19

The name you choose to give an object should be meaningful. That is, the name should
convey some idea of the objects purpose or role. If so, then you do not need to provide
documentation of what the object represents. For example, studentNumber really
needs no further documentation (although you may provide it should you wish), while an
instance variable named x does need further documentation.

Constructor(s)
Continuing our examination of the Java code, we see that the instance variables are
followed by a constructor. We know it is a constructor not just because the
documentation says so but because it has the same name as the class.
This constructor is executed whenever we need to create a new Student object. A
constructor uses the values we provide as parameters to initialize the instance variables
for each object we create.
Within a constructor, my programming style is to use the name of the attribute as the
name of the parameter. That leads to statements like
this.studentNumber = studentNumber;
which means, in English, take the value provided as a parameter (studentNumber)
and save it (the equals sign) in another location. The reserved word this means the
current object. Thus, this.studentNumber refers to the studentNumber
attribute within the current object and that is where the value in the parameter is saved.
It is possible to have many constructors in a class, as long as they have different
parameters, different that is in type or in number. You can not have two constructors,
both with two Strings as parameters. But you could have one constructor with two
Strings, and another constructor with a String and an int as parameters. Perhaps
all you know about a Student is the student number and name, but you dont have the
preferredName; the student will provide that later. A second constructor could then
be the following.
public Student(String studentNumber,
String studentFirstName,
String studentMiddleName,
String studentLastName,
String studentFullName) {
this.studentNumber = studentNumber;
this.studentFirstName = studentFirstName;
this.studentMiddleName = studentMiddleName;
this.studentLastName = studentLastName;
this.studentFullName = studentFullName;
this.studentPreferredName = ;

20

} //end constructor
Since we dont know the preferred name, we simply remember an empty String,
signified by the consecutive quotation marks, with no characters between them.
Recall that we said earlier that a method is Javas way of handling messages. If you send
a message, you must identify the receiver, and we will see how to do that later. You must
also identify the message. Part of the message is its name but part is its parameters. If you
ask a friend for dinner, that is a part of the message. The rest of the message involves the
choice of the restaurant and the time at which you would like to meet. The name of the
restaurant and the time are parameters, variable parts of the message.
When we send a message to create an object, we usually provide the values the instance
variables are to assume. These values are the parameters. We have seen several
assignment statements, the ones using the equals sign, which transfer the values of the
parameters into the values of the instance variables, and we have had a simple
explanation of how that statement works. But what does it really mean to say
this.studentFullName = studentFullName;?
Start with the names of the variables. When a computer stores data, it uses its memory.
Each memory location is assigned a unique address. You could write programs that use
those addresses, but it is very difficult to keep the addresses straight in your mind, so
today we use an association between names that we understand and the numbers of
memory locations. The process of translating our program from Java into something the
computer can understand directly (the addresses) is called compiling. The program we
use to do this compiling is called a compiler. The Java compiler is called javac. Of
course, the c part of its name stands for compiling, and the java part stands for,
well, Java.
When we write our program, we use names for the variables we wish to use. The
compiler establishes a correspondence between the names we use and the numeric
addresses the computer knows.
An object requires a block of memory, a collection of memory locations. The block of
locations is referred to using the address of the first location in the block. An object has
an address, and so do each of its instance variables. So to do each of its methods. Thus,
when we refer to the variable this.studentFirstName, we are referring to the
variable studentFirstName within the current object. Javas shorthand for the
current object is this. Thus, this.studentFirstName refers to a specific area of
memory within the memory the computer has allocated to the current object.
studentFirstName (without the this) is another variable. It represents the name
which we provide to the constructor. studentFirstName is a different area of
memory from this.studentFirstName.

21

So now we have two areas of memory that are involved in this assignment statement, a
statement which calculates a value and assigns it to a variable. Now consider the equals
sign.
In mathematics, an equals sign means that the values on the two sides of the equals sign
are identical. In computing, an equals sign is an instruction to take the value on the right
of the equals sign and copy it to the variable on the left hand side. After that copy is
complete, the two areas of memory contain identical values.
In fact this is not strictly true. If we were to look inside a String, we would find that it
contains an address of memory. If you go to that address in memory, you will find the
actual contents of the String. When we say this.studentFullName =
studentFullName;, we are actually saying that the address contained in
this.studentFullName should become the same as the address contained in
studentFullName. We will see this in the exercises to this chapter when we inspect
the objects we create.

Programming Style constructors

Giving the constructor and the class the same name is not just style, its one of the rules
of the language.
You do not need to follow my style of naming the parameters and instance variables
identically, but it is a very common style and other styles may confuse other
programmers (including your professor) with whom you work.
A different style which you may see is that instance variable names all begin with an
underscore. By using this style, you may write
_studentNumber = studentNumber;
A third style which you may see is to precede each parameter with a specific letter or
phrase. Depending on which is chosen, you see statements like this.
studentNumber = inStudentNumber;
or
studentNumber = aStudentNumber;
One way to learn how to program is to look at what others have done, and see how they
have done it. Thus it is appropriate to say you may see. Sources of programs to read are
other textbooks, magazines, and open-source projects.

22

Getters and setters

So far we have seen the class header, the instance variables, and the constructor.
Continuing our examination of the class, we find the getters and setters. Having the parts
of the class in this order is a very common standard, though not part of the language, and
you should follow it.
In this example, we have one getter. We know that a method is a getter because its name
begins with get.
/**
*
@return student number
*/
public String getStudentNumber() {
return studentNumber;
}

Getters return a value to wherever the method was called. As such, it must be declared
public (allowing the method to be called). It must provide a datatype describing the
value returned. The body of the getter is very simple. The Java statement to return a value
from a method is simply the word return followed by the value.
It is left as an exercise to the reader to provide the other getters, all correctly documented.
We need one getter for each instance variable.
Finally, we have one setter. We know that a method is a setter because its name begins
with set.
/**
*
@param student number
*/
public void setStudentNumber(String studentNumber) {
this.studentNumber = studentNumber;
}

A setter must be declared public (allowing the method to be called). Setters do not
return a value to wherever the method was called, so it must provide a void datatype.
It is left as an exercise to the reader to provide the other setters, all correctly documented.
We need one setter for each instance variable.
All the methods we write will have a visibility modifier (the ones we have seen are public
and private), the datatype of the value to be returned (or void when nothing is being

23

returned), the name of the method, the parameter list (which may be empty. Well see an
example of this momentarily.), and the body of the method.

Programming Style getters and setters

As noted above, the name of a getter method always begins with the word get and the
name of a setter method always begins with the word set. The end of the method name
is the name of the attribute being manipulated, with its first letter capitalized.
Getters and setters, like all methods, will have some documentation. Given their names,
though, this documentation may be quite minimal.

toString
Earlier we mentioned the toString method, a method which allows us to display the
contents of an object. Here it is.
/**
* @return
a Student, as a String
*/
public String toString()
{
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName +
( + studentPreferredName + ) ;
}
Note the structure of this method and how it compares to the discussion above. The
visibility is public. The datatype returned is a String. The method name is
toString. The parameter list, in this case, is empty. Those four parts make up the
method header, which is followed by an opening brace. This is followed by the method
body, and then a closing brace.
All methods have this structure: method header, opening brace, method body, closing
brace.
Note its similarity to the structure of a class. First comes the class header, then there is an
opening brace. This is followed by the class body, and then there is a closing brace.
Since we wish to be able to call this method from elsewhere, it needs to be public.
Since it is returning a String, its return type must be String. The name toString
is a name that has been adopted by many classes.

24

In this example, all of the work is done in the statement which begins return. It
describes the value the method will send back to the method which called this one.
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName +
( + studentPreferredName + ) ;
That value is built by concatenating (putting together, one after the other, into a long
String) several shorter Strings. The concatenation symbol is the plus sign.
In this case, we combine seven Strings. Three are the values of instance variables, two
are descriptions of what the instance variable represents, and some are just punctuation.
Student number: is a description. It is an example of a string literal, where we
specify the value, enclosed in double quotation marks, containing whatever text you
would like to display. It will appear as typed, but without the quotation marks. If there is
nothing between the quotation marks, you have an empty string, as we saw earlier. The
plus sign (+) indicates that what you have so far (a description) is to be followed by
another String, this one being the value of the instance variable studentNumber.
One String followed by another one is still a String, and we continue constructing
the final result. The plus sign is known as the concatenation operator.
Next we append a description Student name: and then provide the value of the
instance variable studentFirstName. The String which will be our result is
getting longer, but we append (add to the end). Note that sometimes you prepend, or add
to the beginning of an existing String.
Perhaps it would be nice to show the preferred name since it may not be obvious. We will
do that in parentheses after the full name. Thus, toString continues by adding an
opening parenthesis, the value of the instance variable studentPreferredName, and
a closing parenthesis.
Once the complete String is available, it is returned to the method which asked for it.
Note that this Java statement illustrates the idea that a statement may extend over many
lines in your editor. An exception to that rule is that a string literal may not extend over
more than one line. That is, the opening and closing double quotation marks for a string
literal must be on the same line.

Programming Style toString

All classes will have a toString method. Thus we will be able to ask any object to
display itself in a form we can read.

25

In some cases, there is only a return statement in this method. In other cases, the method
may look like this.
// start with an empty string
String result = ;
// build the String by concatenation
return result;

Creating another class, the College

Now that you have seen how to create and test classes, lets create another one, this time
to model the college itself.
What are the instance variables we need?
For now, well model the college very simply; the only instance variables are the name of
the college, its phone number, and the URL of its website. As we progress through this
book, well add other instance variables, including the mailing address of the college, a
list of the students it enrols, the people it employs, and the courses it offers.
What is the appropriate datatype for the name of the college? A String, of course.
What is the appropriate datatype for the telephone number of the college? Since were not
going to do any calculations with the number, a String is adequate here, too. If we
wish the telephone number to be formatted with parentheses and hyphens, there is no
question about it being a String.
What is the appropriate datatype for the URL of the colleges website? It too is a
String. Yes, there is a URL class in the Java libraries, but we wont use it for now.
Thus, the first attempt at creating a College class could be
/**
*
* @author rick
* @version november 2006
*/
public class College
{
// name and contact information
private String name;
private String phoneNumber;
private String homePage;

26

// constructor
public College(String name, String phoneNumber,
String homePage) {
this.name = name;
this.phoneNumber = phoneNumber;
this.homePage = homePage;
}
// name and contact information methods
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public String getPhoneNumber() {
return phoneNumber;
}
public String getHomePage() {
return homePage;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public void setPhoneNumber(String phoneNumber) {
this.phoneNumber = phoneNumber;
}
public void setHomePage(String homePage) {
this.homePage = homePage;
}
public String toString() {
return name + '\n' +
phoneNumber + '\n' +
homePage;
}
}
As mentioned above, the process to create this code is as follows.
o
o
o

Identify the name of the class

Identify its state, its instance variables
Identify its behaviours, its methods

27

o
o
o

Implement the constructor

Implement the toString method
Implement the getters and setters

Summary
Thats it for your introduction to Java. My approach to teaching programming is to
discuss a model of something and then build the model. If we need some special feature
of language to build that model, we will look at that feature when we need it. Thus, we
needed to speak about modelling and Java in this chapter. Wee needed to talk about
constructors, getters, setters, and a toString method.
Now we need to see how to communicate our program to a computer.

28

Exercises
1.

Complete the getters for the Student class.

2.

Complete the setters for the Student class.

3.

Complete the Professor class, including getters, setters, and toString.

4.

In this chapter, we have mentioned several other classes we could develop. These
included Room, Furniture, and Building. Choose one of those classes and
identify the attributes it could contain. What datatypes are appropriate? Why did
you choose those datatypes?

5.

Explore the online documentation for the URL class. What modifications would we
need to make to our College class to use the URL class?

6.

One simple class to model is a door. A door has width, height, and thickness. It is
either open or closed. Implement a Door class. For a good solution, you will need
to use int (or double) and Boolean variables. As an additional complication,
you may wish to model whether the hinge is on the left or the right.

7.

Consider some other real-world classes which you may have seen. An automobile is
suitable. So is a digital camera, a digital photograph, or an MP3 file. Choose one of
these classes. What is its name? What are its attributes? What are its behaviours?

29

30

Chapter 2 Introducing BlueJ

Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Start BlueJ
Use BlueJ to create a class diagram
Use BlueJs editor to create and modify classes
Use BlueJs Object Inspector to examine objects
Define unit tests
Use BlueJ to create and run unit tests

Introduction
So now we have the source code, written in Java, for a Student class. A program is
designed to be executed by a computer, so we must have a way of communicating the
program to the computer. There are many tools which will allow us to communicate with
the computer. We will use one called BlueJ.

BlueJ
BlueJ is an integrated development environment (IDE) which we will be using while
introducing Java. This IDE provides us with many tools:
an editor which understands the syntax (the grammar or the rules) of the Java
language,
a UML diagramming tool,
a tool for creating and testing classes,
a link to a Java compiler, and
a debugger (which we can use to fix hard-to-find errors.)
An integrated development environment provides access to all these tools through one
common interface.
If you are doing your programming at a college or a university, BlueJ will probably have
been installed on the computers you will be using. If you wish to do some work in Java
elsewhere, you will need to install BlueJ and Java on your personal computer. That task
is included as an exercise at the end of this chapter.
Once BlueJ and Java are installed, you can continue to create a new project.

31

Creating a new project

Start BlueJ, choose Project from the main menu and New Project from the drop-down
menu. Give the project a meaningful name. Each project is stored in a separate folder on
your computer. You choose the precise location when you create the project. If your
operating system allows a space in the name of a folder, BlueJ allows a space in the name
of the project.
The project skeleton that BlueJ creates already contains one file. BlueJ displays a class
diagram, and places that file on it. The title on the window containing the class diagram is
the name BlueJ followed by a colon and the name of your project. The icon for the file
looks like a piece of paper, so you may decide to double-click it to see what it contains.
Its a project readme file, and the first few lines of it tell you its purpose. Here, you
should describe your project. Tell the reader (someone who does not know anything
about this project) all he/she needs to know. Then it identifies some headings under
which you can insert information for the reader. This is the beginning of the
documentation you will be creating.
To place a class on the class diagram, you have several choices.
o From the main menu, choose Edit, New Class, or
o From the column of buttons to the left of the class diagram, choose New Class,
or
o Right-click a blank area of the class diagram and choose New Class, or
o Press
+N. That is, press and hold down the
key, press N (either upper
.
or lower case), release N, and release
Whichever you choose, the New Class dialogue appears.

Type the name of the class, in this case Student, and click Ok (or press
.) BlueJ
updates its class diagram. Not that Java requires that class names contain no spaces. You
32

could use underscores to separate individual words in a class name, but the standard, as
we have seen, is to capitalize each word of the class name which contains more than one
word.

The class displays diagonal lines as a visual reminder that it has not been compiled. Since
it hasnt been compiled, we cant use any of its features. Right now, thats fine since we
dont know how to compile it. But later on, when you have many classes, and are making
changes to several of them, its good to know which have been compiled and which have
not.
To see the contents of a class, the documentation and Java statements it contains, right
click the class and choose Open Editor (or double-click the class.)
BlueJ provides you with a skeleton of a class, some documentation, the declaration of an
instance variable and a method. Keep what you need, delete the rest. Dont delete the first
few blank lines; well need them later.
Enter the Java code for the Student class which we seen above. After you have entered
the declarations for the instance variables, and the constructor, stop. Click Class, Save (or
press
+S) to save your work.
Look at what you have typed. Are there any obvious errors? If so, fix them. Obvious
errors will make themselves obvious by unexpected indenting, or unexpected colours.
There are a number of advantages to using an IDE. Since the IDE knows the language
you are using it can make intelligent decisions about indenting. It can display different
33

aspects of the language in different colours. If you wish to suppress these helpful features
(why would you want to?), choose Tools from the main menu, then Preferences from the
drop-down menu. On the Editor tab, uncheck the appropriate combo boxes. When you
first run BlueJ, you will find that most of the combo boxes are checked. I leave mine that
way, possibly checking Make backup of source files also.
IDEs can also match parentheses and braces. When you type a closing parenthesis or
brace, the IDE will momentarily highlight the matching opening one. When you type an
opening double quotation mark, the screen will show red characters until you type the
closing double quotation mark.
If you have forgotten your punctuation symbols, an opening parenthesis is (. A closing
parenthesis is ). An opening brace is { and a closing brace is }. The double quotation
mark in programming is and the same mark is used at the beginning and end of all
strings. In typesetting there are two double quotation marks, an opening one and a
closing one .
Have you noticed the row of buttons under the menu in the Editor window? Undo, Cut,
Copy, and Paste have perhaps been useful in entering the code so far. But we now need to
compile the statements we have entered.
Click the Compile button to both save and compile the class. If you have made any
errors, the compiler will find them and BlueJ will highlight (in yellow) the line
containing the first one. If you see the error immediately, fix it and compile again. If you
dont see the error, click the question mark in the lower-right corner of the BlueJ
window, and BlueJ will offer some hints about what the error may be. Sometimes one
error will cause many others, so dont worry about fixing every error at the same time.
Sometimes one error will hide another, so youll see more errors after you fix one than
you had before. But never fear, youll soon reduce the number of errors to zero.
When you have no more errors, continue entering the other getters and setters. Dont
forget getters and setters for each instance variable you created. Remember that the editor
allows you to cut-and-paste, and search-and-replace. Enter the toString method as
well.
The order in which you list the declarations of the instance variables does not matter. Nor
does the order in which you list the methods.
Following the instance variables, I list the constructors. Then I list the getters and setters.
Sometimes I list all the getters and then all the setters, sometimes I do the reverse. And
sometimes I list a getter followed by its setter, or vice versa. It depends on the style you
(and your teacher) prefer.
I usually list the toString method after the getters and setters.

34

When you are finished typing, choose Class, Save from the menu in the window
containing your class. This saves your work but does not compile it.
Later on we will have many classes open at the same time. Then it may be more efficient
to choose Project, Save from the menu in the main BlueJ window, and save all the classes
you have open.
Now all your work has been saved should you have to leave. Assuming you havent left
(or you have returned and opened the project again, using Project, Open Project, or
Project, Open Recent), click the Compile button again.
Note that there are two Compile buttons, one in the window where you have entered the
class, and one in the main BlueJ window. It doesnt matter which one you click.

Virtual machines and bytecode

Every type of computer uses its own instruction set for the commands it executes. These
instruction sets are very complicated and depend on the design of the CPU your computer
is using. This normally makes it difficult to run a program on one type of CPU when it
was designed for another.
The principle behind Java is that you can write a program on one type of machine and
have it run on others, without change.
This miracle works because there is a virtual machine involved. This Java virtual
machine is just a program which pretends to be a computer running its own language. It
translates the instructions output by the Java compiler (known as bytecode) into the
appropriate instruction set of the host computer.
When you compile a Java class, you translate from the Java language itself (stored in a
.java file) into the instruction set of the virtual machine (stored in a .class file).
Due to this virtual machine, you can develop Java programs using a Macintosh computer,
as an example, and run it on a PC running Windows. In the old days that was quite a
thrill. Now, however its not such a big deal. The big deal is to develop on a Macintosh
and then run on an IBM mainframe using the Linux operating system. Yes, you can do
that too.

Testing the Student class

Recall that the methods in the Student class (and the class itself) needed to be declared
public so that some other methods can use them. The benefit of using a tool like BlueJ
is that we dont need to create this other method right now. BlueJ takes care of the details

35

by magic, in the background. Well, its not really magic. Later we will lift the curtain and
see what is in the background.
The noted science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke said that Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke's_three_laws) I use magic in that sense.
The reference to lifting the curtain comes from the movie The Wizard of Oz.
For now, simply right-click the Student class in the class diagram. A menu appears
showing the public methods of the class, plus Open Editor, Compile, Inspect, Remove,
and, separated by a line, Create Test Class. We will explore those options later. For now,
simply click the name of the constructor It is highlighted because it is the only method
which you can call now. The getters and setters, and toString, can not be used until
we have created an object.
Recall that a constructor allows you to create an instance of the class, an object. By
clicking the name of the constructor, you run the constructor. First, however, you need to
specify the name of the object; student1 is acceptable for now, but you can change it if
you wish. Then you need to specify the parameters the constructor expects. Both are done
through the window shown below.

Remember that all the values being passed to the constructor are Strings, so should be
enclosed in double quotation marks. Remember that you can use an empty string () to
represent a value you do not know.
Note that the documentation you placed at the beginning of the method appears in this
dialogue, to guide you in providing parameter values.

36

Click Ok when you have specified all the parameters.

Once BlueJ has created an object, it appears in the object tray at the bottom of the BlueJ
window. Create a couple more students, at least one of which does not have a preferred
name. Try some experiments with them.
To experiment with an object, right-click it in the object tray and execute one of its
methods. Be sure to execute the toString method for the Student objects you
created. See how the result changes depending on whether or not there is a preferred
name.
Try executing some of the getters and setters you wrote. Do they produce the correct
answer? If not, fix them so they do produce the correct answer.

Inspecting an object
Recall that earlier in this chapter we talked about the meaning of the equals sign, and how
one string contains the address of another. We can see this, now that we have objects on
the object tray.
Right-click an object. Choose Inspect from the menu which appears. The Object
Inspector window appears. It shows the values you specified for the parameters. Were
you like me and you specified you own name? Or were you more creative?

Highlight any of the six instance variables by clicking them, and click Inspect. For the
next two illustrations, Ill assume we left studentNumber highlighted.

37

Now we are looking under the hood, at how Java represents a String. The line reading
private char[] value shows an arrow. This is a reference to, or the address of,
another area of memory. That area actually contains the contents of the String. If you
click Inspect in this dialog, you will see the image below, showing the characters which
make up the student number.

Now that we are as deep into a String as we can go, the Inspect button is disabled. We
see that the String actually has two instance variables of its own. The first (length)
is the number of characters in the String. I entered six characters. The other is an array
(and we will explore them in more detail later.) which contains the actual characters. I
was lazy and repeated the same digit over and over.
In a similar way, we can see how the studentFullName is stored.

38

In this case, there is too much information to show in a window of the default size, so a
scrollbar allows you to see the rest of the information.
Click Close as many times as necessary to close the Object Inspector.

Unit testing - definition

The testing we just did to see that the object was created correctly is a form of ad hoc
testing, testing components individually, with whatever data came to mind. Normally we
wish to test all the parts (the units) of the system, and we may need to test some many
times. Ad hoc testing would be very difficult; a better way to test is to do systematic unit
testing.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_testing) tells us that a unit test is a
procedure used to validate that a particular module of source code is working properly.
The procedure is to write test cases for all functions and methods so that whenever a
change causes a regression, it can be quickly identified and fixed. Ideally, each test case
is separate from the others; This type of testing is mostly done by the developers and
not by end-users. The word regression refers to the need to redo previously-passed
tests and ensure that the code still passes them.
Suppose you made a major change and want to make sure that you have not broken any
other code.

Breaking code refers to having previously-working code stop working due to some
change you have made. When you change a datatype from one type to another, I

39

guarantee you will break some other code. When you change the order by which you sort
some data, youll probably break code.
After a change, you will perform regression testing. To do this, create and save a series of
unit tests so that we can use them over and over again as necessary. BlueJ provides
access to a tool named JUnit which facilitates this testing. JUnit is a testing framework,
described in more detail at www.junit.org.
What things should you be testing through unit testing?
o Firstly, that each method behaves properly when you provide correct data.
Correct data means data which is reasonable to expect. If the method expects
integer input with values between 5 and 20, 10 and 17 are examples of correct
data.
o Secondly, that each method behaves properly when you provide input that is on
the boundary between correct and incorrect. Using the previous example, data
that is on the boundary between correct and incorrect date include 4, 5, and 6 at
the lower end, and 19, 20, and 21 at the upper end. Note that 4 and 21 are
incorrect data, while 5, 6, 19, and 20 are correct data. If zero is correct data,
make sure you test it.
o Thirdly, that each method behaves correctly when you provide wildly incorrect
data. Using the previous example, what happens when you provide 100 or -43
as input?

Unit testing with BlueJ

Lets create a series of unit tests for the class Student. Right-click Student in the
class diagram and choose Create Test Class.
If Create Test Class does not appear, use the main BlueJ menu and choose Tools,
Preferences, Miscellaneous, and click Show unit testing tools.

40

Then click Ok to dismiss the Preferences dialog and right-click the Student class
again. Choose Create Test Class.
BlueJ names test classes by taking the name of the class being tested and appending the
word Test. The test class for Student is thus named StudentTest.

41

This may not look exactly like what you see. My unit test was drawn too close to the top
of the window. When that happens, click on the Student class and drag it down a little.
StudentTest will follow along. You cant do the same thing by dragging the test
class.
Note that BlueJ continues its practice of colour-coding parts of the diagram. Unit tests are
green. A class is clearly shown as a unit test by the words unit test, enclosed in
guillemets.
These symbols are used in some languages, including French, to mark the beginning and
end of speech, much as English uses the double quotation marks. These symbols have
been adopted in the UML
Open StudentTest in the editor. Document it properly, adding author and version
information.
To do the test, we need some objects. One possibility is to create the objects anew in each
test, or we can create then once and then use them in all the tests. My preference is the
latter.
In the unit test class, before the default constructor and its comments, declare the objects
youll be using. These objects will exist during all of the tests. These declarations are of
42

the form private datatype variableName;. In our case, enter private

Student s;
Yes, I know that I previously insisted on meaningful variable names. In this context s is a
meaningful variable name. And so are s1, s2, and s3 if you need several
objects! As a general rule, in unit tests, I will generate variable names by taking the
first letter of the class being tested along with, when necessary, a digit, to distinguish
between objects.
This unit test class skeleton contains three methods. Generally, we need to write nothing
in the constructor.
In the setUp method, we describe any processing, generally initialization, which must
take place before each test. In this test, we need to create a Student object. The
variable was declared, but it doesnt have an area of memory associated with it, so it has
no value. Here we give it a value.
s = new Student(123456789, Richard,
Dennis, Gee,
Rick, Richard D. Gee);
If we initialized the object when we declared it, and then did the unit tests in varying
orders, we could change the state of the object. We would not know for sure its state (the
values of the instance variables) before a test and so we would not be able to forecast the
results of the test beforehand. By initializing the objects in the setUp method, the tests
are independent of each other. That is, the outcome of one does not affect the outcome of
another. By doing the initialization in the setUp method, we are guaranteed to know the
state of the object before each test.
Note the use of the word beforehand in the middle of the previous paragraph. We will
not run a test and then look at the result, deciding if it is correct. We will determine the
result of the test first, and place the result we expect in the test. This sounds an unusual
way to do things, but you will see that it works.
In the tearDown method, we describe any processing which must take place after each
test. Generally, we need to write nothing in tearDown.
Then create the tests you wish to perform. Each test is similar. Every test:
o has public visibility.
o returns nothing (or void).
o has a name that consists of the word test followed by the name of the method
being tested. I capitalize the first letter of the method being tested, but that is not
necessary. If I need several tests for the same method, I place a sequence
number at the end of the method name. Thus, for example, we will need
testToString1 and testToString2 since we need to test that method

43

twice, once for a student with a preferred name and once for a student without a
preferred name.
o carries out some processing and produces a result.
o uses an assert statement to check that the result matches the expected result.
Heres a sample test for the getStudentNumber method.
public void testGetStudentNumber() {
assertEquals(123456789, s.getStudentNumber());
In this test, we use the getStudentNumber method on an object whose student
number we know. We use the actual name of the object followed by a period and the
method we wish to use. Since the attributes have private visibility, we can only access
them from inside the object. To retrieve them from outside the object we use a getter. To
modify them from outside the object we use a setter.
Then we use the assertEquals method to check that the student number returned is
the expected value. assertEquals is a method provided as part of JUnit.
Once we are sure that the getStudentNumber method is working correctly, we can
test that the setStudentNumber method also works correctly. The test for the setter
involves the getter as well, so we need to test the getter first.
public void testSetStudentNumber() {
s.setStudentNumber(678678678);
assertEquals(678678678, s.getStudentNumber());
}
Here is the complete unit test for the studentNumber getter and setter.
/**
* The test class StudentTest
*
* @author rick gee
* @version 2006 04 20
*/
public class StudentTest extends junit.framework.TestCase
{
private Student s;
/**
* Default constructor for test class StudentTest
*/
public StudentTest()
{
}

44

/**
* Sets up the test fixture.
*
* Called before every test case method.
*/
protected void setUp()
{
s = new Student(123456789, Richard, Dennis,
Gee, Rick, Richard D. Gee);
}
/**
* Tears down the test fixture.
*
* Called after every test case method.
*/
protected void tearDown()
{
}
public void testGetStudentNumber() {
assertEquals(123456789, s.getStudentNumber());
}
public void testSetStudentNumber() {
s.setStudentNumber(678678678);
assertEquals(678678678, s.getStudentNumber());
}
}
As part of each test, we use the assertEquals method. This method comes in many
forms; the one we use takes two parameters. The first is a String containing the
expected value; the second is a String containing the actual value, returned from a
method. That is, the first parameter is the answer we expect, the second is what the
program gives us. Of course, we expect they should be the same. If they are not the same,
the assertion will fail, and the test will fail. JUnit will indicate that very clearly.
In testGetStudentNumber, we know the student number we used to create the
student, so we test that the value returned by getStudentNumber is the expected
value.
In testSetStudentNumber, we change the student number and then retrieve it. We
know what the expected value is, so we test that the correct value is returned. Technically
this is perhaps better called an integration test since we are combining different
methods and seeing that they work together.

45

When we use JUnit in more advanced situations, well see some other assert methods.
These include assertNull, assertNotNull, assertTrue, and assertSame.
For details on all the assert methods, look at the documentation at
http://junit.sourceforge.net/javadoc/junit/framework/Assert.html In this URL,
capitalization matters!
Notice that when you compile a class, the corresponding unit test class (if it exists) is also
compiled.

Unit testing the results

StudentTest is on the class diagram, so we can right-click its symbol. The resulting
menu offers the possibility of running all the tests, or just one.
When you choose to run all of the tests (usually a good idea), a window (shown below)
appears showing the results of all the tests, one per line. (Of course a scroll bar appears in
the upper portion of the window when there are many tests.) A successful test is shown
with a green tick beside it. An unsuccessful test, one that failed for some reason, is shown
with a black X beside it, if there is an error message available, or a red X is there is no
error message available. For a failed test marked with a black X, you may click the
message in the upper pane and abbreviations of the expected and actual values are shown
in the lower pane.
Note that a test may fail because the test was created incorrectly or because the method it
is testing is incorrect. For example, in my test for setLastName, I changed the value of
the lastName instance variable but retrieved the firstName instance variable in the
assertEquals call of my test. I was sloppy when I cut-and-pasted. Of course the
assert method failed.
You want to see a green line across the middle of the test window; this tells you that all
of the tests were successful. When any tests fail, the line is red.

46

Below the line, is the number of tests run, and the number of errors detected or tests that
failed.
We wish to test each method in the Student class. There are six getters, one for the
student number and five for the parts of the name, and six setters. Thus we need to create
12 unit tests and ensure each test works successfully. Cut and paste, and be careful as you
make changes!
To test the toString method, we need thirteenth and fourteenth tests, one applied to a
student with a preferred name, one applied to a student without. As noted above, these
could be called testToString1 and testToString2. If you prefer, you could use
the names testToStringWithPreferredName and
testToStringWithoutPreferredName.
Testing toString is a little challenging, since you need to remember all the literals
which are added to the instance variables.
Make it so.

Smoke testing
These simple unit tests are exhaustive. That is, they test everything an object can do.

47

An alternative type of testing is smoke testing. A simple definition of smoke testing is

Smoke testing is non-exhaustive software testing, ascertaining that the most crucial
functions of a program work, but not bothering with finer details. The term comes to
software testing from a similarly basic type of hardware testing, in which the device
passed the test if it didn't catch fire the first time it was turned on. A daily build and
smoke test is among industry best practices advocated by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers)., provided by
http://searchvb.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid8_gci930076,00.html
JUnit allows us to create many tests, and run only selected ones. When we run only a few
of the tests, we are doing smoke testing.

The Professor class

In a similar manner, we must create the Professor class and unit tests for all the
methods in the Professor class.
Make it so.

The College class

In a similar manner, we must create the College class and unit tests for all the methods
in the College class.
Make it so.

Summary
Thats it for your introduction to BlueJ. As I stated earlier, my approach to teaching
programming is to model something and then build the model. BlueJ and unit testing are
crucial to building the model. An untested model is a useless model. No architect would
build a structure without creating a model first.
Of course the model may show flaws. Thats better than building the structure and then
finding its flaws. A Wikipedia article on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge shows what can
happen when your model has flaws which you do not catch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge#Film_of_collapse

48

Did you see how strange the output of toString looked when a student did not have a
preferred name? We need to fix that. Thus, the next feature we need is some way of
taking one of two branches, depending on some condition.

49

Exercises
1.

Develop unit tests for all the methods in the Student class. Ensure that your code
passes all the tests. My style is to develop the tests for the getters first, since they do
not depend on the setters. The values of the instance variables are all set by the
constructor.
Test the toString method. It also does not require any setters.

2.

Develop unit test for all the setters in the Student class. Ensure that your code
passes all the tests. Note that the unit tests for the setters will require the getters.
Thus you create the getters first, test them, and fix any errors they contain before
you begin to write the setters.

3.

Create the Professor class. As you do so, develop unit tests for all the methods
in the Professor class.

4.

Download (from bluej.org) and install BlueJ on your laptop or other home
computer. Download (from java.sun.com) and install the Java SE Development Kit.
Download (also from java.sun.com) and install the Java class documentation so that
you do not need to be connected to the Internet while using BlueJ, unless you want
to be, of course. Use Tools, Preferences from the main menu, and then the
Miscellanous tab to tell BlueJ that the documentation is installed locally.

5.

Use BlueJ to create a Student object on the workbench. Inspect it and see how
the attributes are stored. In particular, what is stored when you provide an empty
string for a parameter?

6.

When you write a book or make a presentation, you want everything to look as
good as it can. One way to do this is to associate a Font object to each piece of
text. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface gives an interesting background on type
and its terminology. Read it.
A Font class will need to provide the typeface, the point size, and an indication of
whether the font is to use bold, or italic, or superscript, or subscript. Implement the
Font class.
To do this properly you may need to use int and boolean datatypes in addition
to the String datatype.

7.

One of the standard examples of a class is a bank account. Without downloading a

BankAccount class from the Internet (yes, there are lots of them there!), design
and implement a simplified BankAccount class.

50

A bank account should know about its number, owner, balance, and the service
charge per transaction. Test all the methods. The account should contain methods to
make a deposit and to make a withdrawal. It is a simplified bank account since it
does not yet contain a record of all the transactions, so deposits and withdrawals
affect the account balance only. In subsequent chapters, we will implement the
record of transactions.
8.

A playing card is another example of a class. Different cultures have different

playing cards. An Anglo-American playing card knows about its suit (hearts,
diamonds, spades, and clubs) and its value within the suit. Images for the suits are
available in Unicode. A playing card also knows how to draw itself.
Leaving the drawing for much later, create an AngloAmericanPlayingCard
class, along with its associated getters and successors. Test all its methods.
As an alternative, create a playing card class from your culture. In subsequent
chapters, we will use this class to play card games.

9.

A die is the singular form of the word dice. Dice are used in many games. Model
a die.
What does a die know? It knows how many faces it has.
Dont jump to the conclusion that a die always has six faces. There are five convex
regular polyhedra (the Platonic solids) which can be use as dice. These regular
polyhedra have all their faces identical; thats the regular part of their name. The
tetrahedron has four triangular faces. The cube has six square faces. The octahedron
has eight triangular faces. The dodecahedron has 12 pentagonal faces. The
icosahedron has 20 triangular faces.
A die also knows how to determine the value that appears when it is thrown. To
implement that we need to know a little about random numbers, something we will
see later.
For now, implement a Die class, having only a constructor and a toString
method. In subsequent chapters, we will use this class to play a board game.

10.

Dominoes have a relationship to dice, as described at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino. Design and implement a Domino class.

11.

Birders are people who watch birds and record the details of their watching. Every
bird species has a common name (American Robin, as an example) and a scientific
name (Turdus migratorius, for example).

51

Design and implement a Bird class. Include all appropriate unit tests. We will
explore the world of birding in subsequent chapters.

52

Chapter 3 Making decisions

Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
Describe situations when your program may need to make decisions
Use boolean variables
Write if statements
Use the online Java documentation to find out about classes

The if statement
As we noted at the end of the previous chapter, the output of the toString method may
appear rather strange when you output someone without a preferred name, displaying ()
at the end of the name, instead of (Rick), for example.
How do you suppress the printing of the parentheses when there is no preferred name to
display? There are several ways to do so, all involving testing conditions.
First, lets look at what we mean by conditions.

Boolean algebra
A statement like Today is Tuesday. is either true or it is false. A statement like It is
raining. is either true or it is false. (Yes, there are statements like This statement is
false. which are neither true nor false. We will not deal with them here.) When we are
dealing with conditions, we are dealing with statements or expressions which are either
true or false. True and false are called Boolean values.
Boolean is a tribute to George Boole, a British logician (1815-64) whose life and work
are described at
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Boole.html.
There is an algebra associated with these Boolean values, describing the rules under
which they may be combined. You have seen one algebra already, when you studied
integers and the addition, subtraction, and multiplication operations. Division is a
problem, since there are many cases where you divide one integer by another but the
result is not an integer.

53

Boolean algebra is based on three operations (and, or, and not) and the values true and
false. The first two operations are binary, the third is unary. That is, you need two
Boolean values when you use an and operation, two with the or, but only one with not.
Two true conditions combined using and make a true, any other combination of two
Boolean conditions combined using and produces a false.
Two true conditions combined using or make a true, as do a true and a false (in either
order) combined with or. Two false conditions combined using or produce a false.
Not true is false, and not false is true.
These statements are usually summarized in the following tables.

Not
True
False

False
True

And

True

False

True
False

True
False

False
False

Or

True

False

True
False

True
True

True
False

What relevance does George Boole have to programming? To have computer programs
do anything interesting, they need to be able to examine the data they are processing and
make decisions about what to do next.
o A program may need to do different processing when a number is positive,
negative, or zero.
o It may need to do different processing if a string is empty or if it contains
characters. Think of a missing preferred name.
o It may need to do different processing when a specified number of pieces of
data have been processed. Think of printing text on a page. You may need to
place a footer on a page once a specific number of lines of data have been
displayed.
o It may need to do different processing depending on a number being even or
odd.

54

o It may need to do some special processing when there is no more data to be

processed.
All of these situations require evaluating conditions, whose results are either true or false,
and doing different processing depending on the value of the condition.
Most programming languages have an if statement which allows for these decisions. In
an if statement, you have one or more conditions, combined using the three Boolean
operations. The result of this combination, itself a Boolean expression, is either true or
false. If it is true, one series of statements will be executed; if false, another series will be
executed.

Boolean algebra an example

For example, this paragraph is being written in early-April 2006. We just switched to
Daylight Savings Time. Most computers did this automatically by the following logic.
If today is Sunday, and this is the first Sunday in April, and the time is 0200 or
later, and we have not already switched to Daylight Savings Time, do so now by
adding an hour to the time, and remember that we have done so.
This example contains four conditions.

Today is Sunday, and

this is the first Sunday in April, and
the time is 0200 or later, and
we have not already switched to Daylight Savings Time

They are combined using the and operation. The same way that two Boolean values
anded together produce a true result only if both are themselves true, then several
Boolean values anded together produce a true result only if all are true.
Note that much of North America changed the rules in 2007, so that Daylight Savings
Time now begins three weeks earlier. This is an attempt to save energy on the assumption
that its light outside longer so people dont need to turn on their indoor lights. Early
indications are that people didnt go home but drove around, thus saving some electricity
but using more gasoline, for a net increase in energy usage.
An if statement is a programmers way of writing conditions and executing one of two
different scenarios, depending on the result of the conditions being true or false.

A revised toString method

Here is a possible revision to toString. It involves only one condition.
55

public String toString()

{
if (studentPreferredName.length() == 0)
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName;
else
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName +
( + studentPreferredName + ) ;
}
The logic used in this method is: Check the number of characters in the preferred name.
When that number is zero, there is no preferred name, so simply return the number and
full name. Otherwise (as described in a clause beginning else), return the number, full
name, and preferred name, with the latter enclosed in parentheses.
The pair of adjacent equal signs is shorthand for Check the values on each side and see
whether or not they are identical. Should they be identical, the result of the comparison is
true, otherwise it is false. The double equal sign is an example of a relational operator,
one which checks the relation between its two operands. The relational operators are
what we use to create simple conditions. We combine simple conditions with the Boolean
operators to produce more complicated conditions.
When creating an object in BlueJ, you have found that the constructor requires values for
all its parameters. Missing data is a problem, and results in an error message. Thus, we
had to provide a null string, which we represented as . How do we know that such a
string is empty?
Its length is 0, the number of characters between the quotation marks. We determine its
length by using a method of the String class. How did we find that there was such a
method?

Using the Java documentation

The Java language is well-documented, in some textbooks and online. (In the main BlueJ
window, choose Help from the main menu, then Java Class Libraries.)
When you look at details on the String class, you are looking at the output of
javadoc (when online), or at an edited version of the output of javadoc (when using
the dead-tree form of documentation.) I prefer the online version, as it is always up-todate.
Assuming you are using the online version of the Java documentation, your browser
opens, with three frames visible. The frame in the top left corner contains a list of all the

56

Java libraries. You could start there, by scrolling down the list until you see java.lang
and then clicking it. The bottom frame would then show all the topics available from the
java.lang library. Scroll down that list until you find String.
Or you could use the frame in the bottom left corner, and scroll down until you see
String. This is probably the best solution until you know which classes are in which
libraries.
In either case, once you have found the String class, click it. The frame on the right of
the screen now displays the javadoc output for the String class.
Look in the section of the documentation entitled Method Summary. Scroll through it to
find description of all the methods this class supports. In particular, find the length
method.
We use this method to determine how many characters are in the string, by looking at the
value it returns, an int. Further details on the method are in the Method Details. (Why is
that section of the documentation not in alphabetical order? I have no idea.) A value of 0
tells us we are dealing with an empty string, a value greater than 0 tells us there are
characters in the string. When a string contains many characters but only blanks, it will
have a non-zero length. Thus, is different from . The first contains two blanks,
the second contains none.
To determine the length of a string in Java, we use the name of the variable followed by a
period and the name of the method. Thus, studentPreferredName.length() is
the number of characters in studentPreferredName.
To check if the length of a string in Java is zero, we write
if (studentPreferredName.length() == 0)
Recall that the pair of equals signs is shorthand for check the values on each side and
see if they are identical. Since there are only two possibilities (the string is empty, and
thus its length is zero, or it is not empty and its length is greater than zero), the if
statement allows us to distinguish between the two cases.
If the condition is true (meaning there is no preferred name), simply return
Student number: + studentNumber + Student name: +
studentFullName;
If the condition is false (meaning there is a preferred name), return Student
number: + studentNumber + Student name: +
studentFullName + ( + studentPreferredName + )).

57

The statement or statements describing the action(s) to take if the result is true begin(s)
immediately after we test the condition. The statement or statements describing the
action(s) to take if the result is false begins after the word else.
public String toString()
{
if (studentPreferredName.length() == 0)
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName;
else
return Student number: + studentNumber +
Student name: + studentFullName +
( + studentPreferredName + ) ;
}
If you wish to combine more than one simple condition in a larger condition, you may
use the symbols && to represent and, and you may use || for or, or you may use one if
statement within another. Note that not is represented by the symbol !. We will see these
possibilities later on.
The pipe symbols used to make || are typically on your backslash key.

Programming style if statements

if statements are usually much more complicated than the one we have seen. You may
wish to do several things when the condition is true instead of just one. It may take
several statements to describe the action. In that case, enclose the statements in braces.
Some authors suggest you should always use braces when working with if statements.
Therefore a common style is to enclose the statement(s) for true and the statements(s) for
false in braces, even if there is only one statement. If there is only one, the braces are not
required, but having them there may save some problems later. If you add another
statement, without adding the braces, your program may not compile and, if it does
compile, it may not produce the correct results.
This alternative toString method illustrates this use of braces.
public String toString()
{
String result;
if (studentPreferredName.length() == 0) {
result = Student number: + studentNumber;
result = result + Student name: ;
result = result + studentFullName
}

58

else {
result = Student
result = result +
result = result +
result = result +
}
return result;

number: + studentNumber;
Student name: ;
studentFullName + (;
studentPreferredName + ) ;

}
Braces are necessary in this method since several statements are processed when a
decision is made of which path to follow.

Simpler tests
Sometimes you have processing in which you do nothing if the condition is true but do
something if the condition is false, or you do something if the condition is true, but
nothing if it is false. Consider the following alternative version for toString.
To create this version, we first notice that some of the processing in the previous version
is the same whether there is a preferred name or not. We do that processing and then we
use the relational operator greater than to see if there is a preferred name and, if so, do a
little more processing.
public String toString()
{
String result;
result = Student number: + studentNumber;
result = result + Student name: ;
result = result + studentFullName
if (studentPreferredName.length() > 0) {
result = result + (;
result = result + studentPreferredName + ) ;
}
return result;
}
Not surprisingly, there are many other relational operators. These include >= (greater
than or equal), < (less than), <= (less than or equal), and != (not equal).

More complicated tests

59

The chapter began with an example that combined four conditions and mentioned that
conditions could be combined with && and ||. But it hasnt shown how. Lets remedy
that deficiency right now.
At Okanagan College, everyone has a number, whether they are students or professors or
any other employee of the college. Anyone can have any number, it appears, except that
students whose permanent residence is outside Canada are given student numbers which
begin with an eight or a nine.
Pause for a moment to create a method, isInternational, which will examine the
student number and decide whether the student is an international student. Use the
charAt method in the String class to extract the first digit of the student number as a
char.
Does your solution look like this?
public boolean isInternational() {
char firstDigit = studentNumber.charAt(0);
if (firstDigit == '8')
return true;
if (firstDigit == '9')
return true;
return false;
}
Or does it look like this?
public boolean isInternational() {
return studentNumber.charAt(0) == '8' ||
studentNumber.charAt(0) == '9';
}
Either solution is correct. The second solution uses the || operator to test if the first
character is an eight or is a nine. Is that solution better or worse than the first solution?
That decision is up to you and your teacher.
How many unit tests did you need to test this method?
You should have used at least three: one for numbers beginning with a nine, one for
numbers beginning with an eight, and one for numbers beginning with any other digit.
Here are two of my tests.
public void testIsInternational1() {
assertFalse(s1.isInternational());
}

60

public void testIsInternational2() {

assertTrue(s2.isInternational());
}
You can see that s1 should not be an international student, while s2 should be.
For the next examples, you should create new project called Testing and a class within
it called Example, since the examples have nothing to do with students.
An integer n is defined to be even when the remainder when you divide it by 2 is zero.
Add the following method to Example.
public boolean isEven(int n) {
return (n % 2) == 0;
}
The modulus operator (%) gives the remainder when you divide the first value (in this
case n) by the second (in this case two). The method calculates that remainder and
compares it to zero. If the remainder is zero, n is even.
To test this method, you could create unit tests. Or, you could compile Example, then
right click it and choose the constructor. This places an Example object in the object
tray. Right-click it there and choose the isEven method.
Now write an isOdd method. Which did you choose?
public boolean isOdd1(int n) {
return (n % 2) == 1;
}
public boolean isOdd2(int n) {
return (n % 2) != 0;
}
public boolean isOdd3(int n) {
return !isEven(n);
}
The first two are modelled on isEven, but the third is based on the mathematical idea
that an integer is either even or odd; there are no alternatives.
There are a couple of different definitions for evenly even. Lets use the one that says
an integer is evenly even if it is evenly divisible by four. You should be able to write
isEvenlyEven quite quickly. Do it!

61

Leap years in the western calendar are an interesting challenge. The simplified rule is that
a year is a leap year if it is evenly divisible by four but if it is divisible by 100, it will only
be a leap year if it is also divisible by 400. Thus 1996, 2000, and 2004 were all leap
years. But 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not be leap years. Create an isLeapYear method
and then come back and look at mine.
public boolean isLeapYear(int year) {
boolean result;
if (year % 4 == 0){
// divisible by four so might be a leap year
result = true;
// check the centuries
if ((year % 100 == 0) && (year % 400 != 0))
// oops, a century but not divisible by
// 400 so not a leap year
result = false;
}
else
// not divisible by four so not a leap year
result = false;
return result;
}
In this method you see that we can nest one if statement within another. That is, we
evaluate a second condition only if a previous condition is true (in this example). Within
a single if statement we can write compound conditions, ones which use && and ||.
This example uses the && operation. Note that we also use the != relational operator.

Summary
This short chapter has introduced one of the fundamental features of programming, using
the data you are processing to control the flow through your program. It has also
introduced Boolean algebra, the Boolean operations and, or, and not, and the relational
operators equals and greater than.
It has also shown you how to use the Java documentation to answer questions about
classes which are part of the Java libraries.

62

Exercises
1.

A simple object to model is a coin. A coin has two sides, typically called heads and
tails.
Assume that a Coin class implements the idea of heads and tails by using a random
number between 0 and 1. For a fair coin, if the number is less than 0.5 consider the
coin to be heads, otherwise consider it to be tails. java.lang.Math contains a
random method which you could use. Create a method, flip, which generates a
random number which two other methods, isHeads and isTails will examine
to decide if the coin is heads or tails. The names of these two methods are based on
practice which says that methods which return a Boolean value should have names
beginning with the word is.
How would you implement your class to allow for biased coins, ones which come
up with either heads or tails more than expected?
Recently I read that when you flip a coin it ends up the same face up as it starts with
51% of the time. This is mentioned at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_flipping.
If you are interested in a tool which can check if your Java code meets coding
standards, you may wish to explore the Java Coding Standard Checker, an opensource project described at http://jcsc.sourceforge.net/. This program comes with a
collection of rules for standards you may accept and it allows you to set your own
rules.
For Suns standards, look at the Code Conventions for the Java Programming
Language document, available at
http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/html/CodeConvTOC.doc.html

2.

Stores have customers. Each customer has a number and a name. Each customer
also has a discount rate. That is, when the customer makes a purchase, he/she will
be granted a discount. This discount may be zero, or it may be a positive percentage
(or a positive amount) based on his/her previous purchases. Of course the discount
might also be based on being a neighbour or friend of the owner, being a student, or
being an employee. How would you model such a discount scheme?

3.

In Canada, each province has its own provincial tax rate, which may be zero.
Anyone who purchases something may need to pay the provincial sales tax or PST.
Some goods are exempt from taxes, but we will ignore that detail for now.
There is also a federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) whose payment is required in
all provinces except Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and
Newfoundland and Labrador. In those four provinces, there is the Harmonized Sales
Tax. Instead of separate PST and GST, purchases there are subject to an HST.

63

Create a Purchase class. In it, write a method which has parameters amount and
postalCode, and returns the tax (PST plus GST, or HST) necessary for a
purchase. Note that http://www.canadapost.ca/personal/tools/pg/manual/PGaddresse.asp#1380608 contains a map showing all the provinces of Canada plus the first
character of the postal code for that province. The larger provinces may use several
postal codes. To extract the first character from the postal code, use the charAt
method from the String class and provide the value zero as a parameter.
Alternatively, you may wish to use the startsWith method from the String
class.
4.

In an exercise in the previous chapter, we mentioned modeling a bank account.

What modifications would you need to make to your class if the bank changed the
rules to allow some number of free transactions before it began to charge for
transactions?
What modifications would you need to make to your bank account class if the bank
changed the rules to allow free transactions as long as your balance stayed above a
specified amount?

5.

In an exercise in the previous chapter, you modelled a die. Use the random method
in java.lang.Math to create a roll method.
See exercise 1 of this chapter for further information on the random method.

6.

In an exercise in the previous chapter, you designed a Bird class. In many parts of
the word, birders often use abbreviations for the bird name. Common systems use
four characters (http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/NABB/v003n01/p0016-p0025.pdf) or
six (http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/z/nom/6home.html).
Different people prefer different abbreviation systems, but one person will always
use the same system. Add the abbreviation as an instance variable of the Bird
class.
Create a method to determine the abbreviation.
In the constructor, the only parameters will be the common name and the scientific
name. Use a separate method to determine the abbreviation, given the common
name. Note that common names change over time, so the setter for the common
name will use this separate method to determine the abbreviation. Since the method
to determine the abbreviation is called only by methods within the Bird class, that
method will be private, not public.
We will explore the world of birding in subsequent chapters.

64

7.

The Canadian postal code is a six-character string. The first, third, and fifth
characters (counting from the left) must be letters. The second, fourth, and sixth
characters (counting from the left) must be digits.
Create a method, isValidPostalCode, which accepts a string as a parameter
and decides if that string represents a valid postal code, returning the appropriate
boolean value.
You will need to use the charAt method from the String class, and the
Character.isLetter and Character.isDigit methods from the
Character class. To check that the character in position loc of a string ess is a
letter, use Character.isletter(ess.charAt(loc)).
Recall that Java numbers its characters starting at zero while English refers to that
character as the first character.

8.

Canadians have a national identification number called the Social Insurance

Number or SIN. The SIN is a nine-digit number but its not just any nine-digit
number. Not only does the first digit indicate the region of Canada in which the
number was issued, but the SIN can be validated through the use of the Luhn
Algorithm, described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm.
The SIN itself is described at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Insurance_Number.
Create a method, isValidSIN, which accepts a string as a parameter and decides
if that string represents a valid SIN, returning the appropriate boolean value.
Assume that the input contains only digits. There are two possible approaches to
solving this problem. In the first, you extract single-character substrings from the
SIN using the substring method in the String class, and then use the
Integer.valueOf method to convert the single-character substring to an int.
In the second approach, you convert the nine-character string into an int using
Integer.valueOf and then use the modulus and division operators to extract
individual digits. Either technique will work.

65

66

Chapter 4 Inheritance
Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
Define abstract class and inheritance
Use abstract classes to implement inheritance

Abstract classes
Before we go any further with the Student class, we should think back to a comment
made earlier. We noticed that the Professor and Student classes looked very
similar. After you gain more experience with object-oriented programming (and objectoriented analysis and design) your ears will prick up at a statement that says classes are
similar and intuition will kick in whenever you see such commonality.
Commonality usually implies that there is a better way to deal with two classes than what
you have first decided. In this case, we divided the people in the classroom into two
groups, the students and the professors. But we are all people! So why not create a
People class? That class can contain all the common fields in Professor and
Student.
What common fields are there? Well, right now there are none, but think a little deeper.
Professor has a professorNumber. Student has studentNumber. Are they
different in structure? Not in this example; both are nine-digit numbers, entered as
Strings. Since number is not a very descriptive variable name, I will use
identifier instead.
Professor has professorFirstName. Student has studentFirstName.
Are they really different? No.
Professor and Student have several common fields, common on the basis of
function if not name.
So how can we use this information? We can create a new class, called Person and
derive the Professor and Student classes from it. (The name of a class is usually a
singular noun. Thus we used Person rather than the initial suggestion of People.)
This is shown in the following class diagram.

67

Note the arrow from the Student class to the Person class. This is read as a Student is
a Person or Student is derived from Person. Similarly, there is an arrow from
Professor to Person. One diagramming style, which I have used here, is that the
two arrows share a common path whenever it is reasonable to do so. BlueJ does not do
this.
Person is referred to as a base class for both Student and Professor. Student
and Professor are both derived from Person.

The Person class

Create a new project and create within it a Person class. Enter the appropriate instance
variables and constructor. You can copy the code from your Student or Professor
class, remembering to change the variable names. This is a good way to learn the Replace
function in BlueJ.
But wait a moment! Do we wish to be able to create instances of the Person class
which are neither students nor professors?
If you respond that No, we dont wish this. we must declare the class as abstract, a
word describing a class which signals to Java that we wont be instantiating (creating
instances of) it. If we try to instantiate an abstract class we will get an error.

68

If you respond that Yes, there are other types of people we wish to model besides
students and professors. Perhaps there are the administrative deans. Perhaps we wish to
model alumni and the recipients of honorary degrees. then you do not wish to declare
Person as an abstract class.
I can see the arguments behind both answers but, for the model we are creating (and its
my model!), we wont have anyone other than a professor or a student. So I will declare
Person as an abstract class.
public abstract class Person
Notice how the class diagram shows that Person is an abstract class.

toString in an abstract class

We have placed the common instance variables in the abstract class. What about the
toString method?
Both Student and Professor contain that method, and, as a general design rule, we
should place methods as high up the inheritance tree as we can. Examine the two methods
you created and youll see that they are almost identical. The only difference is that one
toString method places the word Student at the beginning of its result, the other
places the word Professor.
Thus the methods are not identical, so you could argue they should remain where they
are. But you could also argue that the following solution works as well or better.
Create a toString method in the Person class. Its code is below.
public String toString() {
String result = new String();
result = "number: " + identifier +
" First name: " + firstName +
" Middle name: " + middleName +
" Last name: " + lastName +
" Full name: " + fullName;
if (preferredName.length()!=0)
result = result + " (" + preferredName + ")";
return result;
}
To calculate and save a String, I need a variable of type String, which I have named
result. (A variable is a piece of memory with which I associate a data type and name.
In this case, the area of memory will contain a reference to a String, and when I need
the contents of that area of memory, Ill use the name result.)
69

Whether or not there is a preferred name, I need to concatenate the identifier and the first,
last, middle, and full names. So I concatenate them, and save the result. The saving is
done in the statement beginning result =. The way to interpret this statement is to say
Calculate the value to the right of the equals sign. Since it is a String, use result to
remember where the value is stored. This is exactly what we have been doing in our
constructors and other toString methods.
Now I need to check whether there is a preferred name. When there is no preferred name,
there is nothing to be done, and that could cause some strange code.
if (preferredName.length()==0)
// do nothing
else
result = result + ( + preferredName + );
There are no executable statement between the if and the else. Most people would
wonder what is missing so we place a comment there to indicate we have not forgotten
something. But the resulting code looks strange to my eyes. So we do not test for
equality, we test for inequality. As we have seen earlier the ! is used to indicate not. Thus
== means equals, and != means not equal. Note that we could have used the symbol
> (or greater than) instead of != since the length can not be negative.
if (preferredName.length() > 0)
result = result + ( + preferredName + );
Testing for inequality or greater than are both acceptable and are preferable, to my eyes,
to testing for equality but having an empty section of code.
When we create the Student and Professor classes, which we will do in a moment,
we will include the following methods in the appropriate classes.
public String toString()
{
return "Student " + super.toString();
}
public String toString()
{
return "Professor " + super.toString();
}
The reserved word super refers to the base or parent class. super.toString() asks
the parent to represent itself as a String, and then, as appropriate, we prepend a word
to that String.

70

Note that we are overriding the toString method in the parent class by creating a
toString method in the derived class.

The Person class, continued

Compile the Person class and see what happens when you attempt to instantiate it.
Right-click the class and choose the constructor from the menu. But the constructor is not
exposed! That is, it does not appear on the menu. Thus we can not create a Person
object.
Create two new classes within this project, Student and Professor.
Draw the arrow from Student to Person, indicating inheritance. Then double-click
the Student class to open it in the code editor. Notice the statement that says public
class Student extends Person. You created this statement by drawing the
inheritance arrow from Student to Person.
How do you create a Student object? A Student object needs a simplified
constructor; it can use the constructor of its base class, simply by calling super as the
first step in the Student constructor. As noted above, super is the word Java uses to
refer to the parent class. Without a method after the word super, you are executing the
constructor in the base class.
Student(String identifier, String firstName,
String middleName, String lastName,
String fullName, String preferredName) {
super(identifier, firstName, middleName, lastName,
fullName, preferredName);
}
Attempt to compile Student. It will not compile, since the constructor in the derived
class is trying to use private instance variables of the base class. private instance
variables (and methods, for that matter) may be accessed directly only within the class in
which they are declared.
protected instance variables (and methods) may be accessed directly within the class
in which they are declared as well as in any derived classes. Change the visibility on the
instance variables of Person to protected.
Then create toString methods in Person, Student, and Professor, as we
showed earlier. Compile all the classes.

71

Hint: If you are unsure which classes you have changed and thus should be compiled,
look at the class diagram. You can tell which classes need to be compiled since they
appear striped in the diagram. Simply click the Compile button beside the class diagram
and all will be compiled in the appropriate order. That is, if you have changed both
Student and Person, the parent class, Person, will be compiled first.
Do you need to create a getFirstName method in the Student class? No. That
method, and the other getters and setters should be in the Person class. If we use the
expression s.getFirstName(), where s is a Student, the effect is that the
Student object essentially says I dont recognize that message. Ill ask my parent to
respond to it.
Set up your Student unit tests to ensure that they still work.

The Student class a derived class

My implementation of the Student class is shown below.

/**
* A Student
*
* @author rick gee
* @version september 2007
*/
public class Student extends Person
{
Student(String identifier, String firstName,
String middleName, String lastName,
String fullName, String preferredName) {
super(identifier, firstName, middleName,
lastName, fullName, preferredName);
}
/**
* @return a Student, as a String
*/
public String toString()
{
return "Student " + super.toString();
}
/**
* An international student is one whose identifier
* begins with an eight or a nine

72

* @return true if the student is an

* international student
*/
public boolean isInternational() {
char firstDigit = identifier.charAt(0);
if (firstDigit == '8')
return true;
if (firstDigit == '9')
return true;
return false;
}
} // end class

Modify the unit tests for Student to take into account the different instance variable
names we are using.

The Professor class

Now that we have the Student class created and tested, we can create and test the
Professor class. It is currently similar to the Student class, but does not need the
isInternational method. Like the Student class, it is a derived class.
The unit tests here are simple. We know that the getters and setters work, since we have
tested them as part of the Student class. The only method we need to test is
toString.

Summary
In this chapter we have had an introduction to inheritance. In particular, we have seen
how to create classes which inherit instance variables and methods from their parents.
We have also gained more experience with unit testing.
Now that we have created well-designed Student and Professor classes, albeit
simplified classes, we can explore them in more detail, identifying missing instance
variables and behaviours. This exploration begins in the following chapter.

73

Exercises
1.

In a previous chapter, I discussed the use of a bank account as a common class for
modellers. Part of its attraction is that there are so many types of bank accounts.
Savings accounts dont allow cheques. High interest accounts allow only a few
withdrawals in a month. Extend your model of the bank account to accommodate
some of these variations. An interesting collection of bank accounts are described at
http://cse.stanford.edu/class/cs108/982handouts/14%20Inheritance%20Examples.pd
f. I dont think a real bank would have account types called Nickel n Dime, and the
Gambler. The programming in this example is in C++ rather than Java.
A second section of the page referred to above contains an interesting perspective
on the role of Instructors at a teaching institution.

2.

In a previous chapter, I discussed birding. Birds and all other living things provide
interesting examples of inheritance. A gull is a type of bird, and there are many
types of Gulls, including Herring, Mew, and California. An albatross is a type of
bird, and there are many types of albatross, including the Black-browed and the
Black-footed. Sparrows come in many varieties, including Harris, Song, and
House. Warblers too come in many varieties, including Yellow, Swainsons, and
Kirtlands. Model these in the simplest way possible.
Note that the biological classification into kingdoms, orders, families, etc. is a
fertile source of modelling exercises.

3.

At Okanagan College there are not just students and professors. There are also
deans, who provide management and direction, and support staff, the people
without whom the institution would not run. Objects of the Dean class need to
know their salary. Support staff are unionized. For historical reasons, there are three
separate locals of the union on campus. Objects of the SupportStaff class need
to know the local to which they belong. Implement Dean and SupportStaff
classes using inheritance from Person.

4.

Sun provides a Java tutorial on its website. One of its inheritance examples is the
bicycle and the different types of bicycle.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/concepts/inheritance.html. Model the
inheritance described. How would you change the model to accommodate
unicycles?

5.

Okanagan College has no graduate students, people who have already completed
one degree and are studying for another, higher, one. A GraduateStudent is a
Student. How would you model a graduate student?

74

6.

In a previous chapter, I discussed modelling a Room at a college. There are actually

several types of rooms, including lecture rooms and laboratories. Use inheritance to
model these three room types.

7.

In a previous chapter, I discussed modelling Furniture at a college. Assuming

that the different types of furniture include tables, desks, chairs, and filing cabinets,
use inheritance to model these different types of furniture.

75

76

Chapter 5 An Address class

Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
Create more complicated classes
Explain when and why to use cloning
Use the online Java documentation to find out about classes.

Introduction
A college needs to know the address of students, so the Registrars Office can send
written communications, including transcripts. The Library will use that address to send
notices of library fines. Given the problems with violence on campuses, many institutions
also want email and/or cellphone (mobile phone) numbers they can use to contact
students in case of emergencies.
Professors also need to provide an address and contact information, this time to the
Human Resources Office.
In addition, a college also needs to know its own address. It may have a mailing address
and a separate street address, or they may be the same.
An Address class is the focus of this chapter. A phone number is not so interesting. Its
just a String. Email addresses are not so interesting. They too are just Strings.
The interesting discussion is around a persons mailing address. Lets begin there.

Adding an address
Lets now add an address to the Student and Professor classes. Stop! Do not pass
go! What is wrong with the statement?
We do not need to add an address to both classes. We can add an address to the Person
class and both Student and Professor will have access to it.
So what is an Address class? What makes up its state and its behaviour?

77

The Address class

What fields do we need to form an address? You could use one long String, but, as we
have seen earlier when we looked at names, it may be more efficient to decompose the
address into smaller fields. I would suggest the following fields:
Number
Number suffix. Perhaps you live in a suite in a house and have an A after your
address. 1703A Yates Street is an example.
Name
Type. Road, Street, or Crescent, are examples.
Direction. Some towns are divided into sections, giving addresses like 8743 12 St
NE.
City
Province (or state)
Country
Postal Code. Different countries use different formats for their codes. We will not
deal with that here.
To see where the ideas for these fields arose, consider the Canada Post postal code
lookup page at http://www.mailposte.ca/tools/pcl/bin/advanced-e.asp
We could add all these fields to the Person class, but dont you think it would be better
to create an Address class and then allow the Person class to contain an instance of
the Address class? Yes, you could make the same argument about a Name class. In
fact, if you have some spare time, it would be a very good idea to create a Name class.
For complete generality, you should also add an apartment (or unit) number to the
address. My example will not do so. If you do include the apartment number, you may
wish to have two constructors, one with an address, and one without.
Return to the BlueJ drawing pane and create a new class, named Address. Double-click
Address and enter the Java statements that it requires. What statements are those?
In addition to the ones BlueJ creates for you, you need private instance variables, the
details of the constructor, and a toString method. Of course, you also need the
comments that are appropriate.

The Address class the code

My code is below.
/**
* a class to contain a street address, in all its possible
* combinations,excluding internationalised postal code

78

* @author rick
* @version 1 april 2006
*/
public class Address
{
// instance variables
private String number;
private String suffix; // 1702A, for example
private String name;
private String type;
private String direction;
// NW, for example
private String city;
private String province;
private String country;
private String postalCode;
/**
* Constructor for objects of class Address
*/
public Address(String number, String suffix,
String name, String type,
String direction, String city,
String province, String country,
String postalCode)
{
/**
* @param number - the number on the street
* @param suffix - a suffix to the number (1702A)
* @param name - the name of the street
* @param type road, street, crescent, etc.
* @param direction - for a city divided into
* NW, SE.
* @param city - the city, town, or village
* @param province - two-character abbreviation
* @param country the country
* @param postalCode - the postal code.
*/
this.number = number;
this.suffix = suffix;
this.name = name;
this.direction = direction;
this.type = type;
this.city = city;
this.province = province;
this.country = country;
this.postalCode = postalCode;

79

}
/**
* toString - convert the address into
* something suitable for a mailing label
*
* @return - a String containing multiple lines
*/
public String toString() {
String result = new String();
result = number;
if (suffix.length() > 0)
result = result + suffix;
result = result + " " + name;
result = result + " " + type;
if (direction.length() > 0)
result = result + " " + direction;
// end of line 1
result = result + '\n';
result = result + city;
// end of line 2
result
result
result
result
// end

= result +
= result +
= result +
= result +
of line 3

'\n';
province;
" " + country;
" " + postalCode;

return result;
}
}
If you think documentation is not worth writing, press
-J while viewing the Java
code of the Address class. Isnt that a nice piece of documentation that appears? And
you didnt have to do anything special to have it appear. Press
-J again to return to
your source code.
If you prefer not to use the keyboard to see the documentation, simply use the dropdown
box at the top right corner and choose between Source Code and Documentation.

The Address class the code in detail

80

Lets look at my code in some detail. The constructor contains nothing new, but there are
some interesting things in toString.
First, each person develops a different programming style. Despite what you see in some
examples, I tend to write many short statements while concatenating Strings. Some
people write fewer and longer statements. For example, instead of
result = result + +name;
result = result + + type;
you could write
result = result + + name + + type;
Some people are even more terse. They will write
result += + name + + type;
x += y; is shorthand for x = x + y; There are other shorthand operations including
-=, *=, and /=.
The effect is the same, concatenating the current value of result, a blank, the value of
name, a blank, and the value of type, and saving the resulting String in the variable
named result.
Why the blanks? So the output is 1702A Fifth Street, not 1702AFifthStreet.
And what is this \n that appears in two places?
A String is delimited by double quotation marks. A String may contain zero or
many characters. If you want a single character, a String may be overkill. (Yes, I have
used a single-character String for the space between fields.) So Java contains a
character datatype, called char. Each letter of the alphabet is a character; each digit of a
number is a character; each punctuation mark is a character. A tab is a character,
represented by \t, and a carriage return and linefeed combination is a character,
represented by \n.
In the days of the typewriter a carriage return moved you from the current position on a
line to the beginning of the line. A line feed moved you down one line. Since the carriage
return didnt move down a line, you could type over what you had typed. This allowed
you to produce some interesting effects. See the Wikipedia article on ASCII art for some
examples. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII_art You may even wish to see the article of
typewriters if you dont know about them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter
Some operating systems treat a carriage return and a linefeed as two separate characters,
but that detail is hidden from us when we are using Java.
81

Single characters are enclosed in single quotation marks. So \n is the representation

of the carriage return and linefeed combination. Concatenating a char onto a String
creates a new String, one which, in this case, contains the command to display the rest
of the String on a new line.
My toString method produces a three-line address that is suitable for printing on a
mailing label.
Adopt what you like from my toString method, compile it, and test it. When you
display an address, BlueJ shows the \n character instead of moving to a new line.
To see the output as it is meant to be seen, create an Address object on the workbench.
Accept the suggested name of address1. Then, from the main menu, choose View,
and, from the dropdown menu, choose Show Code Pad. A small window appears at the
bottom of the BlueJ window. In that window, type
System.err.println(address1); and press
.
A Terminal Window opens, showing the output of the println command, with
different parts on different lines in the lower portion of the window. If we had used
System.out.println, the output would have appeared in the upper portion of the
window.
System is a class which allows your program to communicate with the keyboard and the
screen. The output to the screen is through either the err device or the out device. out
output appears in the top of the Terminal Window; err output appears in the bottom.
println is a method which calls the toString method of the object it is given, in
this case, address1, and displays its output on the requested device. After displaying
the output, the cursor moves to the following line, ready to display more output.
When I am testing a method which produces a long String as output, I will sometimes
display the result in the Terminal Window rather than using an assert statement. I
have to look at the output to decide whether it is correct, but appearance may be part of
its correctness.

The Address class getters and setters

Add the first of the getters and setters. I dont care which ones they are.
Compile the class. Now create the unit test for the getter and setter. Hint: you can have
many, in this case two, editor windows open on your screen at once. Use one to create the

82

class and the other to create the unit tests for the class. Ensure you compile and run the
tests after you create them
Now create the other getters and setters, one pair at a time. Compile the class after you
make each pair. Add, compile, and run unit tests as you do so.

Person uses Address

Now that we know that Address objects work properly, how do we add an instance of
Address to Person? Its simple; declare an instance variable.
protected Address addr;
Recall that using the word protected means that derived classes may access this
variable.
Did you notice how a uses arrow appeared on the class diagram when you insert that
statement, and save the file?
A uses arrow is an indication that objects of one class (the one at the blunt end of the
arrow) contain objects of another class (the one at the sharp end of the arrow.) This is
quite different from the extends arrow.
We are not saying that an Address is a Person. We are saying that a Person object
contains one or more Address objects. At the moment, a Person will contain only one
Address object, a home address. But students often do not live at home, so may need
another address.
Does everyone have an address? They should have an address, so we add the address as a
parameter to the Student and Person constructors, including documentation.
@param addr

the address

Then we save the value provided to the instance variable.

this.addr = addr;
At least that is what you may have guessed from everything we have seen so far. But
there is a subtle problem here. When an Object (and everything we have seen so far is
an Object or is derived from an Object.) is passed to a method, the method does not
receive a copy of the Object, it receives a reference to (essentially an address in
memory of) the Object. When you have a reference to an Object, it is possible use
methods of the Object to change its contents.

83

In particular, when two Student objects refer to the same Address object, any change
to the Address object will affect both Student objects, since they both contain
references to the same Address object. Consider roommates, one of whom later moves.
Exercise 1 provides directions to see how this can happen. If you are going to do that
exercise, do it now, rather than waiting until you have fixed the problem.

Making copies (cloning)

Note: This section (and others later) deals with an advanced topic. It is included
here because this is the correct place to talk about it. But you may skip it should you
wish. Be aware that your program will contain an error which should be fixed,
perhaps when you are more comfortable with Java.
The parts of a persons name are Strings, and a String is a special type of Object,
called immutable. That means it cannot be changed without totally rewriting it; it cannot
be changed by adding or deleting a single character. It is a special kind of Object since
most can be changed.
The implication of this is that we do not need to clone the parts of a name, but we do
need to clone an address.
Consider the following statements. You can enter them, and the tests I describe, in the
CodePad window.
String s1 = here is a string;
String s2 = and here is another string;
The two Strings are not equal when you compare them using the equals method
(which compares contents of strings) since their contents are different, nor are they equal
when you use the logical operator == (which compares hashcodes, often implemented as
addresses of memory) since their contents are in different areas of memory.
You can see this by using System.err.println(s1.equals(s2)); and
System.err.println(s1 == s2);
The food called hash is a mix of a variety of different ingredients. Some people say it
looks like pet food.
The idea behind the computer technique called hashing is similar. Take the value of the
Object and mix it up some way, producing a single number. That number is an
indication of the contents of the Object. Two Objects with identical values should
give the same hashCode.

84

Now consider the statement

String s3 = s1;
s1 and s3 will compare as equal using the equals method (since their contents are
identical) and when using the logical operator == (since they both refer to the same area
in memory.)
Now consider the statement
s1 = this is a different string;
s1 and s3 will compare as not equal when using the equals methods (since their
contents are different) and when using the logical operator ==. Before executing this
statement, s1 refers to an area of memory which contains here is a string. But s1 is
immutable. When we change its contents, we do not change the contents of the area of
memory associated with it, we allocate another area of memory, containing the different
contents. Thus s1 and s3 refer to different areas of memory.
An Address is not this special kind of Object; it can be changed quite simply. Thus,
we should make a copy of it when we store it as part of a Person. Making a copy of an
Object is called cloning the Object.
Exercise 1 in this chapter asks you to explore the following scenario. Suppose a group of
students share an apartment, and the same Address object is used to represent that
address for each of the roommates. Several Person objects now have a reference to the
same Address object. If one of the roommates moves away, changing his/her address,
that address change will be reflected for all the other roommates as well, even though
they have not moved!
To clone an Address object, we must resort to a little deception. Ill show you the code
you need, but you must promise not to ask how it works, at least not for a while.
Open the Address class in the editor and modify the class declaration to read public
class Address implements Cloneable
Then create a new method in the class.
/**
* @return a copy of the Address
*/
public final Object clone() {
try {
return super.clone();
}
catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) {
85

return null; // can not happen

}
}
This method works since all the instance variables are Strings and know how to clone
themselves. If any instance variable did not know how to clone itself, the method would
not work. In that case, of course, we would implement a clone method for the class to
which those instance variables belong.
Now that we have the code to clone an Address, we can use the correct statement in the
Person constructor.
this.addr = (Address) addr.clone();
The word final in the method definition simply says that should any class use
Address as a base class, it can not create a clone method. This is a security issue. See
more details at http://www.ftponline.com/javapro/2004_04/online/rule5_04_07_04/
If you are uncomfortable about using code which you do not understand, the following
method also clones an Address object.
public final Object clone() {
return new Address(number, suffix,
name, type, direction, city,
province, country, postalCode);
} // end clone()

The Address class unit testing

Create the getter and setter methods for Address. Assume the getAddress method
returns an Address. Create the unit test for the Address instance variable in the
Student and Professor classes.
I had some difficulty with assertEquals when checking the equality of objects, like
the address. A solution is to use
assertTrue(a.toString().equals(b.toString()));
where a is the variable containing the expected value and b is the variable containing the
actual value.

86

Testing Address cloning

Before we create the Address and Student objects, we should modify the
toString method of the Person class to display the address. The simplest way to do
this is to use the Address toString method.
Before the last line in Persons toString, place the line
result = result + Address: + addr.toString();
Recompile everything.
How do we create an Address object to pass into the Person constructor?
o Create an Address object by right-clicking the Address class and choosing
the constructor.
o Note the name of the object which is being created (probably the name is
address1, but you can change the name if should you wish.), and provide values
of its instance variables.
o Create a Person object by right-clicking the Person class and choosing the
constructor. Most of the values you provide are Strings, but the last is the
name of the Address object you created earlier. Strings need to be
surrounded in quotation marks but the address, the name of a variable, does not.
Once the Student objects have been created, check their addresses. In particular, what
happens when there is no address available?

The reserved word null

We have assumed that everyone has an address which they are willing to provide. What
happens when someone does not have an address or does not wish to provide it? What do
we provide to the constructor in that case?
Java contains a reserved word, null, to use in this case. When we allow null addresses,
we need to be sure that we neither clone a null object nor should we attempt to convert a
null object to a String.
Thus we must make two changes to our code. Before cloning the address, we must check
it is not null. This applies in both the constructor and the setAddress method.
if (addr != null)
this.addr = (Address) addr.clone();
else
this.addr = null;

87

Instead of simply calling the toString method of the instance variable addr, we need
to check whether addr is null.
if (addr != null)
result = result + '\n' + addr.toString();
After making the changes to allow for null address, recompile your classes and test your
work by creating two Student objects, one with an address, and one with a null
address. (Just provide the word null instead of name of the Address object.) Does
your toString method work properly? If not, fix it.

The College class and addresses

As noted earlier, a college may have two addresses. One is its street address, providing
the actual location of the college. The other is its mailing address, which may or may not
be the same as its street address.
Modify the College class so that it has instance variables for both the street address and
the mailing address. We will not add parameters to the constructor. The constructor will
simply set both address to null. Instead, we will use the setStreetAdress and
setMailingAddress methods to set the appropriate values.
An alternative constructor is one which provides both addresses. A third constructor is
one which provides only one address. You need to decide which is the most likely to be
provided. I would suggest that the street address may be the one you wish to use.
Create unit tests for both addresses. Youll need separate tests for addresses which are
missing and for addresses which are provided, four unit tests in all.

Summary
While an address appeared simple, it turned out to be quite complex. And there are
complexities we have omitted!
Note that everything we have said about a Student object so far applies to a
Professor object. There is no difference in the structure of the two types of object.
There certainly is a difference in the roles they play at the College. Lets look at one more
structure they have in common, and then well start to look at their differences.

88

Exercises
1.

Confirm the need for cloning by the following procedure.

Create an Address object on the object bench.
Create two Student objects on the object bench, both of which contain references
to the same Address object. Use the getAddress methods in each Student
object to see that the addresses are both the same.
Use the setNumber method of the Address object to change its number.
Then use the getAddress methods for both Student objects to see that both
now contain the new number. The effect is that whenever one student moves and
updates the address, the other student will appear to have moved as well.

2.

Use the CodePad window to verify that Strings do not need cloning by repeating
the tests described in this chapter. What happens when you do the tests?
Then do another test. Add another statement. s1 = here is a string; Is
s1 equal to s3 or not?

3.

Create a unit test that verifies that Strings do not need cloning.

4.

The Person, Student, and Professor classes we have developed all use
instance variables to represent the different parts of a name. Since we created a
class for Address, perhaps we should do the same for Name. Design and
implement such a class.

5.

Suppose you are dealing with a culture in which not every home has an address. It
may just have a name, or a description. How would you modify the Address class
to support this? Make it so.

89

90

Chapter 6 Dates
Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
Create more complicated classes
Work with dates
Use the online Java documentation to find out about classes.

Introduction
Many things at a college are based on seniority. Perhaps professors who have been there
the longest have first choice on middle-of-the-day teaching times. Thus Professor
objects need to know the date on which they were hired.
Perhaps students who have been there the longest are allowed to register first for a new
semester. You will explore that idea in the exercises at the end of the chapter.
Sections of a course have specific times for meeting. We will explore this in a later
chapter.
All of these involve the use of dates and, perhaps, times. This chapter will explore dates.

How old is a person?

In many cases, you need information about the age of a person. At Okanagan College, for
example, a professor is required to retire on the June 30 following his/her 65th birthday.
In some other situation, an employee may not be required to pay a certain type of tax or
make contributions towards a pension if he/she is too young or too old.
Mandatory retirement was in place when this chapter was first written. Since that time, it
has been abolished. But the example is a good one, so Ill continue to use it.
But you dont want to store the age, because it changes every day. It would be better to
store the birthday and calculate the age whenever it is required. To do that you need to be
able to store a date. What facilities does Java offer to deal with dates?

Dates
When you look in the Java documentation, you find two Date classes.

91

One, in the package named java.sql.Date appears to be used with databases.

(Package is a Java term referring to a collection of classes. There is a hierarchical
structure to these packages. Thus the Date class is within the util package. Have you
noticed that BlueJ displays the hint Compile all uncompiled classes in this package
when you hover your mouse over the Compile button beside the class diagram? In this
case, the term package refers to all files in a folder.)
Many of this Dates methods (including the constructor which accepts year, month, day)
are deprecated. That means that they have been superseded by better methods in other
classes; future releases of Java may not include deprecated classes or methods, so it is
best not to use them. Reading the documentation closely, we find that this Date class is
derived from the other Date class.
The other Date class, in the package java.util.Date, appears much more useful to
us, although most of its methods (again including the constructor with year, month, day)
have been deprecated.
In this case, though, guidance is given on what to use in its place. There are suggestions
to use the Calendar or GregorianCalendar classes. Would one of these be what
we need, or are they more complicated than we need?

Details about calendars

Calendar is an abstract class (in the same way Person is an abstract class), used to
derive other classes. Rather than doing that derivation ourselves, we should explore
GregorianCalendar.
The documentation describing GregorianCalendar provides an interesting, but
brief, review of the way dates have been changed in the past, moving from a Julian
calendar to a Gregorian one (for some countries) in 1582 or some other year.
Did you ever wonder why some countries and religions celebrate Christmas on December
25 and others celebrate it on January 6? Its a result of the change to the calendars and the
reluctance of some people to switch.
The conventions in GregorianCalendar regarding values used for instance variables
are as follows

A year y is represented by the integer y - 1900.

A month is represented by an integer from 0 to 11; 0 is January, 1 is February,
and so forth; thus 11 is December.
A date (day of month) is represented by an integer from 1 to 31 in the usual
manner.

92

An hour is represented by an integer from 0 to 23. Thus, the hour from midnight
to 1 a.m. is hour 0, and the hour from noon to 1 p.m. is hour 12.
A minute is represented by an integer from 0 to 59 in the usual manner.
A second is represented by an integer from 0 to 61; the values 60 and 61 occur
only for leap seconds and even then only in Java implementations that actually
track leap seconds correctly. Because of the manner in which leap seconds are
currently introduced, it is extremely unlikely that two leap seconds will occur in
the same minute, but this specification follows the date and time conventions for
ISO (International Standards Organization) C.

I (and others) have to wonder why the day of the month starts at 1 but all other fields
(including month) start at 0. Yes, I know January is the first month, but it is an interesting
inconsistency that the month variable starts at 1 while everything else starts at 0.
In English, the names of some of the months represent older calendars. September,
October, November, and December begin with the Latin words for seven, eight, nine, and
ten, despite being the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months of the current calendar.
Why might this be? Who had a year that was 10 months long?
The documentation on the first Date class also includes an interesting note. In all cases,
arguments given to methods for these purposes need not fall within the indicated ranges;
for example, a date may be specified as January 32 and is interpreted as meaning
February 1. That makes it easier to decide when 10 days in the future is, if you cross
from one month to another.
How do we use all this information on dates and calendars? Can we use this information?

The MyDate class a simplification

For now, we will use none of the provided classes; they are more powerful than we need
and introduce complexity we do not need. Instead, well create our own class, MyDate.
Why not just create a BirthDate class, since that is what introduced this section?
Thinking ahead, we may be able to use other types of dates, including the date a student
graduated, the date an employee was hired, and the date an employee was promoted. We
can always create a birthDate variable of type MyDate but it would not be sensible
to create a graduationDate variable of type BirthDate. Having a more generic
type of date appears to offer more opportunities for reuse.
The MyDate class needs instance variables for year, month, and day, and needs a
constructor and a toString method.

93

What data type should we use for the year, month, and day instance variables? The
documentation quoted above gives limits on the values, and these values are small
integers.

Programming style a skeleton for a class

The MyDate class is like all other classes we have seen and like the vast majority of
classes we will see.
There are several instance variables. Instead of storing the year as the actual year
1900, well store the actual year. Instead of storing the month as a number
between 0 and 11, well use a number between 1 and 12. Well store the day of
the month as a number between 1 and the maximum number of days in the month.
There is a constructor (and maybe more than one constructor.)
There is a getter for each instance variable.
There is a setter for each instance variable which it makes sense to be able to
change.
There is a toString method.
There are unit tests.

Primitive types
Java supports many types of integers - byte, short, int, and long. They differ in the
number of digits they can hold but programmers often choose long, the longest of the
four. It wastes a little memory but you wont lose any digits, as long as your number is no
larger than 263-1 and no smaller than -263.
Recall that we talked about bits earlier.
In a computer, a bit is the smallest unit of memory. A bit has only two values, one or
zero, or on and off, depending on how you look at it. Everything is stored as a collection
of bits. When the collection contains two bits, it can represent four values, 00, 01, 10, and
11.
In many languages, characters (letters, punctuation marks, and numbers not used in
calculations) are stored as eight bits (allowing 256 values), also known as a byte. Java
stores its characters using the Unicode standard of 16 bits (allowing for 65536 values).
Representing numbers, a byte contains 8 bits (representing integers from -128 to 127), a
short contains 16 bits (representing integers from -32768 to 32767), an int contains
32 bits (representing integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647), and a long contains
64 bits (representing integers from -263 to 263 1).

94

If you wish to provide a long value as a literal or constant, you must follow it with the
letter l. Due to possible confusion between 1 (one) and l (ell), you should use an
uppercase L instead of a lowercase l. Thus you might see a statement like this.
long numberOfDays = 1000L;
But why do the names of these integer types not begin with a capital letter? The names of
all the other classes we have seen have begun with a capital letter.
The answer is simple. There are some primitive types in Java which are not objects, and
we have just found the names of four more of them. Of course, there is also a wrapper
class called Long which encapsulates a long, and gives it some of the methods of other
classes, including the toString method.
encapsulates means that a Long contains, as its instance variable, a long. As a class,
though, Long supports additional useful methods, like toString.

Digression
When you create a variable of a primitive type, you associate a location in memory with
the name of the variable. When you inspect that location in memory, you will find the
value of the variable.
But when you create an object and inspect the associated memory location, you find the
address of another location in memory. If you go to that address, you will find the object,
including its instance variables.
BlueJ shows this when you inspect an object. Right-click an object and you will see a list
of all the instance variables. For those which are objects, there is another Inspect button
which is enabled. For primitive instance variables, this second Inspect button is disabled.
We discussed some of this, but not in such detail, in a previous section in connection with
cloning Address, Name, and String objects.

The MyDate class the code

Take a shot at creating your own MyDate class before looking at mine, below. Create
your unit tests as well.
/**
* A date on the Gregorian calendar.
*
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* @author rick gee

* @version 1 - april 2006
*/
public class MyDate
{
// instance variables
private long year;
private long month;
private long day;
/**
* Constructor for objects of class MyDate
* @param year
.* @param month
* @param day
*/
public MyDate(long year, long month, long day)
{
// initialise instance variables
this.year = year;
this.month = month;
this.day = day;
}
/**
* convert a MyDate to a String
*
* @return
the date as a String
*/
public String toString()
{
return (new Long(year)).toString() + '/' +
(new Long(month)).toString() + '/'+
(new Long(day)).toString();
}
}
You cant send a toString message to a instance of a primitive type; you can only
send such a message to an Object. Thus, I have used the constructor of the Long class
to convert a primitive type to an object, thus allowing me to use the toString method
to display it.
What would happen if I used return year + / + month + / + day;
Try it, and explain what happens.

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You may wish to modify the separator. I chose to use a slash (/) but you may prefer to use
a hyphen (-). Note that I have used the international ordering (year, month, day) in this
method. You may wish to create two extra methods, one to return the date in the
American format (month, day, year) and one to return the date in the British format (day,
month, year). Note that these two methods can not be named toString since there
would be no way to distinguish between the three methods. They would all have the same
name and the same parameters; their signatures (the name and the type and number of
parameters) would be identical, a bad thing which would prevent your program from
compiling.
Note that you could use the int datatype for year, month, and day if you wish. In that
case, you will use Integer in place of Long in toString.

The MyDate class unit tests

Use your unit tests to see that MyDate creates and displays dates correctly. When you
use its constructor, you are specifying integers, so you do not need to enclose them in
quotation marks as you did for Strings.
What happens when you specify August as month 08 instead of just 8 (or September as
09), in the constructor?
Java allows you to specify integers as decimal numbers (base 10.) Such numbers are the
one you use all the time 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, etc..
Java also allows you to specify integers as hexadecimal numbers (base 16.) They begin 0,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10, etc.. The numbers 0 through 9 are the same in
the decimal system and in the hexadecimal system. Larger hexadecimal numbers are
preceded by 0X. Thus the hexadecimal number A, representing the decimal value 10, is
written as 0XA. 123 is a valid, but different, number in decimal and hexadecimal. If 123
is a hexadecimal value, enter it as 0X123.
Java also allows you to specify integers as octal numbers (base 8.) They begin 0, 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 10, etc.. The decimal, hexadecimal, and octal numbers 0 through 7 are
identical. Larger octal numbers are preceded by 0. Thus the octal number 10, representing
the decimal value 8, is written as 010.
But what about 08? It begins with 0 but not 0X so it must be an octal number. But octal
numbers go 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10. So 08 is not an octal number and you receive an error
when you attempt to use it. Similarly you get an error if you enter September as 09.
0123 is acceptable as an octal number, too. Its value is different from 123 and 0X123.

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In the toString method, do you want the first nine months of the year to appear as
single digits (as happens with the code above) or as two digits? Do you want the first nine
days of the month to appear as single digits or as two digits? If the answer is two digits,
modify toString as shown below.
public String toString()
{
String result;
result = (new Long(year)).toString();
if (month < 10)
result = result + /0;
else
result = result + /;
result = result + (new Long(month)).toString();
if (day < 10)
result = result + /0;
else
result = result + /;
result = result + (new Long(day)).toString();
return result;
}
Make the MyDate class cloneable, as we did for the Address class. This is because we
need to keep dates with no possibility of changing them accidentally. Can you imagine an
example where such changes would be very bad?
Seniority matters, so changing dates there could be a problem. In a different application,
keeping track of when parcels arrived could be important.

Using MyDate objects

Create a birthDate instance variable in the Person class, and add it to the
constructors for Person, Student, and Professor.
Create a getBirthDate method in the Person class, and test it. How? Since the
Person class is abstract, you cant create a unit test for it. But you can create unit tests
for Professor and Student, checking that they process birthdates properly.
A reminder - Since the Person class is abstract, you cant create a Person object and
then test its methods.

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In BlueJ, you can create an Address object and then a Student object. Then rightclick the Student object, and choose Inherited from Person, and then
getBirthDate.
Unit testing is easier. My getBirthDate method is shown below.
/**
@return birthDate as a MyDate
*/
public MyDate getBirthDate() {
return birthDate;
}
Now modify Professor to contain a dateHired. This is an instance variable which
Student does not have, and thus it must be an instance variable in the Professor
class.
This is the first time we have had different instance variables in Student and
Professor. Both these classes are derived from Person, and thus contain all the
Person instance variables, but now we see that derived classes may also have their own
instance variables.
We will also see that derived classes may also have their own methods, perhaps with the
same names in the different classes, but different behaviours. As an example,
getPhoneNumber may return the home number for a student but an office number for
a professor.
How do you test that birth dates and hired date are handled correctly?
Create two MyDate objects, one for birth date and one for date hired. Create a Student
object, using the birth date object you just created. Create a second Student object,
specifying null for the birth date. Does toString display the birthdates properly?
Create a Professor object. Execute its toString method or its unit tests. While the
constructor will accept a null date, it makes no sense to have a null date here. We will
need to insert additional code at a later time to prevent this from happening.

Simplifying the class diagram

By the way, BlueJ may be creating a very complicated class diagram. It is creating
superfluous uses arrows whenever one class includes instance variables of another
class.

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My diagram now has uses arrows from Person, Student, and Professor classes
to MyDate. The Student class does not directly use the MyDate class, so I deleted
that uses arrow.
My diagram has uses arrows from the Person, Student, and Professor classes
to the Address class. But Student and Professor do not directly use the
Address class, so I deleted those uses arrows as well.
You may find that you can make the class diagram more readable by moving the classes
around with your mouse. Here is my current diagram (omitting the unit tests). You have
created all your unit tests, havent you?

The diagonal shading indicates that I need to compile all my classes. Ive made some
change to them, so I cant run them until I recompile them.

Retirement of a professor
Recall that I mentioned earlier that a professor at Okanagan College is expected to retire
on the June 30 following his/her 65th birthday. Lets create an instance variable for the

100

retirement date, and a getter method. We dont have a setter method, since we can
calculate the retirement date once we are given the birth date.
When the month of birth is June or earlier, the professor retires on June 30 of the year in
which he/she turns 65. When the month of birth is July through December, the professor
retires on June 30 of the following year.
Whenever we set the birth date, we calculate the retirement date; that is the only way the
retirement date is calculated it can not be set through a public setter. Thus, we can
create the following private method.
private void setRetirementDate(MyDate birthDate) {
long retirementMonth = 6;
long retirementDay = 30;
long retirementYear = birthDate.getYear() + 65;
if (birthDate.getMonth() >= 7)
retirementYear++;
dateRetirement = new MyDate (retirementYear,
retirementMonth, retirementDay);
}
Notice some things about this method:
It is private so that only another method within the Professor class may
call it.
We use the getters from the MyDate class to extract the year, month, and day.
We use the ++ operation to increase the year when the birthday is in the second
half of the year. ++ is shorthand for increment by 1.
We use the constructor for MyDate to create the retirement date.
But which method calls this one?
The constructor for Professor will certainly need to call it.
So too will the setBirthDate method. But setBirthDate is inherited from the
Person class. Student objects dont have a retirement date; Professor objects do.
The best way to handle this quandary is to create another setBirthDate method in the
Professor class. It will do everything the Person setBirthDate method does,
and will also calculate the retirement date. Technically, the setBirthDate method in
Professor overrides the setBirthDate method in Person.
public void setBirthDate(MyDate birthDate) {
super.setBirthDate(birthDate);
setRetirementDate(birthDate);
}
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The call to super.setBirthDate (the setBirthDate method in the parent class)

ensures we do everything the Person setBirthDate method does. We do not want
to cut and paste statements from that method into this one; if we ever need to change the
Person setBirthDate we would need to remember to do the same for the
Professor setBirthDate.
Once the processing in the setBirthDate method in the parent class is completed, we
do the additional processing which the setBirthDate method in the derived class
specifies.

Retirement of a professor - unit tests

Create two unit tests for getRetirementDate. The first is for a person whose
birthday is in the first half of the year and the second is for a person with a birthday in the
second half of the year. My tests are below.
Note that unit tests are very important here. The details of the retirement date are in a
contract between faculty members and the college; we need to be able to confirm that the
calculations are being done correctly.
public void testGetRetirementDate1() {
p.setBirthDate(new MyDate(1950, 11, 10));
assertTrue(2016/06/30.
equals(p.getRetirementDate().toString()));
}
public void testGetRetirementDate2() {
p.setBirthDate(new MyDate(1949, 05, 10));
assertTrue(2014/06/30.
equals(p.getRetirementDate().toString()));
}
Many people will argue that unit tests for single-line setters and getters are a waste of
time. But this test is definitely not a waste of time since we need to be 100% sure that the
retirement date is correctly calculated.
Oh, there is a subtle error here. What is the retirement date for a person whose birthday is
exactly June 30? The answer appears to be, June 30 of the following year. Modify
setRetirementDate and create a third unit tests to ensure this occurs correctly.
Here is my setRetirementDate method.
public void setRetirementDate(MyDate birthDate) {

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long retirementMonth = 6;
long retirementDay = 30;
long retirementYear = birthDate.getYear() + 65;
if ((birthDate.getMonth() >= 7) ||
((birthDate.getMonth() == 6) &&
(birthDate.getDay() == 30)))
retirementYear ++;
retirementDate = new MyDate(retirementYear,
retirementMonth, retirementDay);
}
Note the parentheses. Every if statement begins with if ( some condition).
Here, the condition consists of two parts (joined by the symbol for or, ||), and one of the
parts consists of two parts (joined by the symbol for and, &&.) Either the month is greater
than or equal to seven (a condition enclosed in parentheses) or the birthday is June 30. To
test if the birthday is June 30, we need to test if the month is June (a condition enclosed in
parentheses) and if the day is 30 (also enclosed in parentheses.) To ensure there is no
ambiguity, these last two conditions are combined using the && operator and then the
result is enclosed in parentheses. We finish by using the || operator to decide if either of
the two conditions, the month is greater than or equal to seven or the birthday is June 30,
is true.
Logical operators have a priority. In particular, && is done before ||. Thus many of the
parentheses in the method above are superfluous. But I have put them there to clarify how
the tests are being done.

Programming style common errors

A quotation which I believe is It is okay to make mistakes. It is good to admit them. It is
best to learn from them. It is bad to repeat them. This is by L. Bernstein from Software
Engineering Notes, July 1993, and is still true today.
What are some of the common errors you have made? What are some of the common
error message you have seen and what causes them to appear?

Spelling misteaks. Spelling mistakes in comments are annoying. Spelling

mistakes in variable names may cause your program not to compile. If the
program compiles, the mistakes may cause it not to work, due to confusion
between variable names.
Capitalisation mistakes. Class names are capitalised. Every word in a class name
is capitalised. The first word in an object name begins with a lowercase letter but
other words (if any) are capitalised.
Mismatched parentheses. For every opening parenthesis there must be a
corresponding closing parenthesis BlueJ helps by indicating the matching opening
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parenthesis when you type the closing parenthesis. I find it helps to type the
opening parenthesis, then the closing parenthesis, and then go back and fill in
what should be between the parentheses.
Mismatched braces. Missing braces is a more common problem than missing
parentheses. For every opening brace there must be a corresponding closing
brace. BlueJ helps by indicating the matching opening brace when you type the
closing brace. I find it helps to type the opening brace, then the closing brace, and
then go back and fill in what should be between the braces.
Missing or superfluous semi-colons. A semi-colon marks the end of a statement,
so dont forget it, and dont add unnecessary semi-colons. They dont hurt; they
just mark you as inexperienced or careless.
Missing or superfluous commas. Commas are only used to separate items in a list.
In my programming style commas appear only when you are defining or using a
method (or when you want them to appear in the output of a toString method.)
== or =. A single equals sign is used when you are assigning a value to a variable.
A double equals sign is used when you are checking that two variables (usually
primitive data types) have the same value. The double equals is also used when
you are checking whether two objects both refer to the same area of memory.

Summary
In this chapter we have created two more classes, and explored how we derive classes
from a base class, overriding methods as required, accessing variables and methods in the
parent class, and adding variables and methods to the derived class.
Doing this well will be crucial to your success as a programmer.
But we have reached a plateau in what we can do with single-valued variables. We need
to consider collections, the topic of the next chapter.

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Exercises
1.

The Java libraries contain a DateFormat class. Use it to display a date with twodigit months and days. That is, use it to eliminate the comparisons in the
toString method of MyDate.

2.

The Java libraries contain the GregorianCalendar class which we briefly

considered. Explore that class more fully and use GregorianCalendar objects
to replace MyDate objects.

3.

Modify the MyDate class to display the name of the day of the week?

4.

In a previous chapter, we talked about birders and the sightings they make. Part of a
sighting is the date on which it occurred. Using either MyDate or
GregorianCalendar, create a Sighting class which contains the species of
bird, the date and time of the sighting, and a note about the sighting. This note may
include location, weather, bird behaviour, number of males and females, and the
number of young. Are you thinking that the note would best be represented by
several separate instance variables? Good. If you use MyDate, you will need to add
the time of day to the class, or you will need to derive a MyDateAndTime class
from MyDate.

5.

Rewrite the setRetirementDate method to eliminate some of the parentheses,

but do not eliminate the clarity. That is, do not delete all except one pair of
parentheses.

105

106

Chapter 7 Collections, part 1

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define collection, set, list, and map

Compare and contrast the capabilities of set, list, and map
Describe implementations of set, list, and map
Use sets, lists, and maps to represent complicated data
Define iterator
Use an iterator and a for-each loop to process elements in a collection
Use a while statement

Life is complicated
You may have noticed that you are taking a number of courses. You may have noticed
that some of your courses have one section but others have multiple sections. You may
have noticed that a professor generally teaches a number of courses. You may have
noticed that your studies extend over more than one semester. You may have noticed that
a department at your college or university offers many courses. You may have noticed
that a department at your college or university consists of many professors.
All of these remind us that the world contains objects in multiples, not as singles.
Up to now, we have been able to create two professors, by giving each Professor
object a separate name. How do we accommodate varying numbers of professors in a
department? That is, we have two situations. First, different departments have different
numbers of professors. Second, the same department may have a different number of
professors at different times as professors retire or resign, and new professors are hired.
Similarly, how do we accommodate students taking varying numbers of courses? Some
students may choose to take only three courses at one time. Others may take four, five, or
more.
We need to look at data structures, commonly called collections. A collection of X is an
object, containing within itself a number of different objects of type X.
Thus you can talk (in other examples) about a collection of automobiles, a collection of
houses, a collection of vacation destinations, and a collection of occupations. We can
even have a collection of collections. The college model we are examining contains many
collections.

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Collections the college model contains

There are many possible ways to model the collections this college contains. What
follows is my opinion. For each collection, Ive included a brief discussion of why I
believe that collection is appropriate.
A college contains a collection of employees. The only employees we have implemented
so far are professors; they form a collection. Other types of employees might be in the
same collection (generally a poor decision), or they may be in different collections (a
much-better decision.) This will be the only collection containing Professor objects.
All other collections of professors will contain only employee identifiers.
If you have an identifier, you can always find the object associated with that identifier,
provided you have the appropriate getter method for the collection. That is, you will have
a getter which accepts an identifier and returns the object which has that identifier.
A note regarding the decision to have many collections of employees: At my college,
there are at least four kinds of employees, three of which are based on the unions and the
locals of the unions to which they belong. The fourth kind is the administrators who are
not in a union but are in an association, a different type of organization. Each kind of
employee will correspond to a different collection.
A college contains a collection of students. When you register as a student, you do not
register as a student in a department or as a student in a course, you register as a student
of the college. This will be the only collection containing Student objects. All other
collections of students will contain only student identifiers.
A college contains a collection of departments. When we implement this collection in an
exercise, well see that it is actually a collection of Department objects. This will be
the only collection containing Department objects. All other collections of
departments will contain only department identifiers.
Each department contains a collection of employees. When we implement this collection
in an exercise, well see that it is best to implement a department as collection of
employee numbers, rather than as a collection of Employee objects. When we need
employee instance variables, well be able to retrieve them, from the colleges collection
of employees, as long as we know the employee identifier.
A college contains a collection of courses. While a course may appear to be offered by a
department it is actually offered by the department on behalf of the college. When we
implement this collection, well see that it is actually a collection of Course objects.
This will be the only collection containing Course objects. All other collections of
courses will contain only course identifiers.

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Next we have an interesting collection, the collection of sections. One possibility is that a
course contains a collection of sections. While that may be reasonable, it will lead to
problems later when we attempt to model the associations between students and sections.
There are several such associations; one which represents the students in a section, one
which represents the sections in which a student is currently enrolled, and one which
represents the sections in which a student was enrolled in the past.
Rather than have the course contain collection of sections, a better possibility is to have
the college contain a collection of sections. When we implement this collection, well see
that it is actually a collection of Section objects. This is the only collection containing
Section objects. All other collections of sections will contain only section
identifiers.
Each section contains a collection of students. When we implement this collection, well
see that it is best to implement a collection of student identifiers, rather than a collection
of Student objects.
Each student contains two collections of sections, one consisting of sections in which the
student is currently enrolled, and one consisting of sections in which the student was
enrolled in the past. For past sections, we remember the marks the student earned at that
time. When we implement these collections, well see that it is best to implement a
collection of section identifiers, rather than a collection of Section objects.
Each section contains a collection of its meeting times. When we implement this
collection, well see that it is actually a collection of Meeting objects. This will be the
only collection containing Meeting objects. All other collections of meetings will
contain only meeting identifiers.
Why will some collections contain objects and some the identifiers of objects?
The first reason is that we wish to have only one copy of an object. That is, there will be
only one Professor object representing each professor at the college. There will be
only one Student object representing each student at the college. By having only one
object corresponding to each item in the real world, we will eliminate duplication of data.
We will also ensure that when an object is updated, the update needs to happen in only
one place.
These ideas are behind the practice of database normalization. Any course in database
management will explain this in more detail.
Now that we have an idea of what collections our model needs, lets see what Java
provides to implement the collections.

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The Java Collections Framework

Collections may be categorised in many ways.

Is the size of the collection fixed, or may it vary? The number of months in the
Gregorian year is fixed at 12, but the number of courses a student takes may vary
from student to student, and from semester to semester.
Does the collection allow duplicate values or does it not? A rack of Scrabble
tiles can contain duplicate tiles but a hand of playing cards drawn from a 52-card
deck cannot.
To check that an item is in the collection, how many other items do we need to
check? Is the collection designed to allow speedy searching? This matters when
we are searching through large collections.
Are the items in the collection sorted in some order, or are they unsorted? If they
are in one order, can they be placed in a different order?
Does an item in the collection consist of one value or is the item a pair, consisting
of a key and a value? If you are creating a list of the words used in a document,
the collection need only contain the words. But when you are creating a
dictionary, the collection needs to contain both the word and a definition. Many
words have multiple definitions, so each item of the collection may itself contain
a collection. Think also of the index of this book. There are very few words in the
index that appear on only one page. One such word, chosen for no particular
reason, is elegant.

By asking questions such as those above, we can determine the type of collection we
should use in a particular circumstance.
Sets and lists are collections of single values. The difference between them is that a set
does not allow duplicates, but a list does. Consider the students in a section of a course or
the sections of a course a professor teaches. These would be represented by sets, since
sections are unique and students are unique. The uniqueness is enforced by having unique
identifiers. Consider the coins in your pocket, or the list of items you need to pick up on
the way home. These are lists as you may have two coins of the same denomination or
two loaves of bread on your shopping list.
A map uses a key/value metaphor to store information. Think of a table with two columns
and many rows. The first column represents the key; the second column represents the
value associated with the key. For example, the key might be a student identifier and the
value might be a student object. Think again of the list mentioned above, the things you
must pick up on the way home. The key may be loaf of bread and the value may be
two.
A multimap is a map in which the values are themselves collections. For example, the
key might be a course identifier and the value might be the professors teaching the

110

course. A multimap is also called a dictionary, since a word (the key) may have many
meanings (the values).
The Java Collections Framework provides collections via interfaces. These interfaces
describe the characteristics of the collection without providing knowledge of the
implementation details. The Java Collections Framework also provides classes which
implement the interfaces in varying ways.
One collection type, and hence interface, is Set. Implementations of this interface
include HashSet and TreeSet. HashSet is designed to allow speedy retrieval and
insertion. TreeSet provides a sorting mechanism. But both allow an element to occur
only once in the collection.
Another collection type (and interface) is List. Implementations of this interface
include ArrayList and Vector.
A third collection type (and interface) is Map. An implementation of this interface is
HashMap.
We will look at some of the aspects of collections in this and the following chapters.
More details on the Java Collections Framework are available in the Java tutorial, at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/collections/index.html
We will begin our discussion of collections by considering the simplest collection, a set, a
collection of data items with no duplicates.

A set
In mathematical terms, a set is an unordered collection of items, with no duplicates. {1, 2,
3} is a set, the same set as {3, 1, 2}. {1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 4} is not a set because of the
duplication of the number 4.
There is a collection called a multiset (or a bag) which allows multiple occurrences of an
item, but remains unordered. There is no Java class for a multiset available as part of the
Java Collections Framework, at least not today (2008-06-19).
As noted above, we can use sets in our model of the college. After all, a person will not
be registered twice in the same section of a course, nor will a professor teach the same
section twice.
At my college a student may be registered in one lecture section, one lab section, and one
seminar section of the same course in a semester. This is very common and our model
supports it since each section will have its own identifier.

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At my college a student may be registered in two lecture sections of the same course at
the same time only when the course is a Special Topics course and the two sections focus
on different topics. Even in this special case, a student is not registered twice in the same
section.
Does the order in which we store the courses in which a student is registered matter?
Does the order in which we store the professors in a department matter? In general, the
order doesnt matter. When it does, we will sort the data structure before processing it.
What matters is that there are no duplicates in the collection.

A collection of professors
Lets consider how to implement a collection of professors, all of whom are employees of
the college. Recall that this collection will be an instance variable of the College class.
The collection of professors will be represented as a set, since there are no duplicates
(Every professor has a unique employee number or identifier. That ensures there are no
duplicates.). We will assume no ordering on the elements. More correctly, there are many
possible orderings of professors, but none stands out as the predominant one. Professors
might be ordered by hiring date. They might be ordered by employee number. They
might be ordered by name. They might be ordered by name within department. Given
these possibilities, we will not impose an order until the time we need to process the
collection. Then, should it be necessary, we will impose an order.
To implement this collection, we need to import a Java library into the College class.
Use this import statement
import java.util.Set;
Place this statement at line 1 of the class. BlueJ will use javadoc to create the
documentation for a class, but one of javadocs restrictions is that the comments
describing the class must appear immediately before the class header. Thus, any import
statements must appear even earlier. BlueJ politely leaves a blank line at the beginning of
the file when it creates the skeleton of a class for us.
If you look at the documentation describing java.util.Set, youll find, as expected,
that it is an interface rather than a class. An interface describes the capabilities of a data
structure, but it does not describe how these capabilities are implemented. The
documentation lists All Known Implementing Classes. These are the classes which
implement the capabilities of the Set interface. Of the several choices presented, well
choose the HashSet. Why we choose HashSet is discussed below.

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HashSet
A HashSet is a very efficient way of implementing a set. That is, when we need to
retrieve an element from the set, that retrieval is very quick. When we need to place an
element in the set, that operation too is very quick.
The word Hash refers to the way in which the set keeps track of its members, but one of
the beauties of object-oriented programming is that we dont need to know the details of
how a HashSet works; we just need to know how to use it. That is, we need to know
how to import it into our project and what methods it supports. All of this is described in
the online documentation.
The food called hash is a mix of a variety of different ingredients, often chopped up.
Some people say it looks like pet food.
The idea behind the computer technique called hashing is similar. Take the value of the
Object and mix it up some way, producing a single number, the hashcode. That number
is an indication of the contents of the Object. Two Objects with identical values
should give the same hashcode.
Java is actually a very simple language. Most of its complexity and power comes from its
many libraries. When you wish to use a class from one of the libraries (or packages), you
must import that library or package, or the portion of it which you need.
The Java documentation tells us that HashSet is in the java.util.HashSet package,
so we need to import that package as well.
Now College contains two import statements.
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.HashSet;

Generic collections
Java collections are generic. That is, the collection, and its capabilities, is independent of
the type of data it contains.
While we could create a collection of Object, and thus place any type of object in it,
that is not a good idea since we might have to check the type of each object as we
retrieved it. It is much better to identify the type of element in the collection as precisely
as we can when we first declare the collection. By writing HashSet<Professor>
when we declare a variable we are saying we will be using a HashSet all of whose
items are Professor objects.

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We are also asking the Java compiler and interpreter to let us know should we ever
attempt to place some other type of object in the collection. The compiler will display an
error message when we attempt to compile a program including statements to add an
object of an incorrect type. At least it will as long as we have gone through the BlueJ
menu choices Tools, Preferences, Miscellaneous, and checked Show compiler warnings
when unsafe collections are used.

Note that this will also cause the compiler to tell us whenever we declare a variable as
just a HashSet without specifying the type of its elements.
We need to name the collection of professors at the college. Lets use professors. Its
declaration is
private Set<Professor> professors;
By declaring professors as a Set, we are describing its general structure and
capabilities. We have not yet indicated the specific implementation of Set we would like
to use. We do that in the constructor.

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professors = new HashSet<Professor>();

This creates a collection which is initially empty. When we add elements to the
collection, all of whose elements will be instances of the Professor class.
We do not need to use the name this.professors as there is no confusion possible
between an instance variable and a parameter. But there is nothing wrong with using it.

Programming style
When declaring variables which are collections, declare the type as an interface, and then
use a specific implementation when the variable is instantiated.
I will often name a collection after the class of object it contains, changing the first letter
to lowercase and adding an s to the end of the class. Thus I would name a collection of
Student objects as students. I would name a collection of Course objects as
courses. I would name a collection of Meeting objects as meetings.

HashSet<Professor>
Note the details in the documentation that says that any Object placed in a HashSet
must implement the equals and hashCode methods.
hashCode is used to determine the location in the set which the Object will occupy,
and equals is used to detect collisions, when two Objects have the same hashcode.
I have said that a set is unordered. That is correct, but the HashSet implementation
needs to determine where in the set to place a particular object. It uses the hashcode of
the object to do so.
Note that the order of elements using the hashcode may have no connection to the order
you might expect. To see this, suppose the hashcode is the number formed from digits
two, four, and seven of the professor identifier. If you have professors whose identifiers
are 193456789, 487654271, and 777234567, their hashcodes are 947, 862, and 725. They
will be placed in the set in the order of the hashcodes, so 777234567 comes first, and
193456789 comes last, exactly the reverse of the order you might have expected. A
different way to calculate the hashcode would result in a different order.

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The equals method

The equals method provides a way to signal when two objects have identical content.
In the case of people, we could define equality to mean that the names are identical.
Of course, this definition wouldnt work in the John Smith Society.
Some stories say this society is limited to descendants of John Smith, an American
pioneer; others say it is limited to members named John Smith.
In the latter case, the definition of equality using names we have proposed wont be
appropriate because it would say everyone is identical. In that case, perhaps we should
use an alternative form of equals, one which examines the identifier. We show this
possibility later in this chapter.
Since a professor is a person, we can place the equals method in Person and it will
be available to professors, students, and any other type of person we create.
/*
* test for Person object equality using names
@return true if both objects are Person objects and the
names are the same
*/
public boolean equals(Object o) {
boolean result = false;
if (o instanceof Person) {
Person p = (Person) o;
result = this.familyName.equals(p.getLastName()) &&
this.givenName.equals(p.getFirstName()) &&
this.otherName.equals(p.getMiddleName());
}
return result;
}
If we assume we have two Person objects (p1 and p2), to check them for equality we
use the expression p1.equals(p2). We have seen a similar use of the equals
method while comparing Strings in the assert methods.
This method examines two Objects, one provided via the reserved word this (in the
example above, that will be p1) and the other provided as a parameter (in the example
above that will be p2). This method returns a boolean whose value is true when the
objects are both Persons with the same name and false when either the objects are
not both Persons or they are both Persons, but some part of the names are different.
We cannot compare apples and oranges, so the method first checks that the Object (p2)
provided for comparison is a Person object. If not, the comparison fails, and the

116

method returns the value false. If it is a Person object, then the objects are equal
when the given names, other names, and family names are identical.
Alternatively, as noted above, we could check that the identifiers are equal. This is
probably safer since schools have unique identifiers for Persons, both students and
professors.
What happens when a professor takes some courses, thus becoming a student?
At my college, there is no problem since the identifiers are the same structure, as we saw
earlier. Two recent graduates from a degree program were working at the college while
completing the degree. Their classification at the college was support staff, a type of
person we are not modelling here. But we could.
Thus a better equals method is:
/*
* test for Person equality
@return true if both objects are Person objects and the
identifiers are the same
*/
public boolean equals(Object o) {
boolean result = false;
if (o instanceof Person) {
Person p = (Person) o;
result = this.identifier.equals(p.getIdentifier());
}
return result;
}
Recall our discussion of George Boole earlier. boolean variables have the value true
or false.

The hashCode method

Recall the details in the documentation that mention every object added to a HashSet
must have a hashCode method.
This method manipulates the contents of the Object to determine an integer which
characterises the Object. It is possible that two Objects may hash to the same
number. In that case, we will have a collision when adding the Objects to a HashSet
or a HashMap. Collisions are dealt with in one of several possible ways, but this is an
advanced topic which we will not pursue here.

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Every Object has a hashcode. Since the identifier is an Object, we will simply use its
hashcode as the hashcode representing the Person object rather than inventing our own
hashing algorithm.
/*
* @return hash code for the Person object
*/
public int hashCode() {
return this.identifier.hashCode();
}

How many items are in a set?

Now we have a collection in which we can place Professor objects. We may find it
useful to know how many objects are in the set at any time. Yes, at the moment there are
none.
How many elements are in the collection is independent of the way the collection is
implemented. Thus we look in the Set documentation (rather than the HashSet
documentation) and find a size method which will give us that information. We can
include this in a getter method with no corresponding setter. We need no setter, since the
value we are getting is calculated for us automatically.
/**
* @return the number of Professor objects teaching at the
college
*/
public int getProfessorCount() {
return professors.size();
}
We saw a getter with no corresponding setter earlier when we discussed a professors
retirement date.
Create a test for this collection now, even though the collection contains no professors.
public void testGetProfessorCountZero() {
assertEquals(c.getProfessorCount(), 0);
}

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What are the elements in the set?

I realise that we dont have any way of adding professors yet, but I find it a good practice,
or style, to be able to display a collection, even when the collection is empty. But first,
we need a way to visit all the elements in a collection.

Traversing a collection with a for loop

Recent versions of Java provide a very convenient way to do this, the for-each loop.
for (Professor p : professors) {
// do something with the contents of each p
}
In English, this statement means visit all the elements of the collection in some order; we
have no control over the order in which these visits take place. As you visit an object,
copy it into a temporary variable whose name is the one we have provided, p. Then do
something with p.
Note that you can not update or delete p this way, but you can display it or count it or
examine its contents. The name p is just an abbreviation of Professor. I use single- or
double-letter names to represent temporary variables which are used only within a small
piece of code, like this for-each loop.
Note the opening and closing braces. If you omit them, this code will not compile even
when there is only one statement which you execute for each element of the collection.
Now that we can visit the elements in the collection, we can list the elements in the
collection. Here is a method to create a String which contains all the professors in the
collection, one per line.
public String professorList() {
String result = "Professors";
for (Professor p : professors) {
result = result + \n + p.toString();
}
return result;
}
Since the collection we are listing is an instance variable of the College class,
professorList is a method in the College class.

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Adding a professor
Java libraries have generally been well-designed (but see the earlier discussion about
dates.) We will find, by looking further at the online documentation, that collections
support an add method which will, obviously, add an object to the collection. For a Set,
this addition will take place only when the element is not already present, since sets do
not allow duplicates.
/**
* add a Professor as a new employee
* @param the Professor object to be added
*/
public void addProfessor(Professor p) {
professors.add(p);
}
Create a unit test which uses this method to add some professors to the collection and
then use professorList to display the list of professors.
You may do this within your unit tests in several ways. One, admittedly clunky solution,
is
assertTrue(c.professorList(), false);
where c is a variable of type College.
This is a form of the assert statement we havent seen before. In it we provide a
message (the first parameter) which will appear should the assertion (the second
parameter) fail, which it always does in this case.
When JUnit tells us the test has failed, by placing an X beside the name of the test (and
displaying the dreaded red line), click the name of the test and see its more-detailed
explanation. The explanation is the list of professors working at the college.
But there are other solutions. One is to replace the call to assertTrue with
System.out.println(c.professorList());
As we have seen in many places so far, there is often more than one way to produce a
result. Which is better (or best) is sometimes a judgement call, a matter of personal
preference.
System is a package which the Java libraries provide us. It is always imported. Within
that package is an object named out. This object exists to display messages on the
standard output device, the screen or monitor you are using. The out object supports a
method called println which displays the value we pass to it, in this case the
representation of a professor.
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Compile CollegeTest. Before testing professorList, choose View, Show

Terminal from BlueJs main menu. A window appears in which you will be able to see
the output of the test. Then test professorList.
In what order are the professors listed?
Run the test again. The order may change as you run and rerun the unit test. Is this a
problem with our program? No, the order in which elements of a set are listed does not
matter so it may change from test to test. It does matter, of course, when we want the
professors listed in alphabetical order.
When you attempt to add the same professor a second time, the addition is silently
rejected. That is, you do not receive an error message, but the professor is not added.
After all, the definition of a set says there will only be one occurrence of each value in
the set.
Actually, the add method returns true when the addition is successful. It returns
false when the addition is not successful. The addProfessor method we have
created discards the value returned. Hence you can say it silently rejects duplicates.
It is usually not a good idea to ignore values returned by a method, but it seems to be
acceptable in this situation. If you wish to pay attention to the value returned, then
addProfessor should return a boolean, and addProfessor should become.
public boolean addProfessor(Professor p)
{
return professors.add(p);
}

Cloning a professor
Note that we have not cloned the Professor object when we added it to the collection.
We cloned addresses. Why should we not clone professors?
Actually, we should clone the object, but we dont yet have a clone method. Lets
remedy that right now.
/**
* clone
* @return a copy of the Professor
*/
public Professor clone() {
return new Professor(identifier, firstName,

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middleName, lastName, preferredName, fullName,

addr, birthDate, dateHired);
} // end clone()
Note that as we create more instance variables in the Professor class, we will need to
modify the clone method to ensure all the instance variables are cloned. Some of these
instance variables may be primitive datatypes, some may be collections.
Now clone the Professor object when you add it to the collection.

Removing a professor
By looking at the online documentation we see that many collections support a remove
method to remove an object from the collection. This method assumes that we know
(have a reference to) the professor object we wish to remove. But, since we cloned the
object, we do not know the object. However, we do know its identifier.
Thus, to remove a professor, we need to look through all the elements in the collection
until we find the correct one, the one with the identifier we are seeking, and then we
remove it.
If we were developing a more sophisticated model, we would probably not actually
remove the professor. We would probably mark her as inactive. There are at least two
types of inactive; she could have resigned and gone elsewhere, or she could have retired.
If we wish to do this, removeProfessor would not actually remove the professor. It
would set a flag (an instance variable with a limited set of special values) to show that the
professor is inactive.
The for-each statement is very handy when we wish to just display the elements in a
collection. But we wish to delete an element from the collection and the for-each
statement does not allow that. We need an iterator.

Traversing a collection with an Iterator object and a while loop

An iterator is an object which allows us to visit all of the objects in a collection. As we
visit the objects we may change them (including delete them) should we wish.
Every Iterator object has two methods.
o hasNext returns the value true when there are more unvisited items in the
collection and returns the value false once you have visited all the items.

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o next returns the next unvisited item in the collection, should there be one.
Before using the next method, you should check the result of the hasNext
method to be sure there is an unvisited item.
Depending on how the collection is implemented, an iterator may be implemented in
many different ways. But we wont worry about its details! It is sufficient to know that
we import the iterator class from java.util.Iterator, associate it with a collection,
and then use the hasNext and next methods.
For more details than we have seen here, see the Java documentation on Iterator.
We have already created a HashSet instance variable professors. To allow us to
create its iterator, we place another import statement in the College class
import java.util.Iterator;
In any method in Professor which requires an iterator, place a statement to create but
not instantiate an instance variable which is an iterator over Professor objects.
Iterator<Professor> it;
Instantiate the iterator (attach it to the correct collection and ensure it is initialised) when
we need it, to make sure it iterates over all members of the HashSet<Professor>,
ignoring any previous setting it may have had.
it = professors.iterator();
When you are using an iterator, you often need a while loop as well.
A while statement (or while loop) uses a condition to determine whether a statement
(or a block of statements, enclosed in braces) should be executed and then whether the
statement (or statements) should be repeated.
While the condition remains true, the loop continues processing data. This means that
something inside the loop must change the value of the condition. Otherwise you have
created what is called an infinite loop. We know no way to get out of an infinite loop yet.
By the way, Apple Computer has its headquarters located at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino,
California.
Here is a version of professorList which uses an iterator and a while loop.
public String professorList() {
Iterator<Professor> it;
String result = "Professors";
it = professors.iterator();
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while (it.hasNext()) {
result = result + '\n' + it.next().toString();
}
return result;
}
Recall our discussions of George Boole earlier. boolean variables have the value true
or false. The hasNext method returns a boolean value. When it returns true there
are more elements in the HashSet beyond those, if any, we have processed. If it is
false, there are no more elements to process.
In English, this while loop does the following.
o Step 1 check whether there are more elements in the HashSet.
o Step 2 - If so, process the element which is available, and repeat Step 1.
o Step 3 - If not, the loop is completed, so resume execution of the method with
the statement following the closing brace at the end of the while.
In a similar manner we use an iterator and a while loop to create a
removeProfessor method.
/**
* remove a Professor from the collection
* @param the identifier of the Professor object to
* be removed from the collection
*/
public void removeProfessor(String target) {
it = professors.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
Professor p = it.next();
if (target.equals(p.getIdentifier())){
professors.remove(p);
break;
}
}
}
The iterator provides the elements in the collection one element at a time. We compare
the identifier (the employee number) of the element to the target, the identifier of the
object we wish to delete. Once we have found the appropriate Professor object, we
use the collections remove method to remove the object, and then we use a break
statement to terminate the loop immediately. Since there is only one professor with the
specified identifier, we need look no further.
The break statement is equivalent to terminate the loop immediately!

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Some would say that a break statement is a harsh way to terminate a loop. Is this a
better way?
public void removeProfessor(String target) {
Iterator<Professor> it = professors.iterator();
boolean notFinished = it.hasNext();
while (notFinished) {
Professor p = it.next();
if (target.equals(p.getIdentifier())){
professors.remove(p);
notFinished = false;
}
else
notFinished = it.hasNext();
}
}
Does this method work when you attempt to remove a Professor object which does
not exist?

Another collection of professors the department

A college contains a collection of departments. Each department is a collection of
professors. When we implement a department, it is a collection of professor identifiers,
rather than a collection of Professor objects.
Here is a portion of the code to implement a department.
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Iterator;
public class Department
{
// instance variables
private String departmentName;
private String chairPerson;
private Set<String> members;
public Department(String departmentName,
String chairPerson) {
this.departmentName = departmentName;
this.chairPerson = chairPerson;
members = new HashSet<String>();

125

}
public String toString() {
String result = "Name: " + departmentName +
" " + "Chair: " + chairPerson;
return result;
}
public void addMember(String identifier) {
members.add(identifier);
}
public void removeMember(String identifier) {
Iterator<String> it = members.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
String s = it.next();
if (identifier.equals(s)) {
members.remove(s);
break;
}
}
}
}

Listing all the employees

Now lets consider the problem of listing all the members in the department. It is easy to
list just the employee numbers.
public String departmentList() {
String result = "Department:" + departmentName;
for (String id : members) {
result = result + '\n' + id;
}
return result;
}
But how do we list the names of the employees?
The only objects which know the names of the employees are the elements of the
professors collection within the College class. How do we access that collection?

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The Singleton pattern

There are several solutions, but the best is to recognize that we will probably be
modelling only one college at a time. Thus it may be possible to determine the College
object which we are processing by simply asking the College class itself . Consider
these modifications to the College class.
First, create a College object.
private static College theCollege;
It is private so that it is accessible only through a method, which we will create in a
moment. It is static so that there is only one such object.
Second, make the constructor private. It will have no parameters, so you will need to use
the setters to specify its name, phone number, etc.
private College() {
this.name = null;
this.phoneNumber = null;
this.homePage = null;
this.streetAddress = null;
this.mailingAddress = null;
professors = new HashSet<Professor>();
students = new HashSet<Student>();
departments = new HashSet<Department>();
// any other collections
}
Third, create a getCollege method which returns theCollege. If that variable does
not yet exist, create it.
public static College getCollege() {
if (theCollege == null)
theCollege = new College();
return theCollege;
}
This method is the access point for theCollege. Whenever your program needs
information about the college, it uses College.getCollege().
Thus there will be only one college being modelled at any one time.

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This technique is one which has been used in many circumstances. The word pattern is
used to describe such generally-useful techniques. Patterns will be covered in more detail
later in the book. This particular pattern is called Singleton.
When you explore the Singleton pattern in other references you may find that the method
name getInstance is used in place of the getCollege name we have used. Either
name is acceptable, but getInstance is perhaps more common when using the
Singleton pattern.

Listing all the employees, continued

Now that we have access to the College object, we can use it to determine the name of
an employee, given the employees identifier. This method, placed in the College
class, will do it.
public String getProfessorName(String identifier) {
String result = "";
for(Professor p : professors) {
if (identifier.equals(p.getIdentifier())) {
result = p.getFullName();
break;
}
}
return result;
}
When we find the professor with the correct employee number we return the name. If we
do not find the professor, we return an empty String.
Now we have all the pieces to produce a list of the department members, showing the
names of all the members.
public String departmentList() {
College c = College.getCollege();
String result = "Department:" + departmentName;
for (String id : members) {
result = result + '\n'
+ c.getProfessorName(id);
}
return result;
}

128

The unit test involves creating a college, creating some professors who work at the
college, creating a department, placing the professors in the department, and then listing
the members of the department.
public void testDepartmentList() {
// sample dates
MyDate date1 = new MyDate(1999, 10, 12);
MyDate date2 = new MyDate(2004, 12, 8);
// sample professors
Professor p1 = new Professor("111", "F1", "M1",
"L1", "p1", "F1 M1 L1", null,
date1, date2);
Professor p2 = new Professor("222", "F2", "M2",
"L2", "p2", "F2 M2 L2", null,
date1, date2);
Professor p3 = new Professor("333", "F3", "M3",
"L3", "p3", "F3 M3 L3", null,
date1, date2);
// professors work at the college
c.addProfessor(p1);
c.addProfessor(p2);
c.addProfessor(p3);
// professors are in the department
d1.addMember("111");
d1.addMember("222");
d1.addMember("333");
System.out.println(d1.departmentList());
}
The department list appears in the Terminal window since this test uses
System.out.println instead of assert.

Collection of departments
Now that we have a functioning Department class, we can modify College to
contain a collection of Department objects.
Make it so.

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Collection of students
As mentioned earlier, a college contains a collection of students too. Everything we have
said about the collection of professors also applies to the collection of students.
We will leave it as an exercise foryou to implement the collection of students, and the
addStudent, removeStudent, and studentList methods. Is there a clone
method for students? There should be one.

Summary
Things in the world do not come in singles, they come in collections. We have seen one
type of collection, the set, and how to use it. We noted that there are other kinds of
collection, including lists and maps, which we will see in subsequent chapters.
Lets see how to use these other types of collections.

130

Exercises
1.

Implement the collection of students referred to in this chapter.

That is, the College class will contain a collection of Student objects. You
should be able to produce a list of all the students registered at the college.

2.

Implement the collection of departments referred to in this chapter.

That is, the College class will contain a collection of Department objects. You
should be able to produce a list of all the departments at the college.

3.

Modify the college model so that a professor is not actually removed from
professors.
To do this, create an instance variable which contains the professors status.
Possible values are active, resigned, and retired. Only active professors should
appear in the output of professorList.

4.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modelling a bank account.

Bank accounts have transactions associated with them. The transactions come in
many forms withdrawals, deposits, interest payments, preauthorized deductions,
etc. Model a Transaction class.
Then modify your BankAccount class to contain a collection of Transaction
objects. Should you use a Set or a List? Why?
Should the BankAccount class contain the collection of Transaction objects,
or should there be a Bank class which contains the collection of Transaction
objects? Why?

5.

In a previous chapter we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes.

Create a YardList class which contains a collection of all the sightings a birder
has made in his/her yard. If you imagine the birder does not live in a house, but
lives in a flat (or an apartment), create a class which contains a collection of all
sightings made at some specific location.
I have heard of birders who maintain lists of the birds seen from work, or seen in
the movies, or seen on the trip to and from work. The most-unusual was the birder
who kept a list of all species seen reflected in the monitor of his computer. With
LCD monitors, I imagine that list doesnt get much use now.

131

6.

In a previous chapter we discussed modelling playing cards.

Having a PlayingCard class allows you to model any number of card games.
Choose a card game with which you are familiar and create a class which contains a
collection representing the cards you may hold at any time.
In bridge, you may be holding 13 cards. In poker you may be holding five. In Go
Fish, you may be holding many.
How would you model a game which uses several 52-card decks at once?

7.

In a previous chapter we discussed modelling a die.

Many games use several dice. Create a class, the skeleton for a game, which
contains a collection of dice.

8.

In this chapter we referred to a multiset.

Implement a Multiset class.

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Chapter 8 Collections, part 2

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Describe the use of a comparator

Implement a comparator and use it with ordered collections
Use a TreeSet
Format numbers
Produce reports from collections

Introduction
In this chapter, we will examine more of the collections a college contains, and then
focus on tools and techniques we need to be able to process collections. This includes the
production of complicated reports, including formatting numbers.

A collection of courses
Not only does a college contain a collection of students, a collection of employees, and a
collection of departments, it also contains a collection of courses. What is a course? What
data do we need to remember about courses?

The Course class

At my college, a Course object needs a subject abbreviation (String) and a course
number (int). It also needs a course title (String), a course description (String), the
number of credits a student earns by passing the course (int), and the number of hours
each section of the class meets (lecture (double), laboratory (double), and seminar
(double)).
The course title is a short phrase; the course description is a longer statement about the
course.
For example, this textbook was written to be used in COSC (the subject abbreviation)
111 (the course number), whose title is Computer Programming I, and whose
description is This course is an introduction to the design, implementation, and

133

understanding of computer programs. Topics include problem solving, algorithm design,

and abstraction, with the emphasis on the development of working problems.
A double is a primitive datatype (hence begins with a lowercase letter) which stores
numbers with a decimal point. In our model, usually the lecture hours will be no more
than five; the lab hours will be no more than five; the seminar hours will be no more than
two; the credit hours will be no more than four. Larger hours will occur for courses which
are taught in an intensive manner (all day for a week, for example) before a semester
begins or after it has ended. In this example, the values will be no more than 50.
The double datatype allows numbers much larger than these, but we will use double
rather than the smaller float datatype, if only so that we do not need to put the letter f
after numbers. That is, 1.0f is a float and 1.0 is a double. As memory is cheap,
most programmers waste a few bits and use double instead of float. We will adopt
that practice.

Course unit tests

Create the Course class, including the constructor and the toString method. Create
unit tests to ensure a few courses are created correctly. Sample courses could include:
A course worth one credit, with three lecture hours, two lab hours, and no seminar
hours.
A course worth two credits, with zero lecture hours, four lab hours, and one
seminar hour.
A course worth three credits, with 3.5 lecture hours, 2.5 lab hours, and no seminar
hours.
What happens when you run the unit tests? Are they successful?

Formatting the output

Examine the output. Everything looks fine until you notice that the triplet containing the
lecture hours, lab hours, and seminar hours is slightly incorrect, at least according to the
standards at my college. Your toString method did display the hours, didnt it?
Different colleges display their hours differently. My college standard is that numbers
with a zero after the decimal point should be displayed as integers. Thus (3.5, 2.5, 0.0) is
mostly correct and (3.0, 2.0, 0.0) is totally incorrect. The outputs should be (3.5, 2.5, 0)
and (3, 2, 0). We need a way to format the numbers as they are converted to Strings.

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Using the idea of formatting numbers, you look in the Java documentation, and find the
Format class.
This is an abstract base class for formatting locale-sensitive information such as dates,
messages, and numbers. That sounds like what we want to do, but we cant instantiate
objects of an abstract class.
In the see also: section of the documentation, youll see NumberFormat which is
also an abstract base class.
The see also: section of NumberFormat includes a link to DecimalFormat, a
concrete subclass of NumberFormat that formats decimal numbers. Exploring this
class eventually leads you to a chapter in the Java tutorial, entitled Formatting.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/i18n/format/index.html
After reading through the tutorial, you realise that this class will solve our problem, and
that formatting consists of two steps.
First, you create a formatting object using a specific pattern which shows how the
output is to be formatted.
Second, you provide a number to that formatting object, which returns it,
formatted according to the pattern you specified.
In our case, specifying a pattern of #.# will provide the output in the correct format. It
will display the digit before the decimal point and will display the decimal point and digit
following it only when that digit is not zero.
Thus, we add the statement
import java.text.DecimalFormat;
to Course. Notice that we are using a different Java package for this class. Previously
we have imported classes only from java.util.
Modify toString so it appears as follows. Comments have been omitted in the interest
of saving trees.
public String toString() {
DecimalFormat myFormatter = new DecimalFormat(#.#);
String result;
double totalHours;
totalHours = lectureHours + laboratoryHours +
seminarHours;
result = subjectAbbreviation + + courseNumber;
result = result + - + credits + -
+ myFormatter.format(hours);
result = result + '\n' + title

135

+
+
+
+

'\n' + description
(
myFormatter.format(lectureHours)
',' +
myFormatter.format(laboratoryHours)
+ ',' + myFormatter.format(seminarHours)
+ ')';
return result;
}
Create the unit tests for the getters and setters; then create the getters and setters
themselves.
What happens if you create a class with 10 or more hours of lectures per week?

A collection of courses, continued

Now that we have a Course class, we can resume discussions on a collection of
Course objects.
The collection will be part of the College class, and we can base its implementation on
our implementation of the professors collection.
Make it so, except that we do not want to remove courses, ever. This is so that a student
who graduated many years ago can ask for details on the course.

The Section class

A course is offered in one or more sections. A first-year English course may have many
sections; a first-year calculus course may also have many sections. At a small college or
university, a third-year course in any subject may have only one section.
In the previous chapter we discussed which class should contain the collection of
sections. I decided that it would be the College class which contains a collection of
sections. What type of collection will we use?

Set? List?
Rather than using a Set as we did earlier, lets look at another type of data structure, a
List. Note that there is nothing wrong with a set. A set would be an acceptable

136

implementation of this collection; we simply would like to look at another type of

collection.
A list is a collection of elements, in which there is some ordering of the elements based
on position in the list. That is, there is a first element and there is a last element. For each
element (except the first) there is a previous element. For each element (except the last)
there is a next element. You may insert new elements at the end of the collection, or in
the middle of the collection, moving other elements to subsequent positions.
For a circular list, the first element in the list has a previous element, the last one in the
list. For the last element in the list, there is a next element, the first element in the list.
An array is a type of data structure found in almost all programming languages, recent or
ancient. An array is a collection of elements, each of which is associated with a position
number or index. To retrieve an element from an array, you specify the name of the array
and the index. The index usually starts at 0.
An ArrayList is an implementation of the List interface, whose underlying
implementation is an array.
To College, add the import statements
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ArrayList;
And then declare the data structure.
private List<Section> sections;
In the constructor, allocate some memory to the data structure
this.sections = new ArrayList<Section>();
When you read the documentation describing ArrayList, youll see that you have
created a data structure with room for 10 elements. If you add more than 10 elements to
the collection, the collection will expand to hold the extra values. By what amount does it
expand?
Create a method, addSection, which will add a section to the Course.
/**
* add a section to the offerings of a course
* @param the section Section to be added
*/
public void addSection(Section s) {
sections.add(s);

137

}
This method adds the section after already existing elements. If you wish to add it
elsewhere, at the beginning for example, use an alternative form of the add method,
which has two parameters, the position (or index) at which the object is to be added and
the object itself. If that position is zero, the object is added at the beginning of the
collection rather than at the end.
Do we need to clone the Section when we add it? Yes, we should. We want only one
copy of the Section available so that when we change a meeting time of the
Section, we need only change it in one place.
You said the Section doesnt contain a meeting time? Oops, we made an error in our
original analysis of the problem and designed a class which omits an important feature.
Correcting this omission is another example of refactoring. We will correct this omission
in the next chapter, where we create a Meeting class.
The code in the last few pages looks good, but we dont have a Section class yet, so
none of the code will even compile.

What is a section?
What information do we really need to model a Section?
We have used unique identifiers for professors (employee numbers) and for students
(student numbers). The combination of subject abbreviation and course number ensures
uniqueness for courses so we dont need a unique identifier. For sections, one possible
unique identifier is subject abbreviation, course number, plus something to indicate when
the section is offered. That sounds complicated. Lets create a unique identifier (a
number) instead.
We still need the course with which a section is associated. We will ensure this by having
a Section object contain the subjectAbbreviation and the courseNumber.
Thus we have the beginning of a Section class.
private int identifier;
private String subjectAbbreviation;
private int courseNumber;
For our reports, we need to know whether we are dealing with a lecture section, a lab
section, or a seminar section. This gives us another instance variable.
private String sectionNumber;
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We need to know when and where a Section object meets.

There are two aspects to when.
the semester in which the section is offered, and
the day of the week, the start time on that day, and the end time on that day during
that semester.
We will cover the semester in this chapter, the meeting details in the following one.
A section of a course offered this year is different from a section of the course offered
last year. Thus a Section object also needs to contain instance variables defining the
semester when it is offered. One possibility is to store W2008, for example, to indicate
the winter semester of 2008. F2008 and S2008 might also be used. But what is winter?
A better, that is, more-generally applicable, solution is to remember the start date (year,
stored as at least four digits, and month) as well as the end date (year, also stored as at
least four digits, and month).
When discussing birthdates, we mentioned the Calendar and GregorianCalendar
classes. The Calendar class has some constants representing the months of the year. A
section of a course is different when it is offered in the fall semester (At my college that
is September through December, or should that be Calendar.SEPTEMBER through
Calendar.DECEMBER?), the winter semester (Calendar.JANUARY through
Calendar.APRIL), or the summer semester (Calendar.MAY through
Calendar.AUGUST).
We represent the day of the week (needed in the next chapter) similarly. The Calendar
class provides us with Calendar.SUNDAY, Calendar.MONDAY, etc.
But remember that the month and day-of-the-week constants in the Calendar class all
begin at zero. Thus, when you display Calendar.JANUARY, youll see zero rather than
one. So long as we can remember to increment (increase by one) the value before we
display it, we will be okay.
We need to add some instance variables to the Section class.
private
private
private
private

int
int
int
int

startYear;
startMonth;
endYear;
endMonth;

Why did I make these variables ints?

139

One reason is that the values these instance variables will contain are small. Another is
that the Field Summary portion of the documentation describing Calendar says the
values for the months and days of the week are ints and we are using its constants. We
need to modify the constructor to accept the values of those instance variables and we
need setters and getters as well as creating and/or modifying the appropriate unit tests (an
exercise left to the reader).
Warning just because unit tests are left to the reader doesnt mean they are
unimportant. The author refuses to evaluate any classes which do not come with a
complete set of unit tests.
We need to modify the toString method so it shows the start and end dates. We need
to deal with two subtleties in toString.
First, the months need to be increased by one before printing. We can do that.
Second, recall the problems we had displaying birth dates, with single integers less than
10 displaying with no leading zero. As a solution, we used an if statement to display a
zero if necessary. But now we know how to use the DecimalFormat class to print that
leading zero, if necessary.
DecimalFormat actually lets us solve both problems simultaneously. These
statements form the body of the toString method.
DecimalFormat myFormatter = new DecimalFormat(00);
String result;
// details of the section
result = identifier + + departmentAbbreviation
+ courseNumber + + sectionNumber;
+ ( + startYear + '-'
+ myFormatter.format(startMonth +1)
+ to + endYear + '-'
+ myFormatter.format(endMonth + 1)
+ ')';
The pattern we have used causes two digits to be displayed, with the first one being zero
if necessary.
What would the output be if we used
result = result + ( + startYear + '-' + startMonth +1
+ to + endYear + '-' + endMonth + 1
+ ')';
Can you explain why the output is not what you expected?

140

The Singleton pattern revisited

The College class is acting as a gatekeeper to the individual Course objects, as it
does for Professor objects. Sometimes we need to retrieve single Course objects, as
when we wish to add, or remove, a section. That is, we need a method in the College
class which returns a Course object, when we provide its subject abbreviation and
course number.
public Course getCourse(String subjectAbbreviation,
int courseNumber) {
for (Course c : courses) {
if (subjectAbbreviation.equals(
c.getSubjectAbbreviation()) &&
courseNumber == c.getCourseNumber())
return c;
}
// no matching course found
return null;
}
Using the object returned by this method, we are able to add sections to the courses the
college offers.

Listing a collection in order

Whenever we talk about listing a collection in order, we must have some way to decide
whether one element of the collection precedes another. To produce a list of the
professors employed by the college in some special order, we need to be able to describe
how to compare one professor to another to determine which precedes the other. In the
context of a college, there are several orders which matter for professors, mentioned
earlier (name, employee number, hiring date).
To produce a list of the courses offered by the college in alphabetical order by subject,
we need to be able to describe how to compare two Course objects.
To produce a list of the students registered at the college, we need to be able to compare
two Student objects. In the context of a college, there are several orders which matter
for students, mentioned earlier (name, average.)
We see that we need a technique which allows us to specify several different types of
ordering for a class.

141

In all comparisons, some values are more important than others, so we make sure we
compare them first. For example, when sorting a group of people by name, family name
is more important than given name which is more important than middle name. When
sorting by date, the year is probably more important than the month which is probably
more important than the day.
Of course, when you are producing a list of people in order by their birthday, you may
want only the month and the day; the year may not matter.
Lets begin by seeing how to compare Professor objects.

Comparable
Since we have used the word compare several times, you may have gone to the online
documentation and looked up compare. The closest match is Comparable.
The Comparable interface is interesting, but that is not a suitable solution to our
problem, since Comparable only allows one way of sorting, specified in a
compareTo method. This one way of sorting is sometimes called the natural ordering
for the data.
The natural order for numbers is numeric. The natural order for Strings is alphabetic,
using the Unicode coding scheme. But what is the natural order for professors - by name,
by identifier, by salary, or perhaps by hiring date?
What entry comes immediately after Comparable in the online listing of classes and
interfaces? The Comparator interface!

Comparators
The Comparator interface allows us to have many compare methods associated with
one class.
We begin by having the Person class (after all, a professor is a person) create a
Comparator object.
All Comparator objects contain a methodnamed compare. All compare methods
behave in the same way: they accept two parameters and return a negative integer when
the first is less than the second, zero when their values are the same, and a positive
integer when the first is the larger.

142

Make sure you have the statement import java.util.Comparator; at the

beginning of the Person class.
The logic of an alphabetical comparison is: Compare the family (last) names. When they
are not the same, you know which is less. When they are the same, compare the given
names. If the last and given names are the same, compare the middle names.
You could write this using a series of if statements, or you could notice that the
String class has a compareTo method which returns the same values as a
Comparator.
The String class also has a compareToIgnoreCase method which you may
choose to use if you wish to ignore the difference between uppercase and lowercase
letters.
Uppercase letters are the capital letters. They are named uppercase from the olden days
when printers had to make up lines of text by placing individual letters into trays. The
capital letters were kept in the upper part of the storage area, hence the term uppercase.
Similarly, the other letters were kept in the lower part of the storage area, hence the term
lowercase.
How are uppercase and lowercase letters stored in a computer? They are all just bit
patterns.
When you look at the Unicode description for the Latin alphabet, the one commonly used
in English-speaking countries, at http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf, youll
find that the uppercase letters we need are represented by hexadecimal values between
0041 (the first three digits are the column heading on page 2 of that document) and 005A,
and the lowercase letters are represented by hexadecimal values between 0061 and 007A.
That is, the uppercase letters have a lower hexadecimal representation than the lowercase
letters.
But it is easy to convert from a lowercase letter to the corresponding uppercase letter;
treat the characters as numbers, and simply subtract the hexadecimal number 0020 from
the numeric equivalent of the lowercase character. Fortunately there is a method,
Character.toUpperCase, to do this automatically for us.
Why would you want to ignore case as you compare names? Perhaps you want to have
Von Smitz and von Smitz appear together on the list.
When comparing characters, note a blank is less than a digit, which is less than any
uppercase letter, which is less than any lowercase letter. Within the uppercase (and
lowercase) category, letters compare in normal alphabetical order.

/**

143

* alphabetic comparison
* @return negative, 0, positive if Person p1 is <, =,
*
or > Person p2
* based on the family name, given name, and other name
*/
public static final Comparator<Person>
ALPHABETIC_ORDER = new Comparator<Person>() {
public int compare(Person p1, Person p2) {
int result = 0;
// compare family names
result = p1.getLastName().
compareTo(p2.getLastName());
if (result == 0){
result = p1.getFirstName().
compareTo(p2.getFirstName());
if (result == 0)
result = p1.getMiddleName().
compareTo(p2.getMiddleName());
}
return result;
}
};
Note that this method assumes both objects being compared are of type Person. It will
not work if this assumption is not valid. Any statement about what must be true before a
method is invoked is known as a precondition, and should be documented in the method.
Any statement about what must be true after a method completes its processing is known
as a postcondition. It too should be documented.
Particularly note the semi-colon after the final brace. That semi-colon must be there as
this statement, loengthy though it is, is just declaring a variable, and every declaration
statement must end with a semi-colon.
This Comparator is declared to be static. This means there is only one method with
this name (ALPHABETIC_ORDER) within the Person class. There may be many
Person objects, but they all use the same method when comparing two Persons
alphabetically. The name of the comparator is capitalised, following the convention that
constants (declared using the reserved word final) are capitalised.
Compile the Person, Student, and Professor classes.

144

Unit testing the comparator

How do you create a unit test for a comparator? This is particularly difficult with the
comparator we have written, since it is in an abstract class, and we cant create unit tests
for abstract classes.
But we note that both Student and Professor are derived from Person, so we can
place our unit tests in the tests for either of those classes. Here is one such test, from the
Student class.
public void testComparator1() {
Student s1 = new Student("123", "Richard", "Dennis",
"Gee", "Rick", "Richard D. Gee", a, d);
Student s2 = new Student("125", "Rick", "", "Gee",
"Rick", "Richard D. Gee", a, d);
assertTrue(Person.ALPHABETIC_ORDER.compare(s1, s2)
< 0);
}
The test will succeed. The family names of the two students are the same but the given
name of s1 is less than the given name of s2. The first three letters are the same, but the
fourth letters are different, and h is less than k. For characters, alphabetical order
translates into less than.
Note the name of the unit test. The digit on the end of it is meant to imply there will be
many such tests, one for each possible path through the comparator. To fully test the
comparator, there should be many unit tests. How many?
Each comparison can have three outcomes, and there are three comparisons. Thus there
are theoretically three (the number of outcomes per comparison) raised to the power three
(the number of comparisons), or 27, unit tests. But some of the tests are unnecessary.
There is no need to test the first name when we know that the family names are different.
Thus we need three tests to deal with the family name. We need three more to deal with
the given name where the family name is the same. We need three more to deal with the
middle name if the family and given names are the same. Thus we only need nine tests.
In the section which follows, we see an alternative form of the comparator, one which
requires only three comparisons and hence only three unit tests.
In subsequent sections, we will see comparators for different classes, which will involve
four or more comparisons, each of which may have three outcomes, thus requiring three
raised to the power four, or 81, unit tests.

145

Alternative versions of the comparator

Note the comment above about the distinction between lowercase and uppercase letters.
If we wish to ignore the case of the names (so that we treat Von Smitz and von Smitz as
identical), we replace the compareTo methods in the comparator above with
compareToIgnoreCase.
You could also combine the parts of the name into one string and compare those. That
gives the following comparator.
public static final Comparator<Person>
ALPHABETIC_ORDER_ALTERNATIVE = new Comparator<Person>()
{
public int compare(Person p1, Person p2) {
String name1 = p1.getLastName() + +
p1.getFirstName()
+ +p1.getMiddleName();
String name2 = p2.getLastName() + +
p2.getFirstName()
+ + p2.getMiddleName();
return name1.compareToIgnoreCase(name2);
}
};
This is yet another example that there are often many ways to accomplish the same result.
When I first wrote that method I did not include the single character between the parts of
the name. But then I realised that there could be examples in which the space would
matter. Consider the two names Pauly Ian Smith and Paul Yian Smith.

Producing an alphabetical list of professors

How do we combine our knowledge of collections and comparators so that we can
produce a list of professors at the college in alphabetical order by name?
We find that we have a problem. We have implemented a set as a HashSet because of
its speed. But now we need a different implementation since a HashSet is not sorted
and can not be sorted.
Instead, we choose a different implementation of the Set interface, the TreeSet. We
will transfer the data from the HashSet to the TreeSet, creating a new set ordered as
the Comparator prescribes, but we will do the transfer only when we need the data in
sorted order. Most of the time, we leave the set in its unsorted state.

146

To use a TreeSet requires the following two changes in the College class. First, we
add an import statement.
import java.util.TreeSet;
Then we create a new method, alphaProfessorList.
/**
* produce a professor list, in alphabetical order
*/
public String alphaProfessorList()
{
// create the TreeSet
Set<Professor> alphaProfessors =
new TreeSet<Professor>(Person.ALPHABETIC_ORDER);
alphaProfessors.addAll(professors);
// traverse the Set (in alphabetical order)
// and compute a String
String result = "";
String prefix = "";
for (Professor p: alphaProfessors) {
result = result + prefix + p.toString();
prefix = "\n";
}
return result;
}
The statement that creates the TreeSet indicates what type of objects will be in the set
and what comparator is used to compare two such objects.
The addAll method transfers all the elements of the (unordered) HashSet into the
(ordered) TreeSet. Once that is complete, we simply need to visit the elements of the
TreeSet one after the other and we will visit them in alphabetical order.
How a TreeSet represents its elements in order is of no concern to us right now. If you
want more details, consider taking a data structures course, the normal follow-up to an
introductory programming course.

The for-each statement, revisited

Note that we have again used the for-each statement to visit all the elements in a
collection. We are not altering those elements so we do not need an iterator.

147

String result = ;
String prefix =
for (Professor p:
alphaProfessors) {
result = result + prefix +
p.toString();
prefix = \n;
}
We could use an iterator to process all objects in the collection but this for statement
provides a shorthand way of referring to individual elements in the collection.

BlueJ revisited
This may be an appropriate point to mention the Test Fixture to Object Bench menu
option.
When you right-click a unit test on your class diagram, one of the options on the menu
that appears is Test Fixture to Object Bench. This creates all the objects you need to run
your tests, and places them on the Object Bench, which we used in the beginning of this
course but havent used lately.
We can run individual methods of these objects, independent of the unit tests. This can be
useful when we are trying to debug (fix the errors in) an object or class.
Debug is a term that dates back to the beginning of computers. At that time, the memory
was switches which actually moved. The story is that one of these switches was behaving
erratically. When someone went inside the computer (Yes, they were very large!) to
check out why, they found a moth (colloquially called a bug) had become caught in the
switch. Hence, the switch was de-bugged.
Wikipedia points out the previous history of the term and notes there is some question
about this story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_bug In any case, I prefer not to
use the word debug as it has somewhat humorous connotations. You are finding and
removing the errors in your program, you are not debugging it.

Producing a professor list in numeric order

But lets go back to the problem of modelling a school, its people, and its courses.

148

Sometimes it is more appropriate to have a list of employees ordered by identifier

(employee number) rather than by name. To facilitate this, we need a second
Comparator, another method in College, and another unit test.
This Comparator is much simpler than the first one we created, since we are
comparing only the identifier values.
/**
* numeric comparison
* @return -1, 0, 1 if Person p1 is <, =, or > Person p2
* based on the identifier
*/
public static final Comparator<Person>
NUMERIC_ORDER = new Comparator<Person>() {
public int compare(Person p1, Person p2) {
return (p1.getIdentifier().
compareTo(p2.getIdentifier()));
}
};
You will probably consider copying and modifying alphaProfessorList to create
numericProfessorList. You will probably consider doing the same for the unit
test.
That would be the easy way, but it has its problems. You may forget to make a change in
the copy, for example. Or, even worse, the code you copy may contain an error, and now
that error is in two places.
Can we avoid having the same code in two places? Of course, or I wouldnt ask the
question!

Passing a Comparator to a method

Did I hear you say Why cant we just have one professor list method and tell it which
Comparator to use? You can, and you should.
/**
* produce an employee list, in the order specified
* by the Comparator
*/
public String professorList(Comparator<Person>
theComparator)
{
// create the TreeSet

149

Set<Professor> ordered =
new TreeSet<Professor>(theComparator);
ordered.addAll(professors);
// traverse the Set
// and compute a String
String result = ;
Boolean needsReturn = false;
for (Professor p: ordered) {
if (needsReturn)
result = result + \n;
result = result + p.toString() + '\n';
needsReturn = true;
}
return result;
}
Dont forget
import java.util.Comparator;
The coding in the method above is slightly different from that in
alphaProfessorList. Once again we see that there are many ways to accomplish
the same task.
A unit test for the alphabetic Comparator could look like this.
public void testAlphaProfessorList1() {
College c = College.getCollege();
// create some professors
c.addProfessor (professor1);
c.addProfessor(professor4);
c.addProfessor (professor3);
c.addProfessor (professor2);
System.out.println(s.professorList(Person.ALPHABETIC_ORDER)
);
}
Remember to use View, Show Terminal so there is a place on the screen to display the
class list.
The unit test for the numeric Comparator would be the same, replacing
ALPHABETIC_ORDER with NUMERIC_ORDER.

150

So we are able to remove the alphaProfessorList and

numericProfessorList methods from College, and to remove their unit tests
from CollegeTest.

Registering students in sections

A section contains students. In our implementation sections do not contain Student
objects, they contain student identifiers. We designed them that way, so that we only
have one instance of a Student object for each student (in the students collection in
College) and we gain access to that instance by providing the only instance of the
College class with the student number.
How do we create the collection of students in a section?
First, we need to decide the type of the collection we will use. We can use either a set or a
list. There is no compelling reason for one over the other. Flip a coin. There it goes. Up,
and up, over, and over, and it comes down set.
Thus we need the following statements.
private Set<String> students;
In the constructor, we need
this.students = new HashSet<String>();
In the clone method we need
s.students.addAll(this.students);
We need to add a students identifier to the collection. If we have a Student object, this
method works.
/**
* add a Student object to the section
* @param Student object to be added
*
* @param a Student objcet
*/
public void addStudent(Student s)
{
students.add(s.getIdentifier());
}

151

Sometimes we may have the Student object to be added to the collection in a

Section object. Sometimes we may have the identifier. That allows us to have a second
addStudent method.
/**
* add a Student object to the section
* @param the student identifier to be added
*/
public void addStudent(String sn)
{
students.add(sn);
}
Soon we will need to access all the students in the collection. Heres a method to do that.
/**
* @return collection of Student objects
*/
public Set<String> getStudents() {
return students;
}

Producing an alphabetic class list

How do we combine all our knowledge of collections so that we can produce a list of
students in a Section, in alphabetical order by name?
We find that we have a problem. We have implemented a set as a HashSet because of
its speed. But now we need a different implementation since a HashSet is not sorted.
Instead, we choose the TreeSet. We will transfer the data from the HashSet to the
TreeSet, creating a new set ordered as described by a Comparator, but only when
we need the data in sorted order. Most of the time, we leave the set in its unsorted state.
Recall that the Section collection contains student numbers. Once we extract an
element from that collection, we must retrieve the corresponding object from the
College collection of students. This calls for a getStudent method within the
College class.
/**
* given a student number, return the student object
* @param a student number
*/
public Student getStudent(String identifier) {
Student result = null;
152

for (Student s:students) {

if (identifier.equals(s.getIdentifier())) {
result = s;
break;
}
}
return result;
}
To use a TreeSet requires two changes in the Section class. First, we add an
import statement.
import java.util.TreeSet;
Then we create a new method, alphaClassList.
public String alphaClasslist()
{
College c = College.getCollege();
// create the TreeSet
Set<Student> orderedStudents =
new TreeSet<Student>();
for (Student sn : students) {
orderedStudents.add(c.getStudent(sn));
}
// traverse the Set and compute a String
String result = "";
boolean needsReturn = false;
for (String st: orderedStudents) {
if (needsReturn)
result = result + '\n';
result = result + st.getIdentifier
+ \t + st.getFullName();
needsReturn = true;
}
return result;
}
The statement that creates the TreeSet indicates what type of objects will be in the set
and what comparator is used to compare two such objects.
We visit each element of the collection of student numbers. For each, we ask the college
to give us the Student object. We insert each into the TreeSet, thus ordering them
alphabetically. Once we have visited all elements, we simply need to visit the elements of
the TreeSet one after the other and we will visit them in alphabetical order.

153

The for-each statement, revisited

Note that we have again used the for-each statement, twice in fact, to visit all the
elements in a collection.
The first time, we visit the elements in the students collection.
for (String sn : students) {
orderedStudents.add(c.getStudent(sn));
}
Then we visit all the elements in the orderedStudents collection.
String result = ;
for (String st: orderedStudents) {
if (needsReturn)
result = result + '\n';
result = result + st.getIdentifier
+ \t + st.getFullName();
needsReturn = true;
}
We could use an iterator to process all objects in the collection but this for statement
provides a shorthand way of referring to individual elements in the collection.

Producing a class list in numeric order

But lets go back to the problem of modelling a school, its people, and its courses.
Sometimes it is more appropriate to have a class list of students in a section, ordered by
student number rather than by name. As we saw earlier, we can provide a comparator as a
parameter to a method.
This Comparator is much simpler than the first one we created, since we are
comparing only the identifier values.
/**
* numeric comparison
* @return -1, 0, 1 if Person p1 is <, =, or > Person p2
* based on the identifier
*/
public static final Comparator<Person>
NUMERIC_ORDER = new Comparator<Person>() {
public int compare(Person p1, Person p2) {

154

return (p1.getIdentifier().
compareTo(p2.getIdentifier()));
}
};
Modify alphaClassList so its name is simply classList, and so that it accepts a
comparator as a parameter. Create unit tests for both comparators.

Students enrol in sections

Now that we have created a Section object which contains a collection of students, we
are able to see how to model a college in much more detail. In particular, we can model
the association between Student and Section where a student registers in a section
of the course. We can model that by having a Student object contain a collection of
section identifiers.
Make it so.

Summary
Now that a section knows the semester in which it is taught, we can focus on the daily
meetings of the class, the details of which include a room number, the start time, and the
end time. We will do that in the following chapter.
To produce a schedule will introduce us to the wonders and challenges of string
manipulation.

155

Exercises
1.

A student enrols in many sections in a semester. Using the techniques from this
chapter, model that.
That is, a Student object needs a collection of the section identifiers of the
current sections. Each Student object should be able to produce a
currentEnrollment report listing all these sections.

2.

A professor teaches many sections in a semester. Using the techniques from this
chapter, model that.
That is, a Professor object needs a collection of the section identifiers of the
current sections. Each Professor object should be able to produce a
currentTeachingLoad report listing all these sections.

3.

A professor who as been at the college for more than one semester has a history of
the courses which he/she has taught. Model that.
That is, a Professor object needs a collection of the subject abbreviations and
course numbers of previously-taught courses. Each Professor object should be
able to produce a previouslyTaught report listing all these courses.

4.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modeling a bank account, with a collection of

transactions. In what order should the transactions be stored? Why?

5.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modeling the sightings a birder makes. In what

order should the sightings be recorded? Why? Note that a birder will sometimes
wish to have a list in order by species and sometimes in order by date and time.
Sometimes a birder will only want sightings for a particular time period. How do
those ideas affect you earlier answer?

6.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modeling playing cards. In what order should

the playing cards be stored in a collection?

7.

Explore the DecimalFormat class to see what other capabilities it contains.

156

Chapter 9 Collections, part 3

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Produce reports from collections

Use and manipulate the contents of a StringBuffer
Describe the difference between aggregation and composition

Introduction
In the previous chapter, we mentioned that we wish to model when a Section is
offered and we mentioned there are two aspects to when; the semester (which we have
modelled), and the time and day within the semester. We begin this chapter by modelling
the time and day within the semester.

The Meeting class

We will model this aspect of when by indicating the date and time of each meeting,
along with the location of the meeting. A Section object will contain a collection of
Meeting objects.
We will use a 24-hour clock to represent the start and end times. Thus, the corresponding
instance variables will be integers.
We will use the constants from the Calendar class to represent the days of the week.
Thus, the corresponding instance variables will be integers.
Can a section meet twice on the same day? That would be unusual, but it is possible. We
must make sure we do not make that impossible. Note that the course in which this book
was first used originally met in a 120-minute block, followed by a recess. We changed
that to three 40-minute blocks, each separated with a 10-minute recess. Yes, a course may
meet several times in one day.
To simplify this model a little, we will assume the room number of the meeting is simply
a String.

157

Instance variables
Since a section meets many times a week, we should create another class, this one called
Meeting, and a Section object should contain a collection of Meeting objects. An
object has identity, state, and behaviour, as we have already seen many times.
Identity is the name of the object, and we create the name through a declaration
statement, so there is no problem there.
What is the state of a Meeting object? That is, what are its instance variables and how
do they receive their values?
private
private
private
private

int dayOfWeek;
String roomNumber;
int startTime;
int endTime;

Behaviours
And what are the behaviours of a Meeting object? Aside from the obvious getters and
setters, it may be useful to have a method that computes the duration of a meeting in
minutes.
A meeting may begin at 1000 and end at 1050, a duration of 50 minutes. But it may begin
at 0830 and end at 0920, also a duration of 50 minutes. In the first case, you can subtract
the start time from the end time and calculate the length immediately, but you can not do
this in the second case.
How do you calculate the length of a meeting?

Time arithmetic
There are many ways to calculate the duration of a meeting, but all require you to have
both the minutes and hours of both the beginning and ending times available. How do
you separate a number like 0830 into its hours (08) and its minutes (30)? Probably the
easiest way is as follows.
int startHours = startTime / 100;
int startMinutes = startTime % 100;
In those statements we are declaring two variables and we are giving them values at the
same time.

158

The first statement uses division (division is represented by the /, or slash) to isolate the
hours. When you divide an integer by an integer, the result is an integer; any remainder in
the division is dropped and no rounding takes place. For example, 830 / 100 is 8,
1020/100 is 10, and 955 / 100 is 9.
To determine the remainder discarded in the integer division, use the modulus operator
(represented by %). 830 % 100 is 30. That is, the remainder when you divided 830 by
100 is 30. 1020 % 100 is 20. The remainder when you divide 1020 by 100 is 20. 955 %
100 is 55. The remainder when you divide 955 by 100 is 55.
Similarly, we can calculate when the meeting ends.
int endHours = endTime / 100;
int endMinutes = endTime % 100;
Once you have the hour and minute when the meeting begins and ends, it is a simple
matter to calculate its duration, in minutes.
return (endHours - startHours) * 60
+ (endMinutes - startMinutes);
This is one of the more complicated arithmetic calculations we have seen. It involves the
idea that some calculations have priority over others. That is, some calculations are done
before others. Parentheses indicate that the calculations within the parentheses should be
done before any other calculations. In our case, there are two parenthesised calculations
which are done (the two subtractions) and the results saved in temporary storage.
To decide what is done with the those results, you need to know that multiplication
(indicated by an asterisk, *) has a higher priority than addition. Thus the first saved result
is multiplied by 60 and the result of that calculation is added to the second saved result.
For example, when a meeting runs from 0830 to 0950, the calculation computes (9 8) *
60 + (50 30) or 1 * 60 + 20, or 60 + 20, or 80 minutes. If a meeting runs from 1130 to
1220, the calculation computes (12 11) * 60 + (20 30), or 1 * 60 + ( 10), or 60 + (10), or 50 minutes.
Should a calculation use more than one multiplication operation, they would be evaluated
from left to right. So too would division and so too would a mix of multiplication and
division operations.
More-complicated calculations could use more than one addition operation; they would
be evaluated left to right as well, but only after the multiplication and division operations
had been completed. Subtraction and addition have the same priority so are done left to
right.
Note that these calculations assume there are no errors (intentional or otherwise) in the
times provided. There is an expression Garbage in, garbage out. For example, due to
159

sloppy input handling, a meeting may have a start time of 3456 and an end time of 6578.
It may have a start time of 1200 and an end time of 1030. We will eventually modify the
class to prevent bad data being provided, but we cant do that right now; we dont know
how to throw exceptions.

Section uses Meeting

Now that we have a Meeting class, we can attach a collection of Meeting objects to a
Section object. What type of collection should we use?
We have seen a List (of Sections added to a Course object.) We have seen a Set
(of Student identifiers representing students in a section) and we have seen its two
implementations (HashSet and TreeSet.)
When you check the online documentation, youll find there are other types of collections
as well. For now, though, I think a TreeSet is the most appropriate one to choose.
Why?
A TreeSet is ordered and we will often want to retrieve the Meeting objects in order.
In particular, we will produce a schedule showing when each section of each course is
offered. The individual meetings will be in order from Sunday through Saturday,
following the normal North American week.
Why is that the normal order, when Saturday and Sunday form the weekend? An end
implies it is after something. Many religious groups and calendars from Europe seem to
have it right, with the week beginning on Monday and ending on Sunday.
Since we are going to use a TreeSet we need to specify a Comparator<Meeting>
which describes how to compare one Meeting object to another. (And we need an
equals method for Meeting objects. That one is easy. They are the same when they
take place in the same room on the same day at the same time.)
/**
* is one meeting equal to another?
* @return true if day, times, and room match
*/
public boolean equals(Object o) {
boolean result = false;
if (o instanceof Meeting){
Meeting m = (Meeting) o;
result = (this.roomNumber.
equals(m.getRoomNumber())) &&
(this.dayOfWeek == m.getDayOfWeek()) &&
(this.startTime == m.getStartTime()) &&
(this.endTime == m.getEndTime());
160

}
return result;
}
Note that we need to use an equals method with the roomNumber, since it is an
Object, in this case a String; we use == with the day of week and the times, since
they are primitive datatypes.
If you dont like using both equals and ==, you can convert an int to an Integer,
and then use its equals method. But that makes code that is overly complicated and
hard to read.
We combine four boolean values, using the and operation (&&). The only time this
combination will evaluate to true is when all four boolean values are true; that is,
when the day, room number, start time, and end time are all the same.
On to the comparator.
What does it mean that one meeting is less than another? Here is my understanding.
When the first is on an earlier day than the second, the first is less.
If both are on the same day, the one with the earlier start time is less.
If both are on the same day and have the same start time, then the meeting which
ends first is less.
Based on that understanding, here is my Comparator<Meeting>.
/**
* which meeting is less?
* @return -1, 0, 1 if Meeting m1 is <, =, or > Meeting m2
* based on the day of week, start time, and end time
*/
public static final Comparator<Meeting>
TIME_ORDER = new Comparator<Meeting>() {
public int compare(Meeting m1, Meeting m2) {
int result = 0;
int d1 = m1.getDayOfWeek();
int d2 = m2.getDayOfWeek();
// compare day of week
if (d1 < d2) // m1 is earlier in the week
result = -1;
else
if (d1 > d2) // m2 is later in the week
result = +1;
else {
// both on same day of the week
int s1 = m1.getStartTime();

161

int s2 = m2.getStartTime();
if (s1 < s2)
result = -1;
else
if (s1 > s2)
result = +1;
else {
// same day, same start time
int e1 = m1.getEndTime();
int e2 = m2.getEndTime();
if (e1 < e2)
result = -1;
else
if (e1 > e2)
result = +1;
else
result = 0;
} // compare end times
} // compare start time
return result;
}; // end TIME_ORDER
};
This comparator is longer than the others we have seen. The reason is that all the values
we are examining are primitive datatypes. Thus we can not use the compareTo method
we have used with Objects. We must use the less than (<) and greater than (>)
operators instead.
In the old days, programmers were considered better when they could write shorter
methods to accomplish a task. Many languages included special features to allow this.
Java still includes one, the use of the conditional operator, the question mark (?). I prefer
not to use it, however. I feel that clarity is reduced by the use of that operator.
If you really want to use the conditional operator, explore its use yourself.

The if statement, revisited

This Comparator contains several if statements, nested within each other. The basic
structure of an if statement is as follows.
if (condition)
Statement to do when the condition is true
else
Statement to do when the condition is false

162

The statement to do needs to be enclosed in braces when it is a compound statement,

containing several other statements. For example, two assignment statements make a
compound statement, and would need to be enclosed in braces. But an if statement is
not a compound statement, so an if within an if does not need braces, although you
may wish to use them to increase clarity.
Thus some of the else clauses in the Comparator do not need braces (because the
statement to do is a simple statement, or is another if statement.) Some do need braces
because the statement to do combines several assignment statements and another if.
Perhaps it is better to always use braces, so you eliminate this does it or does it not
questioning.
The rules of the Java language are well-defined, so none of the if clauses need braces
because they all contain a simple statement, setting the variable result to an
appropriate value.
Note that the braces help tell which else is associated with which if. Indentation does
not do that and can imply associations which do not exist. Consider the following
statements.
if (percentage > 90)
grade = A;
else
grade = F;
message = with distinction;
The third assignment statement will be executed regardless of which path your program
takes through the if statement.
Consider the following statements.
if (percentage > 90)
grade = A;
message = with distinction;
else
grade = F;
This will not compile since there are two statements following the if which are not
enclosed in braces.

Creating the collection of Meeting objects

How does a Section create its TreeSet of Meeting objects?
163

You might be inclined to add the Meeting objects to the constructor. But sections are
often planned and created, without knowing the actual times the section will meet. Thus,
I have not modified my constructor other than to create an empty collection of meetings.
private Set<Meeting> meetings;
this.meetings =
new TreeSet<Meeting>(Meeting.TIME_ORDER);
To add a meeting to the collection, I have created a new method addMeeting.
/**
* add a meeting time
*/
public void addMeeting(Meeting m) {
meetings.add(m);
}
How do you remove a meeting from the collection?
/**
* remove a Meeting object from the section
* @param the meeting to be removed
*/
public void removeMeeting(Meeting m) {
if (meetings.contains(m))
meetings.remove(m);
}
How do you change the time of a meeting? Changing the time of a meeting may seem
difficult, but it is actually easy. One solution is to simply remove the old meeting and
replace it with a new.
/**
* change the time of a meeting
* @param m1 the meeting to be changed
* @param m2 the replacement meeting
*/
public void changeMeeting(Meeting m1, Meeting m2) {
meetings.remove(m1);
meetings.add(m2);
}
It could be even easier by using the setters of the Meeting class.

164

Section uses Meeting displaying the times

Now we proceed to the challenging part, how do you produce a neat summary of the
meeting times?
Assume a section meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 1030 to 1120 each
day, in the same room. We have three separate Meeting objects, one for each day. We
wish to combine the information from these objects into a String that reads M W F
1030 1120 XXX where XXX is the room number, assuming all three meetings are in
the same room. Note the spaces (one after M, one after W, three after F, one after 1030,
and one after 1120.) These spaces represent missing information (the one after M, the one
after W, and the first two after F) and whitespace to make the output clearer (the third one
after F, the one after 1030, and the one after 1120.)
I dont know about your school, but at my college, when classes meet at the same time on
different days, they usually meet in the same rooms. But not always; I once almost had a
class that met three times a week in a different room each day.
When the section meets at different times on the three days, or in different rooms, then
we wish to produce separate lines of output. There may be two or more separate lines,
depending on how many different times or rooms are used.
You should be thinking that a first step is to be able to extract individual Meeting
objects from the collection. Note that these objects will be returned according to the days
of the week, Sunday (represented by the number zero) through Saturday (represented by
the number six), and two meetings on the same day will be in order by starting time,
since we are using the TreeSet implementation and our comparator.
We dont know in advance how many lines of output (Strings) we will need. Often
that forces us into using a collection, which will expand as needed. This time, though, we
can determine an upper bound providing we assume no section meets more than five
times a week. Should a section meet five times a week, meeting at a different time (or in
a different room), we might need five lines of output.
We will be writing a method which will create all the lines of output. At the end of the
method, we can combine the (maximum) five Strings into one and return it.

Arrays
So what type of collection should we use to store five Strings? The collections we
have seen all can vary in size. Using any of them is, to some degree, a matter of overkill.
There is a tried-and-true collection type we can use, since we know that the size of the
collection is small; we can use an array.

165

We have seen the idea of an array mentioned when we first saw the ArrayList class.
An array is a collection of data items, in which individual elements are referred to by
means of an index. That is, when you have an array containing five elements, the first one
has index zero, the second has index one, and the fifth has index four. This is the same
zero-based numbering we found in the Calendar class, and it permeates computing.
Why? Remember that the smallest non-negative integer is zero. Back in the old days,
when memory really mattered and machines were slow, it made sense to start numbering
at zero.
So perhaps we should create an array of String. But wait; didnt we say in an earlier
chapter that a String is immutable? Yes, we did. That means that once it is given a
value, it cant be given a new value.
You may be wondering a little about right now. Havent we created a string by
concatenating a number of values together? Havent we done that in a series of
statements? Consider, for example a slightly-modified version of the toString method
in the Course class.
public String toString() {
DecimalFormat myFormatter = new DecimalFormat(#.#);
String result;
double totalHours;
totalHours = lectureHours + laboratoryHours +
seminarHours;
result = departmentAbbreviation + + courseNumber;
result = result + - + credits + -
result = result + myFormatter.format(hours);
result = result + '\n' + title + '\n' + description;
result = result + (
result = result + myFormatter.format(lectureHours)
result = result + ',' +
myFormatter.format(laboratoryHours)
result = result + ',' + myFormatter.format(seminarHours)
result = result + ')';
return result;
}
Every time we add one string to the end of another we appear to be changing the value of
result.
True, but we did by being wasteful of memory. When we perform those statements in the
method above, we use the value of result to create another variable. We them have
result refer to that new variable. The original value is left in memory, but nothing is
referring to it. At some later time, a process called garbage collection will be used to

166

identify the memory which is not referred to, and return it to the pool of available
memory.
Note that all the changes we made involved adding characters to the end of an existing
value. While summarizing meeting times, Im thinking of a process in which we
construct a String as we read meeting details, perhaps modifying the String
(inserting new characters, or changing existing ones) when we read a different meeting
detail. But a String wont allow this insertion. We need something like a String but
which one allows us to modify it. How about a StringBuffer?

StringBuffer
The online documentation states that a StringBuffer is a mutable sequence of
characters. A StringBuffer is like a String, but can be modified. At any point in
time it contains some particular sequence of characters, but the length and content of the
sequence can be changed through certain method calls. Thats what we want.
In fact, when you read the documentation on StringBuffer youll find that the most
recent versions of Java have included a new class, StringBuilder, which might be
even better. Well use StringBuffers here and leave StringBuilders as an
exercise.
I am thinking we should create five StringBuffers, each of which will contain seven
characters representing the days of the week, a space (to make the result more readable),
the four digit start time, a space (to make the result more readable), the four-digit end
time, a space (to increase readability), and the room number for the meeting, as shown in
the example above.
Thus each StringBuffer needs to contain 18 characters (seven plus one plus four
plus one plus four plus one) plus the length of a room number (in the case of my college,
four characters), a total of 22 characters. The length of a room number may vary for a
different college. For that matter, other values we have considered (the subject
abbreviation and the course number) may be different for other colleges too.
Now we need an array which we can use to access the individual StringBuffers.
// assumption - no more than five meetings a week
StringBuffer temp[] = new StringBuffer[5];
Then we need to initialize each element of the array to a string of 22 blanks.
int row = 0;
for (row = 0; row < 5; row++)
temp[row] = new StringBuffer(

);
167

There are 22 spaces between the quotation marks in the last statement.

Adjusting to different colleges

But look, we have used the number five twice already (and the word five once.) It is
better to avoid such use, and create a constant, and use it instead. What if you ever have
to change the number? Will you remember that every five is the same or do some mean
something else?
In Canada, for a while we had two different sales taxes. The provincial rate where I live
was 0.07, and the federal (national) rate was also 0.07. Then the federal rate dropped to
0.06. Imagine how many programmers had to look at each use of 0.07 and see whether it
was the provincial rate (which didnt change) or the federal rate (which did.)
And then the federal rate changed again, to 5%!
While we are thinking about avoiding repetition of numbers, lets deal with the other
constants we have.
We mentioned the length of the start and end time of a meeting, the length of a subject
abbreviation, the length of a course number, and the length of a room number. Can we
define those lengths as constants? If so, where?
Since they are college-wide limits, I would suggest we place these limits in the College
class. At the moment, that class will simply provide these values when we request them,
using static getters. The getters are static to ensure there is only one official college
value for these constants. In an exercise at the end of this chapter, we will explore how to
use resource bundles to customise these values for different colleges.
Here are the additions to the College class, with comments omitted to save trees.
public class College
{
// college-wide constants
private static final int MAX_MEETINGS_PER_WEEK = 5;
private static final int MEETING_START_TIME_LENGTH = 4;
private static final int MEETING_END_TIME_LENGTH = 4;
private static final int ROOM_NUMBER_LENGTH = 4;
private static final int DEPT_ABBREVIATION_LENGTH = 4;
public static int getMaxMeetingsPerWeek() {
return MAX_MEETINGS_PER_WEEK;
}

168

public static int getMeetingStartTimeLength() {

return MEETING_START_TIME_LENGTH;
}
public static int getMeetingEndTimeLength() {
return MEETING_END_TIME_LENGTH;
}
public static int getRoomNumberLength() {
return ROOM_NUMBER_LENGTH;
}
public static int getDeptAbbreviationLength() {
return DEPT_ABBREVIATION_LENGTH;
}}
Of course the instance variables are private. As constants, which we know they are
since they are declared to be final, their names are capitalised. Since long sequences of
capital (uppercase) letters are hard to read, spaces within the names are replaced with
underscore characters. The methods are static methods and thus the constants too
must be static.
Now we can retrieve these constants wherever appropriate.
// assumption - no more than maxMeetings meetings a week
int maxMeetings = College.getMaxMeetingsPerWeek();
StringBuffer temp[] = new StringBuffer[maxMeetings];
// each element of the array is empty
// create an array of Strings of the correct length,
// containing blanks. some of the blanks will be
// replaced later
int lengthNeeded = 7 + 1 +
College.getMeetingStartTimeLength() +
1 + College.getMeetingEndTimeLength() + 1 +
College.getRoomNumberLength();
for (int row = 0; row < maxMeetings; row++)
temp[row] = new StringBuffer(lengthNeeded);
for (int j = 0; j < lengthNeeded; j++) {
temp[row].insert(j, " ");
}
}
The array is created properly, for now and for the future, for the current college standards
and for future standards.

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Another for loop

Whats this for loop we have been using? It looks something like for-each loops weve
seen when processing collections but its different.
Rather than looping over all the elements in a collection, this for loop is controlled by a
counter.
The logic here is:
Initialize the counter (row in the first loop, j in the second) to the value
specified after the first equal sign, usually zero.
Check that the continuation condition is met (row < maxMeetings in the first
loop, j < lengthNeeded in the second).
When the continuation condition is met, perform the statements in the body of the
loop. Then increase the counter as shown (increment by one), and loop back to the
check.
When the continuation condition is not met, the loop is finished.
Thus row takes on the values of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and each corresponding element in the array
is set to, in our case, 22 spaces.

Processing all the meetings

Now we need a way to visit all the Meeting objects and place them into the appropriate
StringBuffer.
for (Meeting mt: meetings) {
// do something
}

Manipulating StringBuffers
Placing data in StringBuffers
The last snippet of code said we need to do something as we process each meeting.
What is the something we need to do?
For the first Meeting object, we need to place its details into the first StringBuffer;
we need to store the day of the week, the start and end times, and the room number.

170

For each subsequent Meeting object, we need to compare its details to the details
already in the array of StringBuffers; when there is a match of room and times, we
need to modify the matching StringBuffer to indicate a meeting on a different day.
When there is no match to any of the existing StringBuffers, we need to begin
building a new StringBuffer in the appropriate format.
How do we know we are dealing with the first Meeting object? Alternatively, how do
we know we are not dealing with the first Meeting object?
In answering those two questions, you begin to review the datatypes you know to find
one that takes on only two values. Right, boolean variables!
boolean first = true;
for (Meeting mt: meetings) {
if (first) {
// do something
first = false;
}
else
// do something different
}
From the description of the output wed like to create (seven characters for the days of
the week, a space, the four-digit start time, a space, the four-digit end time, a space, and
the room number for the meeting), you can replace the comment // do something
with the following.
temp[0].replace(8, 11, mt.getStartTime());
temp[0].replace(13, 16, mt.getEndTime());
temp[0].replace(18, 21, mt.getRoomNumber());
StringBuffers are objects, so the syntax we need is the name of the object, followed
by a period and the name of the method we want to invoke, followed by the parameters of
that method. In these cases, we are replacing four blanks in the StringBuffer with
the values returned by the Meeting getters. We indicate which characters to replace by
giving the index of the first one to be replaced, and the index of the last one to be
replaced.
But the numbers 11, 13, 16, 18, and 21 are calculated on the basis of the lengths of the
start and end times of a meeting, and the length of the room number. The number eight is
calculated as one more than the number of days in the week. Remember that the first
position in the StringBuffer is position zero. Thus the abbreviations for the days of the
week will be in positions zero through six. Position seven will be occupied by a space.
Thus the first digit of the start time will be position eight.
We should calculate those numbers so they reflect differences between colleges.
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// p1a is the location of the first digit of start time

// p1b is the location of the last digit of start time
// p2a ditto for end time
// p2b ditto for end time
// p3a ditto for room number
// p3b ditto for room number
int p1a = 8;
int p1b = p1a + College.getMeetingStartTimeLength() - 1;
int p2a = p1b + 2;
int p2b = p2a + College.getMeetingEndTimeLength() - 1 ;
int p3a = p2b + 2;
int p3b = p3a + College.getRoomNumberLength() - 1;
Thus when we place the times and room number into the array element, we should use
these statements.
temp[0].replace(p1a, p1b, mt.getStartTime());
temp[0].replace(p2a, p2b, mt.getEndTime());
temp[0].replace(p3a, p3b, mt.getRoomNumber());
Recall that getStartTime and getEndTime both return ints. The lines above will
work, but they dont give the correct result. We are expecting the times to be four digits,
but early morning times will be only three. (If we had stored the times as Strings we
would not have this problem but would probably have others. In particular, we would
need to ensure that all times contained the same number of characters.) We will use
DecimalFormat to ensure the times are all four digits in length.
DecimalFormat myFormatter = new DecimalFormat(0000);
creates the DecimalFormat object and
temp[0].replace(p1a, p1b,
myFormatter.format(mt.getStartTime()));
temp[0].replace(p2a, p2b,
myFormatter.format(mt.getEndTime()));
uses it.
roomNumber is already a four-character string.

Converting numbers to day of the week

172

What about the day of the week? mt.getDayOfTheWeek returns an integer, so we

need a way of converting this to the appropriate character representation of the day of the
week.
The String class provides a method called charAt. You provide the position within a
String and charAt provides the character at that position.
Suppose we have
String dayAbbreviations = SMTWRFA;
We have used R to represent Thursday (eliminating confusion with the T representing
Tuesday) and A to represent Saturday (eliminating confusion with the S representing
Sunday).
Then
dayAbbreviations.charAt(mt.getDayOfWeek()));
will extract the appropriate day letter, and
temp[0].setCharAt(mt.getDayOfWeek(),
dayAbbreviations.charAt(mt.getDayOfWeek()));
will place it in the appropriate element of the first row in the array.
setCharAt works with individual chars; replace works with Strings.
Note that this relies very heavily on the idea that the Calendar class uses the numbers
zero through six to represent the days of the week. Should that implementation change,
our program will cease working. This is an example of coupling, where one piece of code
is very closely involved with another piece of code, in this case by knowing and using the
internal details of that other piece of code. This is a situation we would normally avoid.
Since we have mentioned resource bundles and customization, we may wish to consider
what would happen if the college we are modeling were in an area where English is not
the spoken language. What would be the abbreviations for the days, and how would they
be provided?
For example, the website http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare109a.htm says
The days of the week (i giorni della settimana) are not capitalized in Italian. The week
begins with Monday.
lunedMonday
martedTuesday
mercoledWednesday
giovedThursday

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venerdFriday
sabatoSaturday
domenicaSunday
What are appropriate abbreviations for Tuesday and Wednesday?

Processing second and subsequent meetings

What happens as we process subsequent meetings?
Rather than developing a mammoth method, we are developing code snippets that we
will combine to create a method which will scan through all generated rows, seeking ones
(with the same start and end times, and room) to update. Should it not find one, then it
needs to create another row.
How many rows have we generated? Well, we have one so far. We should remember
that. Declare a variable before the loop begins
int rowsGenerated = 0;
and give it a value after the first row has been generated.
rowsGenerated = 1;
Note that rowsGenerated is also the number of the next row which we might
generate. This is because the array indexes start at zero.

A lot of code
Now we have an idea of what we need to do to deal with all the meeting objects. Take a
deep breath as there is a lot of code in the following method.
/**
* produce a list of meeting times
*/
public String meetingsList() {
int maxMeetings = College.getMaxMeetingsPerWeek();
// assumption - no more than maxMeetings meetings
// per week
StringBuffer temp[] = new StringBuffer[maxMeetings];
// create an array of Strings of the correct length,
// containing blanks
// some of the blanks will be replaced later
int lengthNeeded = 7 + 1 +
College.getMeetingStartTimeLength() +

174

1 + College.getMeetingEndTimeLength() + 1 +
College.getRoomNumberLength();
for (int row = 0; row < maxMeetings; row++){
temp[row] = new StringBuffer(lengthNeeded);
for (int j = 0; j < lengthNeeded; j++) {
temp[row].insert(j, " ");
}
}
// remember if we are processing first Meeting
boolean first = true;
// ensure times are four-digits
DecimalFormat myFormatter = new DecimalFormat("0000");
// abbreviations for days of the week
String dayAbbreviations = "SMTWRFA";
// number of rows of output we generate
int rowsGenerated = 0;
// p1a is the location of the first digit of start time
// p1b is the location of the last digit of start time
// p2a ditto for end time
// p2b ditto for end time
// p3a ditto for room number
// p3b ditto for romm number
int p1a = 8; // days in the week plus 1
int p1b = p1a + College.getMeetingStartTimeLength()
- 1;
int p2a = p1b + 2;
int p2b = p2a + College.getMeetingEndTimeLength() - 1 ;
int p3a = p2b + 2;
int p3b = p3a + College.getRoomNumberLength() - 1;
// examine all Meeting objects
for (Meeting mt: meetings) {
// extract fields necessary for comparison
// done mainly for efficiency, so we dont need
// to extract the same field several times
String st = myFormatter.format(mt.getStartTime());
String et = myFormatter.format(mt.getEndTime());
String rt = new String(mt.getRoomNumber());
int dt1 = mt.getDayOfWeek();
char dt = dayAbbreviations.charAt(dt1);
// the first Meeting object is a special case
if (first) {
// simply place the Meeting details in the
// appropriate positions of the first element
// of temp. Note that we use the replace

175

// method for Strings, and setCharAt for

// a single char
temp[0].replace(p1a, p1b, st);
temp[0].replace(p2a, p2b, et);
temp[0].replace(p3a, p3b, rt);
temp[0].setCharAt(dt1, dt);
// remember that we have generated a row
rowsGenerated = 1;
// and remember that we are no longer
// processing the first Meeting object
first = false;
} // end first
else {
// process all Meeting objects except the first
// well be searching through the rows we
// have generated and need to know if we
// find a match
boolean found = false;
// scan all existing generated rows
for (int i = 0; i < rowsGenerated; i++){
// check things that need to match
// IMPORTANT NOTE:
// Substring has two parameters. The
// first is the start of the substring
// you are looking for. The second is ONE
// MORE than the end position you wish
// to consider.
boolean matchStart = temp[i].substring(p1a,
p1b + 1).equals(st);
boolean matchEnd = temp[i].substring(p2a,
p2b + 1).equals(et);
boolean matchRoom = temp[i].substring(p3a,
p3b + 1).equals(rt);
// if everything matches, update the
// matching room to show another day of
// the week
if (matchStart && matchEnd && matchRoom) {
// update the matching row
temp[i].setCharAt(dt1, dt);
// remember we had a match
found = true;
// and exit the for loop early
break;
} // end match found
} // end for
// if we didn't find a match, we need to create

176

//
//
//
if

a new row of the output.

found will still be false if we didnt find
a match
(!found) {
temp[rowsGenerated].replace(p1a, p1b, st);
temp[rowsGenerated].replace(p2a, p2b, et);
temp[rowsGenerated].replace(p3a, p3b, rt);
temp[rowsGenerated].setCharAt(dt1, dt);
rowsGenerated++;
} // added new row
} // end except the first
}// end for all Meetings
// and finallly combine all the generated rows into one
// large string
String result = "";
boolean needsReturn = false;
for (int row = 0; row < rowsGenerated; row++) {
if (temp[row].length() > 0) {
if (needsReturn)
result = result + '\n';
result = result + temp[row];
needsReturn = true;
}
}
return result;
}
This is the longest method we have examined so far; some would say it is too long.
It uses a new method, the substring method for StringBuffers. This method
allows us to access a portion of a StringBuffer. Note the comment in the code about
substring. Its a good idea to leave a note behind explaining subtleties in your code
for those who follow afterwards.
We have also used the break statement as a tool to exit a loop before it has completed
its normal processing. This is often done while searching for something. As in life, there
is no point in continuing searching once you have found what you sought.

Programming Style
Lets step back a minute and look at the style in which this method has been written.

177

Does it contain too many statements? Some people will suggest that a method should fit
on a page, or on a screen; this one takes several printed pages.
Others suggest that a method should be cohesive. A method is cohesive when it carries
out one task. Thus cohesion is at least partly in the eye of the beholder. I would argue that
this method is cohesive, since it summarises a collection of Meeting objects into a
String. Yes, there are several subtasks involved, but they are all essential to the main
task; the subtasks probably would not exist independently of the main task. Since the
method is cohesive, I feel there is no need to decompose it into shorter methods. To
check that a method is cohesive give it a name that describes what the method does. If the
name requires the word and or the word or, then the method is probably not
cohesive.
Are there too many comments? Some would argue yes, but I feel it is generally
impossible to have too many comments, providing they are meaningful. An example of a
useless comment is
i = 3;

// assign the value of 3 to i

When you are using i to represent the month of March, then the comment should say
that. Other simple statements, for example found = true; should be commented as it
is perhaps unclear what the effect of the statement is.
Notice that declaration statements are scattered throughout the method. Some would
argue that all declarations should be at the beginning of the method. Sometimes I agree,
when it is a short method, but for longer methods, I prefer a just-in-time style where I
declare variables when I need them.
Are the variable names meaningful? Guilty! Some of the names are very short (et, st,
rt, dt1, dt) and could be better. However, my justification is that the names are used
only within this method (and within a small portion of this method) and they actually
make sense; the two-letters names are temporary (hence the t) values for end, start,
room, and day of the week. dt1 does not quite follow that pattern.

Course contains Section

Now we almost have a fully-functioning Section class. We can go back and resume
adding Section objects to a Course object. And we can create a unit test to add some
Sections.
How do you know that addSection works? Create a method, listSections,
which will return a String showing all the sections (but not the students in the section)
in a course.

178

Test it and examine the value it returns.

Did listSections list the sections in the expected order? What is the expected
order?
At my college, (lecture) sections numbered 001, 002, and 003, should come first. Then
(lab) sections numbered L01, L02, followed by (seminar) sections numbered S01, S02.
Fortunately sectionNumber is a String and Strings will sort into that order
naturally, as we saw in the discussion on uppercase and lowercase letters.
However, we need a Comparator<Section> to do the work for us.
Make it so.
/**
* section number comparison
* @return -1, 0, 1 if Section s1 is <, =, or > Section s2
* based on the sectionNumber
*/
public static final Comparator<Section>
SECTION_NUMBER_ORDER = new Comparator<Section>() {
public int compare(Section s1, Section s2) {
return s1.getSectionNumber().
compareTo(s2.getSectionNumber());
}
};
You would certainly need a different comparator if your college uses a different notation
for the sections of a course.
As an aside, note that it doesnt make sense to have a Section object without having an
associated Course object. Thus the association between Course and Section is an
example of composition. This is a type of association between a whole (the Course) and
its parts (the Section) where the part cannot exist independently of the whole.
On the other hand, the association between Student and Section describing the
sections in which a student is enrolled is an aggregation. This is a type of association
between a whole (the Student) and the part (the Section) where the part can exist
independently of the whole.
The reverse association between Section (the whole) and Student (the part)
describing the students enrolled in a section is also an aggregation. The section exists
whether or not students are registered in it.

179

Mark, and Student contains Mark

A student takes many courses at one time. One possible way to show this is to place a
collection of Course objects in the Student class.
How do we represent the courses a student took in the past? This presents an interesting
problem.
What happens when the name of a course changes after a student completes it? The old
name should appear on the students transcript. We also need to remember the mark the
student earned in the course. Thus, it appears a good solution is to create a Mark object,
which contains the information on the course as it was taken, plus the mark earned. We
will explore this Mark class a little later.
A collection of courses represents the courses being taken in the current semester. A
collection of marks represents the courses taken in the past, and the students
performance in them.
Consider the transcript that will be produced for a student, at the end of a semester, at the
end of the students studies at the college, or at some other time. That transcript will list
all the courses a student has taken, some once, some more than once, organized by
semesters.
Thus instances of the Mark class must contain the semester (perhaps the year and month
it started), the course taken (subject abbreviation, course name, course number, and
credits. Credits will appear on the transcript and will be necessary to calculate the overall
grade point average.), and the mark earned. Then a Student object can contain a
collection of Mark objects.
Follow our usual practice when creating a class.
Use BlueJ to create the skeleton code for a new class.
Implement a constructor and a toString method.
Implement unit tests for the getters and setters.
Implement the getters and setters
Since we need a collection of Mark objects, we expect to need a Comparator (dont
forget the import statement!) and an equals method. The Comparator is based on the
course and semester in which the mark was earned; the transcript shows semesters
chronologically (oldest to most recent. The January semester comes before September,
regardless of when the student started his/her studies.). The courses in a semester are
listed alphabetically by subjectAbbreviation and courseNumber.
What does it mean to say that two Mark objects are equal? We can define equality to
mean the subjectAbbreviation, courseNumber, semesterYear, and
semesterMonth all match.

180

Implementing this is left as an exercise for the reader.

Professor contains Section

As a Section object contains a collection of Student identifiers, so a Professor
object contains a collection of Section identifiers. This represents the professors
teaching assignment during the current academic year, and may include courses in two or
three semesters. Since there is an ordering by date to these sections, we will be able to
use TreeSets again.
A Professor object could also contain a second collection of Section identifiers,
representing the Sections the professor has taught in the past.
This second collection could be summarised to represent the courses the professor has
taught at any time in the past.
Implementing this is left as an exercise for the reader.

Summary
That was quite a chapter. The coding was long and complicated, but it does show what
you can do with a little time and care.
The next chapter continues processing collections.
If you prefer to skip that chapter, continue to chapter 11 and then chapter 12. Now that
the student has data which must persist over time (the marks he/she has earned in the
past), and the professor has data which must persist over time (the sections and courses
taught in the past), perhaps we should consider how to implement persistence.
That is, how do we save data so that it will be there when we run our program again?
Persistence is the topic of chapter 12.

181

Exercises
1.

Implement alphaClassList using an iterator, instead of a for-each

statement.

2.

What are the differences between StringBuffer and StringBuilder? How

would these differences affect the code shown in this chapter?

3.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modelling a bank account. Create a method

which will allow you to display all the transactions for an account which occur
between two dates which you specify. Use this method to create another method
which will display the transactions within the last n days, where you specify the
value for n.

4.

In a previous chapter, we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Create a

method which will allow you to display all the sightings a birder has made between
two dates which you specify. Use this method to create another method which will
allow you to list the sightings in the current year.

5.

The Java documentation tells us that Resource bundles contain locale-specific

objects. When your program needs a locale-specific resource, a String for
example, your program can load it from the resource bundle that is appropriate for
the current user's locale. In this way, you can write program code that is largely
independent of the user's locale isolating most, if not all, of the locale-specific
information in resource bundles.
While used for internationalisation, resource bundles can also be used for other
customizations. This chapter referred to different lengths for room numbers and
course abbreviations. Explore the ResourceBundle class and see how you could
use a resource bundle to allow for these two customizations.

6.

Implement the Mark class.

Implement the Student contains Mark association.

7.

Implement the Professor contains Section association.

8.

Explore the use of the modulus operator when either one or both of its arguments
are negative.

9.

Explore the use of the ? operator.

10.

Explore alternative ways of changing the time of a meeting.

182

Chapter 10 - Collections, part 4

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to

Use many of the String methods

Summarize collections using a variety of techniques

Introduction
We have seen many collections so far. Usually, we have added elements to them, and
then converted them to a String for display.
In one case we have done more. We processed all the meeting objects associated with a
section and merged them into something suitable for a timetable entry.
Now, Id like to return to another collection, involving Mark objects.

Grade Average
Recall that each course has a credit value associated with it. We can calculate how many
credits a student has earned in total by summing data in all Mark objects (eliminating
duplicates) but we dont know the total by semester. Lets see how to calculate those
numbers.
When do we want to know the number of credits completed in a semester? The obvious
time is when we are producing a transcript, a record of a students progress in a semester.
At the same time, we will be calculating an average mark. How do you calculate the
average mark?

When to calculate an average

We have two types of average. The first is the average of all the courses taken in a
semester, regardless of the marks earned. The second is the graduating average. The

183

graduating average involves all courses taken towards graduation, taking the higher mark
in case a student repeated a course, and eliminating failures.

Weighted average
In either case, we calculate a weighted average. To do this, create a weighted sum of the
percentages (the percentage earned in a course is multiplied by the number of credits the
course is assigned) and divide it by the sum of the credits. The result of the division is the
grade average.
The priority of operations in a programming language is the same as the priorities in
mathematics.
For example, assume that a student takes three courses at one time. In the first course,
worth two credits, the student earns a mark of 65%. In the second course, worth three
credits, the student earns a mark of 74%. In the third course, worth one credit, the student
earns a mark of 80%.
The weighted average is calculated as
2 * 65 + 3 * 74 + 1 * 80
2 + 3 +1
To evaluate this expression, you must first evaluate the numerator, then the denominator,
and then divide the numerator by the denominator.
For the numerator, calculate 2 * 65 and remember the result (130). Calculate 3 * 74 and
remember the result (222). Calculate 1 * 80 and remember the result (80). Add together
130 and 222 and remember the result (352). Add 352 and 80 and remember the result
(432).
For the denominator, add two and three and remember the result (five). Add five and one
and remember the result (six).
For the average, divide the numerator (432) by the denominator (six) and get a result of
72.

The transcript method - original version

Recall that we have a very simple transcript method in the Student class. You were
asked to complete it on your own. Lets modify it to serve our needs. This is what I have.

/**

184

* @return String representation of Marks

*/
public String transcript() {
String result ="";
for (Mark m: marks) {
result = result + m.toString() + '\n';
}
return result;
}

Knowing when a semester changes

Recall that the collection of Mark objects is stored in a TreeSet, and the objects within
that collection are stored in order by semester. Within a semester, the objects are stored
by subject abbreviation and course number.
Whenever we are calculating a graduating average, we need to look at the marks in many
semesters, and we need to be able to tell whenever a semester has changed. When a
semester changes, we can calculate the semester average and reset various semester totals
back to zero.
To determine when we have changed semesters, we simply compare the value of the year
in the current Mark object to the value of the year in the previous Mark object. Should
they be different, we have a new semester. If the years are the same, we compare the
(starting) month of the current Mark object to the (starting) month of the previous Mark
object. Should they be different, we have a new semester.
But what of the first Mark object? There is no previous Mark object. In this case, we
assume the previous year was 0 (or some other impossible value) and the previous month
is an empty String (or some other impossible value.)

Transcript a skeleton for changes

Thus, we have the first modifications to the transcript method.
public String transcript() {
String result ="";
int previousYear = 0;
String previousMonth = ;
int currentYear;
String currentMonth;

185

for (Mark m: marks) {

curentYear = m.getSemesterYear();
currentMonth = m.getSemesterMonth();
if ((currentYear != previousYear) ||
(!currentMonth.equals(previousMonth))) {
// semester has changed
// calculate averages and reset totals
}
// display current Mark
result = result + m.toString() + '\n';
// calculate semester totals
}
return result;
}
Note the use of || to mean or. When the year has changed or the semester has
changed becomes If the years are not the same or the years are the same but the months
are not the same which becomes
if ((currentYear != previousYear) ||
(!currentMonth.equals(previousMonth)))
Since the years are primitive datatypes, we use ==. The months are Strings, so we use
the equals method.

When the semester changes

What calculations are necessary when the semester changes?
The grade average for the semester needs to be calculated and displayed, along with the
number of credits earned for the semester. The semester totals need to be added to the
student totals, and then the semester totals are reset to zero. We need to remember the
year and month of the previous semester.
These English statements translate into the following Java statements.
// calculate grade average
semesterAverage = (double) semesterNumerator /
semesterDenominator;

186

// display semester results

result += "credits earned = " + semesterCredits +
" average = " + semesterAverage + \n;
// add semester totals to overall totals
totalNumerator += semesterNumerator;
totalDenominator += semesterDenominator;
totalCredits += semesterCredits;
// reset semester totals
semesterNumerator = 0;
semesterDenominator = 0;
semesterCredits = 0;
// remember the previous semester
previousYear = currentYear;
previousMonth = currentMonth;

Integer division
With the exception of the semesterAverage, all these variables are ints. When you
divide any type of integer variable by another integer variable, your result is an integer.
4739/60 is 78, rather than the 78.98333 my calculator shows. When calculating an
average mark, most students like to see at least one or two decimal places. To ensure that
an integer divided by an integer gives a result with decimal places, we cast (or convert)
one of the integers to a double datatype and then do the division. When you have an
expression involving a variety of datatypes, the Java compiler then takes over and
converts them all to the highest datatype. In this case, it converts the other integer to a
double and divides a double by a double, giving a double. You see this in the
first statement.
semesterAverage = (double) semesterNumerator
/ semesterDenominator;
When you test this method, you will find that unfortunately the semester and overall
averages appear with a varying number of decimal places. A DecimalFormat object
using the pattern ##0.00 will resolve that. Read the pattern as Display the digit in the
hundreds column when it is not zero, otherwise leave a blank. Display the digit in the tens
column when it is not zero or when it is zero and the digit in the hundreds column
printed, otherwise leave blank. Always display the digit in the units column. Always
display the decimal point and two digits after it, rounding as appropriate.
As I write this (Spring 2006), the track and field world is discussing how a time of 9.766
seconds was mistakenly rounded to 9.76 instead of 9.77.

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The rule usually used is When the first digit to be dropped is more than five, drop it and
increase the previous digit by one. When the first digit to be dropped is less than 5, drop
it and leave the previous digit unchanged. When the first digit to be dropped is exactly
five, change the previous digit to be even.
Thus 9.766 rounds to 9.77 (first part of the rule), 9.773 rounds to 9.77 (second part of the
rule), and 9.775 rounds to 9.78 (third part of the rule). In many cases, the third part of the
rule is ignored or forgotten. Wikipedia gives a good discussion of rounding at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rounding

When the semester remains the same

We need to calculate and accumulate the totals for the current semester.
int percent = m.getMarkEarned();
int credit = m.getCourseCredits();
semesterNumerator += percent * credit;
semesterDenomimator += credit;
if (percent >= 50)
semesterCredits += credit;
This assumes 50% is the minimum passing mark. When a student earns a mark of less
than 50, the course is counted towards the semester average, but it does not count towards
the credits earned. How would we modify our model if different courses had different
passing marks?
Then we need to display the information about the current Mark, as we did before.
result = result + m.toString() + '\n';

The declarations
Of course, all of this requires the declarations of the variables.
String result ="";
int previousYear = 0;
String previousMonth = "";
int currentYear = 0;
String currentMonth = "";
int totalNumerator = 0;

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int totalDenominator = 0;
double totalAverage;
int totalCredits = 0;
int semesterNumerator = 0;
int semesterDenominator = 0;
double semesterAverage;
int semesterCredits = 0;

The overall average

Once we have processed all the Mark objects associated with the student, we can display
the final average.
totalAverage = (double) totalNumerator / totalDenominator;
result += "total credits earned = " + totalCredits +
" average = " + totalAverage;

The transcript String problems and deficiencies

Like much code which people write, the transcript method we have produced is partly
correct, but not wholly correct.
First of all, the method attempts to display a semester average when it reads the first
mark. That makes no sense.
We have already seen how to use a boolean variable to tell us when we are processing
the first element of a collection. We can use the same method to avoid printing an
unnecessary subtotal.
Second, the method does not display the semester average of the final semester. Nor does
it add the marks and credits for the final semester into the total. Thats an error; fix it.
Third, the vertical spacing is not very good, resulting in a transcript that is a little hard to
read. Adding a few \n characters to the output will solve that problem. Make it so.
Fourth, the summary for the semester follows the details for the semester. This may be
acceptable for a printed transcript but sometimes (in the online transcript my college
provides, for example), the summary comes first.
How do we tell the transcript method that the summary comes first sometimes and last
other times? One way is to pass it a boolean variable which is, for example, true

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when the resulting String should have the semester summary appearing last, and
false when the resulting String should have the semester summary appearing first.
A second way is to have two different methods, one for summary-first and one for
summary-last.
You would be right in thinking these methods would repeat much of the code in the
transcript method, but in some other order. That would not be sensible, since any
errors in one method could be repeated in the other. Instead, we will write a method
which takes the String which the transcript method calculates and manipulates it
so the details about the averages appear in the correct places.

The String class and its methods

I find it is a great deal of fun to manipulate a String. There are so many methods
available for manipulating and rearranging Strings that you can do almost anything
you want to Strings.
What if we want to disassemble a string?
Suppose we have a string
String name = Marmaduke Archibald Cholmondley;
If we wish to retrieve single characters, we use the charAt method.
char firstInitial = name.charAt(0);
Since the characters which make up a string are numbered starting at zero,
firstInitial now contains the character M. charAt does not remove characters
from the original string.
If we wish to retrieve substrings, collections of consecutive characters, we use one of the
two forms of the substring method.
String firstWord = name.substring(0, 9);
String lastWord = name.substring(20);
The first retrieves the characters beginning at position zero, up to but not including the
character in position nine. That is, firstWord will be the string Marmaduke.
substring does not remove characters from the original string.

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The second retrieves the characters beginning at position 20 and extending to the end of
the string. That is, lastWord will be the string Cholmondley.
Of course, you can use a similar statement to determine the middle word.
String middleWord = name.substring(10, 19);
How did we know which positions to use in the above statements? We counted
characters. But there are alternative. We could use the split method, which returns an
array of String. Or we could use the indexOf method to help us find the blanks.

Details of split
The split method takes a string and returns an array of strings, breaking the original string
at places which match the value of a regular expression which you specify. A regular
expression is a pattern, possibly including wildcards, of letters, numbers, and/or
punctuation.
The following statements will break the variable name into its pieces and display them.
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\s");
String[] names = p.split(name);
System.out.print("broken into strings, " + name +
" consists of [");
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++)
System.out.print(" " + names[i]);
System.out.println("]");
Recall that previously we have used \n and \t to represent a new line and a tab,
respectively. The regular expression we want to use consists of two characters, \s, which
refers to any whitespace character, a blank, a tab, a newline, etc. What do we use to
represent a backslash?
Right, \\. To get both the backslash and the s, we use \\s.
More details on regular expressions and patterns are in the Java documentation describing
the Pattern class.

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Details of indexOf and lastIndexOf

The indexOf method comes in several forms, as did substring. The first starts
seeking a specified character, looking from the beginning of the string.
int n = name.indexOf(a);
returns the number 1, since the first character a in name is at the second position.
Remember that we number the positions starting at 0.
The statements
n = n + 1;
n = name.indexOf(a, n);
returns the number 4, the position of the next a in the string. In this form of indexOf,
the second parameter is the position at which we begin seeking the specified string, the
first parameter.
Rather than seeking a character, we can seek a string.
n = name.indexOf(duke);
returns the number 5 since the string duke begins in the sixth position of the string we
are searching. We could also specify the position at which we begin seeking the string.
With any form of the indexOf method, when the string we are seeking is not in the
string we are examining, the method returns -1.
Why would it return -1? What is special about -1?
If you wish to start at the end of the string and search towards the beginning, the String
class supports a number of different lastIndexOf methods.

Reversing a String
As an exercise in using various String methods, write a method which will accept a string
and then generate the string in reverse. That is, for an input of here is a string, the
output will be gnirts a si ereh.
One possibility is to reverse a string using an iterative algorithm. That is, we could look
at each character and process it.

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public static String iReverse(String s) {

String result = "";
for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++)
result = s.charAt(i) + result;
return result;
}
The method is declared static so that we can use it with any string.
A second possibility is to reverse the string using a recursive algorithm.
When we use a recursive algorithm, we formulate a problem in terms of one or more
smaller versions of the same problem plus one or more smallest versions of the
problem. In this case, there are two smallest versions, a string which contains a single
character and a string which contains no characters. Both can be detected by looking at
the length of the string. In the first case, it is one; in the second case it is zero. In both
these smallest cases, the reverse of the string is the string itself.
public static String rReverse(String s) {
if (s.length() <= 1)
return s;
else
return rReverse(s.substring(1)) + s.charAt(0);
}
The logic in this method is as follows:
o
If there is zero or one character in the string, it is its own reverse.
o
If there are several characters in the string, then the reverse of the string is the
reverse of all of it except for the first character, followed by the first character.
You may need to ponder this method for a while, since it is the first time we have used
recursion. That is, it is the first time that we have seen a method call itself. We have seen
many examples where one method calls another. Why should a method not be able to call
itself?
Remember that recursion works because you are using a smaller version of the same
problem, and there is a smallest version, for which we know the answer. You will see
recursion again when we look at some mathematical methods in a later chapter.

Palindromes
While we are playing with strings, how about exploring palindromes? The simplest
definition of a palindrome is a sequence of characters that (not counting spaces,
punctuation, and case) reads the same forwards and backwards. Some English words

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(civic, tot, level, a) are palindromes. Wikipedia has a discussion of palindromes in other
languages and music, as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome
Can we write a method that tells us whether or not a string is a palindrome?
Certainly. It uses one of the reverse methods we just created.
public static boolean isPalindrome(String s) {
String target = "";
// keep only those characters which are letters
for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
char ch = s.charAt(i);
if (Character.isLetter(ch))
target = target + ch;
}
return target.equalsIgnoreCase(rReverse(target));
}
As you can see, most of the method involves taking out the characters that are not letters.
We use a method from the Character class, isLetter, to identify the characters
which are letters.
Determining that the string is a palindrome takes place in the return statement.
Try this method with some of the well-known palindromes. Madam, Im Adam. A
man, a plan, a canal: Panama! Others are given in the Wikipedia article cited earlier.
Now that we have seen some of the String methods, we can go back to the original
problem of producing a transcript.

The transcript String reordering

But wait a minute! Weve said on many occasions that Strings are immutable. That is,
they can not be changed. We have used statements like
result += "total credits earned = " + totalCredits +
" average = " + totalAverage;
which change a String. And now weve seen how to disassemble strings. Whats going
on here?
We explained this situation earlier, in less detail. Yes, a String is immutable. However,
a String is a reference to an area of memory which contains the contents of the
String. Those contents may not be changed. But the reference itself may change, thus

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pointing to a different area of memory. The way the assignment statement above is
implemented might be as follows.
Copy the contents of the memory to which result refers to another area of
memory (call it area 1) and append total credits earned = to the contents of area
1. Change result so its reference points to area 1.
Copy the contents of area 1 to another area of memory (call it area 2). Convert
totalCredits to a String and append that to the contents of area 2. Change
result so its reference points to area 2.
Copy the contents of result to another area of memory (call it area 3) and append
average =. Change result so its reference points to area 3.
Copy the contents of result to another area of memory (call it area 4). Convert
totalAverage to a String and append that to area 4. Change result so its
reference points to area 4.
But what about the areas of memory I have called area 1, area 2, and area 3? They now
have no references referring to them, so they are eligible for garbage collection, a process
by which unused (that is, unreferenced) areas of memory are made available for reuse.
So now you see how we have been able to construct Strings from other Strings,
even though Strings are immutable.
How do we use this to manipulate the String that transcript has produced? First we
note that there are some special substrings we need to identify and move. These begin
with credits earned and end with \n. (Be careful that you do not find the substring
beginning total credits earned.) Only these substrings need to be moved. All others
remain in the same order.
Try to write the method transcriptSummaryFirst without reading on.
Here is my transcriptSummaryFirst method.
/**
* create a transcript String in which the summary
* comes before the details of the semester
* @return transcript with summary first
*/
public String transcriptSummaryFirst() {
String result = "";
String temp = "";
int startPhrase; // where the phrase starts
int endPhrase;
// where the phrase ends
String semesterDetails = "";
String summaryLine = "";
// get transcript with summary last
temp = transcript();
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// repeatedly search for the

// phrase "credits earned"
startPhrase = temp.indexOf("credits earned");
// at the end of the search, you find
// "credits earned" followed by
// "total credits earned". startPhrase is
// 6 when this happens
while (startPhrase !=6 ) {
// extract everything up to but not
// including the phrase "credits earned"
semesterDetails =
temp.substring(0, startPhrase);
// remove that substring
temp = temp.substring(startPhrase);
// extract the summary line. +1 is to ensure
// the \n is included
endPhrase = temp.indexOf('\n');
summaryLine = temp.substring(0, endPhrase + 1);
// remove the summary line, including the \n
temp = temp.substring(endPhrase + 1);
// build the result
result += summaryLine + semesterDetails;
// and look for next "credits earned"
startPhrase = temp.indexOf("credits earned");
}
// place the overall average first in the
// output String
result = temp + '\n' + result;
return result;
}
To understand how this method works, it may help to sit down in a quiet place and draw
a series of diagrams to show the steps in the process.

The transcript String problems and deficiencies, continued

The overall average is incorrect for a student who has repeated courses.

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At my college, when a student takes a course twice (or more), its mark counts towards the
semester average for each semester in which it is taken. But only the highest mark should
be included in the overall graduating average.
This will involve a rethinking of how the transcript method calculates the overall average.
Actually, the problem is even more complicated. We have special topics courses which
may be taken more than once for credit, provided the topics are different. Implementing
this would require us to rethink our model quite seriously, so we will ignore this problem.
This emphasises the importance of getting your model correct before you start
implementing it.
Rather than saving the credits and percentages we need to calculate the overall average,
well create a collection that contains only the marks well need. Then, once we have
examined all the marks, well calculate the average.
We need a collection in which we can store objects containing a subject abbreviation,
course number, course credits, and mark earned. But we already have a class like that,
Mark, except that Mark contains the year and month of the semester in which the mark
was earned. Since the year and month dont matter, can we use the Mark class?
Yes, we can. We can extend it to create a new class, HighestMark that does not
concern itself with the year and semester.
class HighestMark extends Mark {
public HighestMark(String departmentAbbreviation,
int courseNumber, int credits,
int markEarned) {
super(departmentAbbreviation, courseNumber,
credits, 1999, "SOMETIME", markEarned);
}
}
Since we dont care about the year and semester, we just provide some values; the exact
values we provide dont matter!
That is all there is to the class. All the methods which we created for Mark will be
available to HighestMark objects as well. That is, the child class HighestMark is
derived from its parent class Mark, so its methods are inherited from its parent.
So what type of collection should we use as the basis of the collection of HighestMark
objects? The order in which they are stored does not matter, but we would like to be able
to check whether there already is a mark stored for the course. Many datatypes allow this,
but we havent used an ArrayList for a while, so lets use one now.

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We modify our transcript method by adding the following three statements.

import java.util.ArrayList;
ArrayList<HighestMark> best = new ArrayList<HighestMark>();
HighestMark h;
Each time we process a Mark object, we convert it to a HighestMark object and
compare it to other HighestMark objects.
h = new HighestMark(m.getDepartmentAbbreviation(),
m.getCourseNumber(),
m.getCourseCredits(),
m.getMarkEarned());
// is there a mark for this course?
int i = best.indexOf(h);
// if so, i is zero or more. If not, i is -1
if (i == -1)
// a mark for the course does not exist
best.add(h);
else
// a mark for the course exists
if (best.get(i).getMarkEarned() < m.getMarkEarned())
best.get(i).setMarkEarned(m.getMarkEarned());
This works because the indexOf method returns the position of the mark, if it exists, or
-1, an invalid position, if it does not. We have seen this use of special values for invalid
data when using Strings. Some String methods also return -1 to indicate a lack of
success.
When we have processed all the Mark objects, we compute the numbers we need for the
overall average.
totalNumerator = 0;
totalDenominator = 0;
for (HighestMark b:best) {
totalNumerator += b.getMarkEarned() *
b.getCourseCredits();
totalDenominator += b.getCourseCredits();
}
totalCredits = totalDenominator;
Now we have a transcript method that calculates the overall average correctly.

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And what if we wish the summary lines of the transcript printed before the details?
Nothing we have done has changed that method. But to be safe, run a unit test on it again.
This is a practice called regression testing, making sure that a change you made has not
broken anything else.

Summary
This chapter has focussed on manipulating strings. This is an important skill, as much
processing involves string manipulation.
Now that we have experienced a serious amount of sophisticated Java code, it is time to
go back and cover some of the things that have been glossed-over. In particular, we need
to talk about exceptions.
Then we will look at putting a graphical front-end on our program, so that we are not so
dependent on BlueJ.

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Exercises
1.

How would you change the model to handle special topics courses?

2.

You can use the ideas from creating a transcript to create a class list. Of course class
lists may be in order by the name of the student or by student number.
Make it so.

3.

In previous chapters we have looked at the data a birder collects. Create a method to
list all the birds seen.
Make sure that the list tells how many birds have been seen each month, and how
many each year.
In addition, provide the number of species seen each month, and each year.

4.

In a previous chapter we examined bank accounts and the collection of transactions

they contain.
Create a method to list all the transactions for a particular account, showing the total
number of transactions in each month.
Recently my bank has begun to show the account balance at the end of each day, as
well.Make it so.

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Chapter 11 - Exceptions
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define exception
Define catch and try
Identify when exceptions are thrown and describe how to catch them
Create, throw, and catch your own exceptions
Use exceptions to create programs which gracefully handle erroneous input and
mistakes in computation

Definition
We have mentioned exceptions at at least three points so far. The first was in the clone
method where we had to handle a CloneNotSupportedException. The second
was when we discussed the need for a Professor object to have a hiring date. The
third was when we discussed preventing bad data getting into Meeting objects.
There many other exceptions and we shall see some of them in the following chapters.
These include ClassNotFoundException, IOException, and
FileNotFoundException. Before we see these exceptions, we should first answer
the question What is an exception?
There are many sources that will answer the question, but one of my favourites is Suns
Java tutorial, available at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/. One of the trails
through the tutorial takes you through essential classes and features. Exceptions are
essential, and are described at
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/exceptions/definition.html
This section of the tutorial contains a number of quotations from the tutorial, as viewed
on 2006-05-19. For example, we have this introduction:

What Is an Exception?
The term exception is shorthand for the phrase "exceptional event."

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Definition: An exception is an event, which occurs during the execution of a program,

that disrupts the normal flow of the program's instructions.
When an error occurs within a method, the method creates an object and hands it off to
the runtime system. The object, called an exception object, contains information about the
error, including its type and the state of the program when the error occurred. Creating an
exception object and handing it to the runtime system is called throwing an exception.
After a method throws an exception, the runtime system attempts to find something to
handle it. The set of possible "somethings" to handle the exception is the ordered list of
methods that had been called to get to the method where the error occurred. The list of
methods is known as the call stack.
The runtime system searches the call stack for a method that contains a block of code that
can handle the exception. This block of code is called an exception handler. The search
begins with the method in which the error occurred and proceeds through the call stack in
the reverse order in which the methods were called. When an appropriate handler is
found, the runtime system passes the exception to the handler. An exception handler is
considered appropriate if the type of the exception object thrown matches the type that
can be handled by the handler.
The exception handler chosen is said to catch the exception. If the runtime system
exhaustively searches all the methods on the call stack without finding an appropriate
exception handler, the runtime system (and, consequently, the program) terminates.

Examples
When we attempted to clone an object, a CloneNotSupportedException may
occur. Normally, you would want to be able to clone any object. However, there are some
cases where you want to ensure there is one and only one copy of an object.
An example would be in the College system we have been modelling, where we wish a
college-wide policy to describe how percentages translate to letter grades. Everybody
follows the same policy, so there should be only one copy. This is actually an example of
the Singleton pattern, which we will discuss in a later chapter.
If you want to prevent cloning an object, you could use this clone method.
public SomeDataType clone()
throws CloneNotSupportedException{
throw new CloneNotSupportedException
(Cloning is not supported);
}

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In this method we have created a CloneNotSupportedException with our own

message attached to it.

Division by zero is another place that you may want to throw an exception. Fortunately,
we have not seen one of those yet. We might have seen one if we tried to calculate a
students grade average for a semester in which the student was not enrolled in any
courses.
When we developed the Meeting class, we wanted a way to identify incorrect or
inappropriate times for the Meeting. 2507 is an incorrect time. 0400 is a correct time,
but it may be inappropriate. Perhaps the class should throw a
DataFormatException.
When we were developing the Professor class, we wanted a way to ensure that a
hiring date was specified. Perhaps we need to create our own type of exception, perhaps
naming it MissingHiringDateException.

Runtime and nonruntime exceptions

As exceptions in Java are very important, there is a class named Exception and a
number of subclasses derived from it. To see a (lengthy) list of the possible exceptions
available in Java, check the documentation on Exception and its subclasses. That
documentation contains the sentence The class Exception and its subclasses are a
form of Throwable that indicates conditions that a reasonable application might want
to catch. Reasonable, indeed.
By the way, you may wish to look at the class Throwable. The Throwable class is
the superclass (or parent class) of all errors and exceptions in the Java language. Many
of the Exception methods we use are actually derived from Throwable.
Exceptions come in two flavours: runtime and nonruntime. The Java tutorial states
Runtime exceptions occur within the Java runtime system: arithmetic
exceptions, such as dividing by zero; pointer exceptions, such as trying to
access an objects members through a null reference; and indexing
exceptions, such as trying to access an array element with an index that is too
large or too small. A method does not have to catch or specify runtime
exceptions, although it may.
Nonruntime exceptions are exceptions that occur in code outside of the Java
runtime system. For example, exceptions that occur during I/O are

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nonruntime exceptions. The compiler ensures that nonruntime exceptions are

caught or specified; thus, they are also called checked exceptions.
The CloneNotSupportedException is a runtime exception. IOException is a
nonruntime exception.
The exceptions reporting incorrect and inappropriate time, or a missing hiring date, will
be runtime exceptions, once we create them ourselves.

Creating and throwing exceptions

Consider the constructor for the Meeting class.
/**
* Constructor for objects of class Meeting
*/
public Meeting(int dayOfWeek, String roomNumber,
int startTime, int endTime)
{
// initialise instance variables
this.dayOfWeek = dayOfWeek;
this.roomNumber = roomNumber;
this.startTime = startTime;
this.endTime = endTime;
}
This constructor assumes it has been given clean input. But what could go wrong?
dayOfWeek could be an unreasonable value. The intent is that it is between 0 (Sunday)
and 6 (Saturday) inclusive but there is nothing to force those conditions. Thus, due to
some programming error or malicious input, it may be negative or it may be seven or
more. We can detect that, and throw an exception.
roomNumber is a String It could be a String which does not represent an existing
room. To detect this, we would need a database of rooms. When the String provided is
not in that database, we have a problem and should signal it by throwing an exception.
But we will have to leave that exception for another time since we dont have time in this
textbook to see how to have Java talk to a database.
startTime and endTime are both ints meant to represent time on a military clock,
from 0000 to 0059, 0100 to 0159, , 2300 to 2359. Nothing prevents an errant program
or a malicious user from specifying a value like 0875 or 4500. We can detect that, and
throw an exception.

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To create an exception, we have two choices.

o When there is an appropriate type of exception in existence, we create an object
of that type.
o When there is not an appropriate type of exception, we create our own
exception.
When a bad value is provided to dayOfWeek it makes sense to use a
DataFormatException, an existing type of exception. Thus we can use the
following statements in the constructor.
if ((dayOfWeek < 0) || (dayOfWeek > 6))
throw new DataFormatException(
"dayOfWeek may only be 0..6, inclusive.");
along with the appropriate import statement.
import java.util.zip.DataFormatException;
Normally you dont create an exception and do nothing with it; you throw it to some
other section of your program which acknowledges the problem and fixes it. In this case,
the Meeting object has not been created and the portion of the program which asked to
create it will need to determine the correct value for dayOfWeek before the Meeting
can be created.
Thus, we need one more modification to the constructor, indicating that it throws an
exception which must be handled in some other method.
public Meeting(int dayOfWeek, String roomNumber,
int startTime, int endTime)
throws DataFormatException
You already have a unit test for an appropriate value of dayOfWeek. Now write two
unit tests (one for dayOfWeek too small, and one for dayOfWeek too large) to check
that the exception is properly thrown. The tests should be something like the following.
/**
* The test class MeetingTest.
*
* @author rick
* @version may 2006
*/
import java.util.zip.DataFormatException;
public class MeetingTest extends junit.framework.TestCase
{

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/**
* Default constructor for test class MeetingTest
*/
public MeetingTest()
{
}
/**
* Sets up the test fixture.
*
* Called before every test case method.
*/
protected void setUp()
{
}
/**
* Tears down the test fixture.
*
* Called after every test case method.
*/
protected void tearDown()
{
}
public void testMeetingSmallDay()
throws DataFormatException {
Meeting m = new Meeting(-1, "L322", 1000, 1030);
assertNotNull("was created", m);
}
public void testMeetingLargeDay()
throws DataFormatException {
Meeting m = new Meeting(7, "L322", 1000, 1030);
assertNotNull("was created", m);
}
}
We can also use a DataFormatException to indicate that the start or end times are
incorrect or inappropriate, but it may be better to create our own, more meaningfullynamed exceptions. Note that the DataFormatException we have created can tell us
about two problems that the input is too small, or that it is too large. But the same
exception in thrown is both cases. By providing our own messages (the parameter passed
to the constructor), we can include the offending data in the message should we wish (and
we should wish, since it is a good idea to provide as much information as possible about
errors which occur.)

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But it may be better, since our programs will be simpler, to create our own exceptions.
class BadHourException extends Exception {
public BadHourException(String msg){
super(msg);
}
}
class BadMinuteException extends Exception {
public BadMinuteException(String msg){
super(msg);
}
}
We identify the need to throw these exceptions by modifying the Meeting constructor a
little more. Since we need the same sort of processing for both the startTime and the
endTime, we create a small helper method to do the processing. This helper method is a
private method, callable only within the Meeting class. (When you use javadoc to
generate the documentation for a class, private methods are not exposed.)
/**
* check if a time value is acceptable
* @return true if okay
* @return throw an exception if not
*/
private boolean isValidTime(int t)
throws BadHourException, BadMinuteException{
int hours = t / 100;
int minutes = t % 100;
if ((hours < 0) || (hours > 23))
throw new BadHourException("For time " + t +
" hours should be between 00 and 23 inclusive");
if ((minutes < 0) || (minutes > 59))
throw new BadMinuteException("For time " + t +
" minutes should be between 00 and 59, +
" inclusive.");
return true;
}
When an exception is thrown, the processing in the current block of code ceases (unless
there is a finally clause, described below) and the method, its calling method, or a
method before it in the calling stack, is expected to handle the exception.
We invoke the isValidTime method as follows.
if (isValidTime(startTime))

207

this.startTime = startTime;
if (isValidTime(endTime))
this.endTime = endTime;
Since isValidTime may throw exceptions and the constructor doesnt handle them,
the constructor must indicate that the exceptions may be thrown.
public Meeting(int dayOfWeek, String roomNumber,
int startTime, int endTime)
throws DataFormatException,
BadHourException, BadMinuteException
Write unit tests to attempt to create Meeting objects with bad times. Youll need three
tests; hours too small, hours too large, and minutes too large.
Why dont you need a test for minutes too small?
The unit tests look like this.
public void testMeetingLargeHour()
throws BadHourException, BadMinuteException,
DataFormatException {
Meeting m = new Meeting(3, "L322", 2500, 1030);
assertNotNull("was created", m);
}
How would you handle a time like 10:30 p.m.? That is, what happens if someone wanted
to be able to provide military time as well as civilian time? Can you create a method to
handle such times?
Now we can create and throw exceptions. But how do we handle the exception
eventually. That is what catch clauses do.

Catching exceptions
In baseball, basketball, rugby, water polo, and lacrosse, when you throw the ball,
someone else catches it (unless you have scored a goal). Thats the theory behind
throwing and catching exceptions.
When the problem is something we can handle ourselves immediately, we place the code
which could cause an exception inside a try block. In a general way, we show this as
try {
Some statements which can throw exceptions

208

}
catch (one type of exception) {
}
catch (another type of exception){
}

CloneNotSupportedException
You have seen a catch clause in the clone method. It is repeated below.
/**
* clone
* @return a copy of the Address
*/
public final Object clone() {
try {
return super.clone();
}
catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) {
return null; // can not happen
}
}
In this case, the CloneNotSupportedException may be thrown by
super.clone(). Thus some piece of code must handle it. In this case, we handle it
ourselves. Since we know it can not happen, the processing we do is minimal.
To repeat, in this situation the code in the catch block will never be executed.

Bad input data

But suppose you have gathered the information to create a Course object, but there is
some information which is missing or otherwise bad. Your program will look
somewhat like this.
// gather information
Course c;
try {
c = new Course(information);
// do something with the course object
}
catch (anException) {
// what can you do?

209

//
//
//
//
//
//

You need to have the person/method

which created the information correct it.
That can not be done here.
The exception must be handled elsewhere.
so there should not be anything in the
catch block here!

}
Rather than handling the exception yourself here, you need to pass it back to the method
which called this one.

Summary
Exceptions are the powerful technique Java uses to handle errors. We will see many more
exceptions in the chapters that follow.
The following two chapters involve writing data to external devices. This process uses
exceptions extensively.

210

Exercises
1.

Modify the constructor for Person so that it determines that both a first and last
name are provided and throws exceptions if either are missing. In Indonesia, many
people go by just one name. How could you determine that you are in a country
where people use only one name?
There are many stories about programs that have difficulty with names. One story is
about a payroll system in which last names with only one character were used for
testing purposes. That worked well until a person with the last name A joined the
organization.
A second story was about the person who didnt have a long first and middle name.
His name was something like R B Jones. The payroll system threw exceptions for
one-character names. So the data entry people entered the name as R(only) B(only)
Jones. The people who wrote the system stripped out unusual characters from the
input. Thus R B Jones became Ronly Bonly Jones.

2.

Modify the constructor for Person so that it throws one or more exceptions if
there is a birth date provided but it is an inappropriate date.

3.

Explore the Exception class to see what types of exceptions are available to you.

211

212

Chapter 12 Persistence, part 1

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define persistence
Implement persistence through object serialization

Warning to the reader

This chapter and the next explore some advanced concepts which many people would
prefer to omit from an introductory programming course. However, given the model we
are building, I feel it makes perfect sense to include the subject of persistence. If you
prefer to skip this chapter, and the next, you may do so. Note that there is a small section
in the mathematical chapters which you will need to omit should you omit the subject of
persistence now.

Why persistence?
Unit testing provides a way to create and destroy objects, but only for the duration of the
test. Yes, BlueJ allows us to place the objects it creates on the Object Bench, but they
exist only until you recompile the object or exit BlueJ.
Suppose we wish to create several objects and have them available at a later time,
perhaps the next day, after you have ended BlueJ, turned the computer off, and then
restarted BlueJ. We need a way to create objects and then save and restore them so we
can use them again. In short, we need to investigate ways to ensure the persistence of
objects.
Persistence has many meanings, ranging through doggedness and a tendency to
continue. In computing, persistence is closer to the second definition; it is the ability to
save an object and retrieve it at a later time.
The random access memory (RAM) in a computer is volatile; when it loses power, it
loses its contents. Thus RAM is not suitable for persisting data; you would need to ensure
that the supply of electricity in uninterrupted. The ability to save data has been required
since the earliest days of computing. Thus we have seen the use of non-volatile memory
(punched cards, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, hard drives, and now CDs and DVDs.)
There are programming languages (COBOL and RPG are examples) designed to simplify
the processing of such data.

213

Java is a more generalized language, supporting many types of processing of data. It too
requires the processing of data saved by other programs.
Since an object has identity, state, and behaviour, what does saving an object mean?
Saving an object involves converting the objects state (the values of its instance
variables) to a stream (a continuous sequence) of bytes and writing those bytes onto a
medium which will not lose its contents when the power is removed.
When an object is restored, it will be given a name and will have behaviour (as specified
in the class definition), and its state will be reconstituted from what was previously saved.
The terms used in Java are serialization and deserialization. Java allows us to serialize an
object, thus granting it persistence. Serializing an object involves writing it to an external
storage device. Deserializing an object involves reading it back from that external storage
device.
Notice that there are other ways of saving data. Traditional file processing is possible, but
we will not discuss that here. The use of databases is possible as well, but that is much
more complicated and we will not discuss it here.

External devices
Before we can look at serialization, we must consider the external devices we will use
and their characteristics.
The external devices are mostly disk drives and the files they contain. These files must be
opened, written to (or read from), and then closed. Files have names.
The external devices could also be other computers, local or somewhere else on the
Internet. You can use serialization to send objects from one computer to another, in real
time. We will not explore that option here; it is a topic for more-advanced study.

Streams
Writing to and reading from external devices is done through streams. You can think of
streams as sequences of characters, perhaps including special characters.
So we need streams to which we can write and from which we can read and we need a
way to associate a stream with an external device.

214

Which streams will we need for object serialization?

This technique requires writing objects to streams. Looking from the operating system
level first, we find that FileOutputStream is a class in the java.io package which
allows us to connect a stream to an actual file. As the documentation says, A file output
stream is an output stream for writing data to a File
Remember that BlueJ helps you access the online documentation. Click Help, and Java
Class Libraries. Your default browser opens at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/
although that URL may change as different versions of the documentation are released.
As I revise this chapter, the URL has been changed to
http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/. If you prefer, you can download this
documentation onto your own computer and then use Tools, Preferences, Miscellaneous
to provide the Java documentation URL.
Associated with the FileOutputStream will be an ObjectOutputStream,
another class available in the java.io package. As the documentation says, An
ObjectOutputStream writes primitive data types and graphs of Java objects to an
OutputStream. Think of a graph as the instructions for recreating the structure of the
object.
Methods in ObjectOutputStream allow us to translate the objects into a stream, and
the FileOutputStream connects that stream to a file on the underlying operating
system.
Similarly, we can use FileInputStream and ObjectInputStream to retrieve
and reconstruct the objects.
Now we are ready to see how to do object serialization.

Persistence via object serialization

Note that we can only serialize (save) and deserialize (restore or rebuild) objects all of
whose components are serializable. Thus, before we can serialize a Person object, we
need to ensure that all its instance variables are serializable. A Person object contains
Several Strings which are all serializable by design,
an Address object which is not yet serializable, and
a MyDate object which is not yet serializable.
Lets begin by considering the Address class and making it serializable.

215

Object serialization - Address

For an object to be serializable, its class must implement the Serializable interface
and all its instance variables must be serializable. All the instance variables of Address
objects are Strings. Examine the Java documentation to confirm that String does
implement the Serializable interface.
While you are looking in the Java documentation, look at the Serializable interface
for its details. Serializable is what is called a marker interface; it says something
about the class which implements it, but it doesnt bring along methods and instance
variables. In some cases (the instance variables are single-valued, not collections, and are
all serializable), implementing the Serializable interface is all you need to do to
make a class serializable.
To make Address serializable, simply add a statement at the beginning of the class.
import java.io.Serializable;
and modify the class heading to indicate the class implements the Serializable
interface.
public class Address implements Cloneable, Serializable
Thats it! Due to the simple nature of the instance variables of Address, you need do
nothing else to make an Address object serializable.
Youre ready to create a unit test to confirm that an address is serializable.
Begin by creating two Address objects within the Address unit test, in the setUp
method.
Address a;
Address a1;
a = new Address("1234", "X", "Fifth", "Avenue", "SE",
"Calgary", "AB", "Canada", "T0L0M0");
a1 = new Address("1000", "", "KLO", "RD", "",
"Kelowna", "BC", "CA", "V1Y4X8");

Here is the unit test method to check that we can serialize these two Address objects. It
will attempt to write out two objects and then check that two objects were really written.
The deserialization test, below, will check that the correct data was written.
public void testSerialization(){

216

int i = 0;
try {
FileOutputStream out = new
FileOutputStream("address.dat");
ObjectOutputStream oos = new
ObjectOutputStream(out);
// write one object and remember that
oos.writeObject(a);
i++;
// write a second object and remember that
oos.writeObject(a1);
i++;
// output may be held in memory until a buffer
// is full. We have no more output so ensure
// the buffer is written to a disk somewhere
oos.flush();
// we dont need the stream any more
oos.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("problem with address.dat " +
e.toString());
}
catch(IOException e) {
System.err.println("problem with ObjectOutput " +
e.toString());
}
// check that we were able to write two objects
assertEquals(i, 2);
}
Note that in order to use serialization we must also use exceptions, which we saw in the
previous chapter.
For this unit test to compile, we need to include the statements
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
But it is easier, when you need to import many classes from one package, to just use
import java.io.*;

217

The asterisk is a wildcard. A wildcard means any value that matches this pattern, where
any value can replace the asterisk. In this case, java.io.* means every class in the
java.io package, but not any packages within java.io.
The unit test uses the writeObject method to actually write an Address object. The
writeObject method is a method in the ObjectOutputStream class.
Since an Address is made of serializable objects and Address implements
Serializable, an Address knows how to serialize itself.
Heres a suggestion. Before you run any methods which use exceptions, make sure that
you open the BlueJ Terminal window, so that the messages displayed in the catch
clauses have a place to display, should there be an error of some kind. To do this, choose
View, Show Terminal, or press
+ T.
Here is a unit test to check that we can deserialize Address objects.
public void testDeserialization() {
try {
FileInputStream in =
new FileInputStream("address.dat");
// we use the same file name as in writeObject
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(in);
a1 = (Address)ois.readObject();
a = (Address)ois.readObject();
ois.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("Can not find address.dat " +
e.toString());
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println(
"file problem with ObjectInput " +
e.toString());
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// will not happen but must be caught
}
assertEquals(a1.getCity(), "Kelowna");
assertEquals(a.getCity(), "Calgary");
}
The readObject method is a method in ObjectInputStream. It reads an object
from the stream (throwing an exception, an error, when the stream can not be opened),

218

and we must then indicate the type of object, by casting to an Address. Note that any
method which casts an Object to some other datatype must handle a possible
ClassNotFoundException. Usually this will not happen, but the casting process
requires us to handle that possibility.
Both of these tests succeed. But note there is something unusual going on here.
We have talked about saving and then restoring an object. If you look closely at the code,
youll see that we serialized the two Address objects in one order (a and then a1), but
restored them in the reverse order (a1 and then a.) We can do this because both are
Address objects. If we were to serialize a collection, then we would have many objects
in the stream; when we recreated the collection, their order would be restored.
But serialization is not designed to work quite like this, with one method serializing and
another immediately deserializing. The deserialization takes place at a later time, after all
the existing objects become null, or have ceased to exist.

Object serialization MyDate

Recall that we began by discussing how to serialize a Person object. A Person object
contains Strings (all serializable, by design), an Address (now serializable), and a
MyDate (not yet serializable, but we know how to do that.)
Make the MyDate class serializable. Since a MyDate object only contains single-valued
instance variables, all this involves is asking the class to implement the Serializable
interface.
Create the unit tests to show the serialization and deserialization of MyDate objects
works.

Object serialization Meeting and Mark

These two classes are like Address and MyDate, as they contain only single-valued
instance variables with no collections. It is very easy to make them serializable.
Make it so.

219

Object serialization Person, Student, Professor

Assuming the code you created to serialize MyDate works, all the instance variables of a
Person are now serializable.
But that fact is not particularly useful to us right now. The Person class is abstract;
we can not create instances of a Person object. Person is the parent class of
Student and Professor and we can create instances of Student and Professor.
Are they serializable? No.
This is because they each contain collections. We will explore how to deal with the
collections in a few moments.

Object serialization some subtleties

The readObject and writeObject methods we have used so far work well for
simple situations. In particular, they work when there are no static or transient
variables (a fact not already mentioned), and when there are no collections (a fact already
mentioned).
static instance variables persist from one method call to another. We have not seen
any of them yet, but we will.
static class variables are accessible to all objects of the class. We have seen some
static constants, in the College class. Consider the interest rate paid on all bank
accounts. That will be implemented as a static class variable, since the rate changes
from time to time but is common for all bank accounts.
But writeObject does not serialize static instance variables and thus
readObject can not deserialize them. When we have static variables, we will need
to create our own methods to read and write objects.
transient is a reserved word, used to identify variables whose state should not be
saved, usually because they can be calculated (like iterators or retirement dates), or
because they require special handling (like encryption). We will need to deal with such
variables on our own.
We can serialize static variables ourselves, using the appropriate write methods of
the ObjectOutputStream class and the read methods of the
ObjectInputStream class.

220

We can encrypt variables using the java.security package, a topic which we will not
discuss here.
We can handle collections on our own too. Like encryption, to use that technique we will
need to write some extra methods. In particular, we will need to provide replacements for
writeObject and readObject.

Object serialization creating writeObject and readObject methods

Some classes contain collections. The standard readObject and writeObject
methods wont work with those classes. Well override those methods with our own.
How do we create our own readObject and writeObject methods? The signatures
of these methods are specified in the ObjectOutputStream documentation as
follows.
Classes that require special handling during the serialization and deserialization process
must implement special methods with these exact signatures:
private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream stream)
throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream stream)
throws IOException

Assuming we have the appropriate import statements, we can just use

ObjectInputStream instead of java.io.ObjectInputStream, and
ObjectOutputStream instead of java.io.ObjectOutputStream, so the
skeleton for the writeObject method we need to create looks like this.
private void writeObject(ObjectOutputStream oos)
throws IOException{
// write instance variables
} // end writeObject
The comment indicates where we write the instance variables. My style is to write out the
single-valued instance variables, the ones which are not collections, first. Then I write the
collections, first writing the number of elements in the collection and then the elements of
that collection, should there be any.
To use this style, we could use, for example,

221

oos.writeObject(students.size());
for (Student s:students) {
oos.writeObject(s);
}
where oos has been opened earlier. This assumes a Student object is serializable. You
can guess how to do that. To see it in detail, read ahead to the next part of this chapter.
Similarly, we create our own readObject method.
private void readObject(ObjectInputStream ois)
throws IOException {
try {
// read instance variables here
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("Unable to deserialize " +
e.toString());
}
} // end readObject
To use this method, we could use, for example,
Set<Student> students = new HashSet<Student>();
int n = (Integer) oos.readObject();
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
students.add((Student) oos.readObject());
}
Any special handling required by transient or encrypted variables will need to be
included in the method as well.
As we have seen in the examples above, both the readObject and the writeObject
methods will be called by other methods, which look after opening and closing the
streams, as well as extracting the objects and saving them with unique identities, perhaps
as members of a collection.
Lets see how this applies to the classes we have developed, in particular, to the ones
which contain collections.

222

Object serialization Section and Student

Due to the similarities between these two classes well discuss them together.
Section is a class which contains two collections. One is a collection of student
numbers (serializable. Why?), the other is a collection of Meeting objects (which we
just made serializable).
Student is also a class which contains two collections. One is a collection of section
identifiers (serializable. Why?), the other is a collection of Mark objects (which we just
made serializable). This class is derived from Person, which is serializable.
For both of these classes, we use the same logic, illustrated below for the Section
class.
Following the idea of creating the unit test first, we have the following method in
SectionTest.
public void testObjectSerialization() {
int i = 0;
try {
FileOutputStream out = new
FileOutputStream("sections.obj");
ObjectOutputStream oos =
new ObjectOutputStream(out);
System.out.println("s2 = " + s2.toString());
oos.writeObject(s2);
i++;
System.out.println("s1 = " + s1.toString());
oos.writeObject(s1);
i++;
oos.flush();
oos.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("Problem with sections.obj " +
e.toString());
}
catch(IOException e) {
System.err.println("Problem with ObjectOutput " +
e.toString());
}
assertEquals(i, 2);
}

223

Now we can create the writeObject method itself, in the Section class. Much of it
is taken up with processing the collections which are part of the object.
private void writeObject(ObjectOutputStream oos)
throws IOException {
// write the single-valued instance variables
oos.writeObject(identifier);
oos.writeObject(departmentAbbreviation);
oos.writeObject(courseNumber);
oos.writeObject(sectionNumber);
oos.writeObject(startYear);
oos.writeObject(startMonth);
oos.writeObject(endYear);
oos.writeObject(endMonth);
// write the collections
oos.writeObject(getStudentCount());
if (getStudentCount() > 0)
for (String s:students)
oos.writeObject(s);
oos.writeObject(howManyMeetings());
if (howManyMeetings() > 0)
for (Meeting m:meetings)
oos.writeObject(m);
};
Note that we have two writeObject methods. One appears in
testObjectSerialization as oos.writeObject(s2);
The other appears as a private method in the Section class, as
private void writeObject(ObjectOutputStream oos) throws
IOException
The first is automatically translated into a call to the second. Run the unit test and
confirm that you can serialize a Section.
Now you can serialize a section, but how do you deserialize it?

Object deserialization Section and Student

First we create the unit test for the readObject method.

224

public void testObjectDeserialization() {

try {
FileInputStream in =
new FileInputStream("sections.obj");
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(in);
s1 = (Section)ois.readObject();
s2 = (Section)ois.readObject();
ois.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
System.err.println("Can not find sections.obj " +
e.toString());
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println(
"file problem with ObjectInput " +
e.toString());
}
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// will not happen but must be caught
}
assertEquals(s2.getDepartmentAbbreviation(), "COSC");
assertEquals(s1.getDepartmentAbbreviation(), "PHYS");
}
Finally, we create the readObject method itself. Much of it is taken up with
processing the collections which are part of the object.
private void readObject(ObjectInputStream ios)
throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
// single-valued instance variables
this.identifier = (Integer)ios.readObject();
this.departmentAbbreviation = (String)ios.readObject();
this.courseNumber = (Integer) ios.readObject();
this.sectionNumber = (String) ios.readObject();
this.startYear = (Integer) ios.readObject();
this.startMonth = (Integer) ios.readObject();
this.endYear = (Integer) ios.readObject();
this.endMonth = (Integer) ios.readObject();
// collection instance variables
this.students = new HashSet<Student>();
int n = (Integer) ios.readObject();

225

for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)

{
Object o = ios.readObject();
students.add((String) o);
}
this.meetings =
new TreeSet<Meeting>(Meeting.TIME_ORDER);
n = (Integer) ios.readObject();
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
Object o = ios.readObject();
meetings.add((Meeting) o);
}
}
Note that we have two readObject methods. The one in the
testObjectDeserialization method appears in s1 =
(Section)ois.readObject();
The one in the Section class is readObject(ObjectInputStream ios)
Again, the first is translated into the second.
Note also that we have used statements like this.
this.identifier = (Integer)ios.readObject();
This appears a little unusual, since the left side of the assignment statement is a primitive
datatype and the right side is an object. Two new concepts were added beginning with
Java 1.5.0 (also known as Java 5), autoboxing and autounboxing.
In many places we need to convert primitive datatypes like int to their corresponding
object, in this case Integer. When would we need to do this? Well, collections contain
objects, not primitive datatypes.
We could convert an int variable i to an Integer object iObject with the
statement
Integer iObject = new Integer(i);
and then insert iObject into the collection.
We could extract the int from the object with the statement
i = iObject.intValue();

226

Autoboxing carries out the first statement for us and thus makes it easier to convert
primitive datatypes to the corresponding object Autounboxing carries out the second
statement for us and thus makes it easier to extract primitive datatypes from objects.

Programming style
Should you have one large data file which contains many objects of different types and
you dont know the order of the types, you may extract objects one at a time from the file
and then use instanceof to determine the datatype of the object before you cast it
appropriately. This gives rise to very complicated programs, and it is not advisable. In
fact, many programming standards forbid this use of instanceof. We will follow
those standards.
Instead, it is better to have an idea ahead of time of the structure of the file; in particular,
it is important to know that the file contains only one class of object. We will do so.

Object serialization Section and Student, revisited

We may be serializing a class while its collections are empty. For example, we may be
serializing a section before it has its meeting times determined and/or before students
have registered. As I review this section, the sections are al in place and their meeting
times have been set. But the students dont start registering until next week. Similarly, a
course may not have any sections, particularly before the scheduling of those sections
occurs.
Our way of writing a collection (record the number of items in the collection, and then
the items themselves, if any) accommodates this nicely. We simply serialize a zero if the
collection is empty.

Object serialization Professor

Since Professor is derived from Person (which is serializable), and any additional
instance variables (birthDate and retirementDate) are serializable, Professor
objects are serializable. (We mentioned adding some collections to a Professor
object. The collection of current sections taught is a collection of section identifiers,
Strings. The collection of courses taught in the past is a collection of Strings. The
collections require separate processing, not because they contain Strings, but because
they are collections.)

227

Make Professor serializable, using individualized writeObject and

readObject methods because of the collections.

Object serialization College

Now that all the classes we have built are serializable, we can make the College class
serializable. It contains various collections so we had to wait until all their elements are
serializable, and they finally are.
Make it so.

Summary
In this chapter we have seen one way to save the state of our objects. The problem with
the particular technique is that it produces files which are only readable by another Java
program.
In many cases it might be better if the file could be read by a program written in a
language other than Java. Why would we want to do this? Perhaps so that we could create
a webpage from the data we read. Perhaps so that we could create printed material from
the data we read.
Well explore a technique which allows this in the next chapter.

228

Exercises
1.

Make the Meeting class serialziable.

2.

Make the Mark class serializable.

3.

Make the MyDate class serializable.

4.

If you have implemented a Department class, make it serializable.

5.

In a previous chapter we discussed modelling a bank accounts. Is the

Transaction class serializable? If not, make it so. Make the BankAccount
class serializable.

6.

In a previous chapter we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Make

the class Sighting serializable.

7.

In a previous chapter we discussed modeling playing cards. Make the

PlayingCard class serializable.

8.

Explore the java.security package to see how you can encrypt data when you
serialize it.

229

230

Chapter 13 Persistence, part 2

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define XML and describe its characteristics

Implement persistence through XML serialization

Persistence via XML

Wouldnt it be great to have a way to write a file so that it contained both data and a
description of that data? What if a file could be read by many different programs, written
in different languages? And wouldnt it be great if a file were also human-readable?
There is a way to do all that, and it involves the use of XML, the Extensible Markup
Language.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML) defines XML as follows: The Extensible
Markup Language (XML) is a W3C-recommended general-purpose markup language for
creating special-purpose markup languages, capable of describing many different kinds
of data. In other words: XML is a way of describing data and an XML file can contain
the data too, as in a database. We are particularly interested in the in other words
portion of that definition, XML is a way of describing data and an XML file can contain
the data too, since that is what we wish to do.
Object serialization allows us to store the structure of objects and to remember the data
they contain. XML serialization is an alternative way to do this and much more.
Why would we wish to use XML? The files containing XML are plain text files. Thus
you can examine them in a text editor. You can write programs to process the files
containing XML in languages other than Java. You can display XML files on the web.

A Digression - Scalable Vector Graphics

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files are an interesting application of XML files. These
contain the instructions to paint a picture. What sort of picture? It could be as simple as a
bar graph, or it could be an animated movie. It could be a logo.
You could create a picture using something as simple as Notepad or as complicated as
Adobe Illustrator. There are even pictures you can create using a Java program.

231

Most modern browsers will display SVG graphics. The advantage of them is that they are
very small. For more details on SVG files, search the web for terms like SVG and create.

Using an XMLEncoder - no collections

To translate an object into the appropriate XML statements, we will use an object of the
XMLEncoder class, which is attached to a file. To reconstitute the objects using the
data and instructions in a file we will use an object of the XMLDecoder class.
Using an XMLEncoder is similar to serialization with its writeObject method.
Using an XMLDecoder is similar to deserialization with its readObject method.
Both XMLEncoder and XMLDecoder are in the java.beans package so we need to
import them into any class which will be using XMLEncoder and XMLDecoder.
import java.beans.XMLEncoder;
import java.beans.XMLDecoder;
Note that these classes are designed for use with JavaBeans, classes which have a noparameter constructor and setters for all instance variables. Well convert our classes to
JavaBeans in a moment.
Heres a method within the Address class which translates an Address object into
XML. Similar methods work with all of our classes which do not contain collections.
public void writeObject(XMLEncoder e){
e.writeObject(this);
} // end writeXML
This method is named writeObject and it calls a method also named
writeObject. The class Address contains a writeObject method. To carry out
its task, it delegates responsibility to the writeObject method from the
XMLEncoder class. These methods, while sharing the same name, are different because
they are in different classes.
Since the method we created is very short, and uses an XMLEncoder which has
miraculously appeared from nowhere, there must be some other code elsewhere. Its in
the unit test.
public void testXMLSerialization() {
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(
getClass().getClassLoader());
try {
XMLEncoder e = new XMLEncoder(
232

new BufferedOutputStream(
new FileOutputStream("address.xml")));
// the variable a has been defined in the
// setUp method
a.writeObject(e);
e.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException fe) {
System.err.println(fe.toString());
}
}
Note the line that reads
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClass().get
ClassLoader());
Threads are a mechanism by which a program can be doing several things at once,
perhaps sharing a processor, or perhaps using separate processors. We will explore
threads in a later chapter. For now, we simply use that statement whenever we wish to
use an XMLEncoder or an XMLDecoder.
Without that line, the XMLEncoder is unaware of the class Address. Your method
will generate a ClassNotFoundException error. To avoid this error, include this
statement in any method which creates either an XMLEncoder or XMLDecoder object.
This hint was provided through an answer to a question at
http://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/gef-dev/msg00469.html.
Once the XMLEncoder is aware of the class it is processing, it can prepare output for all
instance variables which have setter methods. Note that when our objects contain
collections, there are no setters for the collections, so the collections are not output. We
need to do that ourselves and we will see how in a few moments.
Suppose we create an address object with the statement
Address a1 = new Address("1234", "X", "Fifth", "Avenue",
"SE", "Calgary", "AB", "Canada", "T0L0M0");
Then the file created when we pass a1 to the XMLEncoder is shown below The heading
lines may change as different versions of XML and Java appear.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<java version="1.5.0_01" class="java.beans.XMLDecoder">
<object class="Address">
<void property="city">
<string>Calgary</string>

233

</void>
<void property="country">
<string>CA</string>
</void>
<void property="direction">
<string>NE</string>
</void>
<void property="name">
<string>4th</string>
</void>
<void property="number">
<string>1234</string>
</void>
<void property="postalCode">
<string>T0L0M0</string>
</void>
<void property="province">
<string>AB</string>
</void>
<void property="suffix">
<string>A</string>
</void>
<void property="type">
<string>ST</string>
</void>
</object>
</java>
You can see how the file encodes the class name and instance variables. The <object>
tag indicates the class of the object. The property tags indicate, in alphabetical order,
the instance variables and <string> indicates the datatype of the instance variables.
Other datatypes will appear when necessary. Each tag has its corresponding closing tag,
beginning with </.

Using an XMLDecoder - no collections

Once we have created a file containing XML statements, we can create a method to
retrieve information from it.
An XMLDecoder works by assuming that you have a no-parameter constructor plus
setters for all the instance variables. We dont have a no-parameter constructor yet, so we
need to create one.
/**

234

* no-element constructor for an Address,

* used with XMLEncoder
*/
public Address() {
}
This no-parameter constructor creates the object, but none of the instance variables have
values. It might be better if we at least gave the instance variables the value of blank, or
zero, or null, depending on their datatype.
If the class contains any collections (this one does not), your no-parameter constructor
must create them (as empty collections) too, as we will see in a few moments.
Check that you have setters for all your instance variables. Check also that the name of
the setter is the word set followed by the name of the instance variable. If you need to
rename any of your setters, change the appropriate unit test as well.
Here is a method which retrieves a single Address object in the file address.xml,
assuming the no-parameter constructor and all setters exist.
/**
* restore an Address from XML
*/
public void readObject(){
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(
getClass().getClassLoader());
try {
XMLDecoder d = new XMLDecoder(
new BufferedInputStream(
new FileInputStream("address.xml")));
Address a = (Address) d.readObject();
d.close();
this.number = new String(a.number);
this.suffix = new String(a.suffix);
this.name = new String(a.name);
this.type = new String(a.type);
this.direction = new String(a.direction);
this.city = new String(a.city);
this.province = new String(a.province);
this.country = new String(a.country);
this.postalCode = new String(a.postalCode);
}
catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Error reading address " +
e.toString());
}// end catch
return;

235

} // end readAddressXML
If we used a statement like this.number = a.number; we would have two
variables both referencing the same area of memory. By writing this.number =
new String(a.number); we have two variables, referencing different areas of
memory, with the different areas containing the same data. We could use a clone method
to copy the variables if we prefer.
We can test this decoding with simple unit tests. Create two Address objects in the
setUp method, containing different values. Then write one out, and retrieve its value
into the other.
public void testXMLSerialization() {
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClass().get
ClassLoader());
try {
XMLEncoder e = new XMLEncoder(
new BufferedOutputStream(
new FileOutputStream("address.xml")));
a.writeObject(e);
e.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException fe) {
System.err.println(fe.toString());
}
}
public void testXMLDeserialization() {
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClass().get
ClassLoader());
try {
XMLDecoder e = new XMLDecoder(
new BufferedInputStream(
new FileInputStream("address.xml")));
a1.readObject(e);
e.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException fe) {
System.err.println("unable to create file");
}
System.out.println(a1.toString());
assertEquals("addresses match", a.toString(),
a1.toString());
}
236

Using an XMLEncoder - collection

Most of our classes include collections. The collections are instance variables which have
neither setters nor getters. They have methods for adding elements to the collection,
instead.
This lack of getters and setters causes problems with XML serialization, since the
XMLEncoder and XMLDecoder use the setters and getters.
However, Java provides an alternative mechanism we can use in this case, the
DefaultPersistenceDelegate class. A DefaultPersistenceDelegate
determines the statements the XMLEncoder produces for us.
Unknowingly, we have been using a DefaultPersistenceDelegate, a simple one
which assumes the class is a JavaBean, when we saved Address objects using XML. It
knew what to do with the no-parameter constructor, the getters, and the setters.
But we must provide an alternative DefaultPersistenceDelegate whenever we
are dealing with a class which contains one or more collections. Lets see how this works
with the Section class. Remember that it contains two collections, one of student
identifiers and the other of Meeting objects.
First, we must make modifications to the Section class. Create a no-parameter
constructor. This constructor creates empty collections.
public Section() {
this.students = new HashSet<Student>();
this.meetings = new
TreeSet<Meeting>(Meeting.TIME_ORDER);
};
Then we create a DefaultPersistenceDelegate class within the file containing
the Section class. That is, Section.java will now contain two classes.
class SectionPersistenceDelegate extends
DefaultPersistenceDelegate{
// create XML statements to define instance
// variables and their values
// each statement includes the method to be called and
// its arguments, as an array
protected void initialize(Class type,
Object oldInstance,
237

Object newInstance,
Encoder out) {
// single-valued instance variables
Section s = (Section) oldInstance;
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setIdentifier",
new Object[]{s.getIdentifier()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setDepartmentAbbreviation",
new Object[]{s.getDepartmentAbbreviation()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setCourseNumber",
new Object[]{s.getCourseNumber()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setSectionNumber",
new Object[]{s.getSectionNumber()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setStartYear",
new Object[]{s.getStartYear()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setStartMonth",
new Object[]{s.getStartMonth()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setEndYear",
new Object[]{s.getEndYear()}));
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"setEndMonth",
new Object[]{s.getEndMonth()}));
// collections
for (Student st:s.getStudents()) {
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"addStudent",
new Object[]{st}));
}
for (Meeting mt:s.getMeetings()){
out.writeStatement(new Statement(oldInstance,
"addMeeting",
new Object[]{mt}));
}
}
}

238

Recall that the students and meetings collections both have private visibility. To
access their elements, we need two more methods in the Section class,
getStudents and getMeetings.
public Set<String> getStudents() {
return students;
}
public Set<Meeting> getMeetings() {
return meetings;
}
Finally we create a DefaultPersistenceDelegate object and attach it to the
XMLEncoder we are using.
/**
* save a Section as XML
* @return nothing
*/
public void writeObject(XMLEncoder e){
// need a DefaultPersistenceDelegate because of
// students and meetings
e.setPersistenceDelegate(Section.class,
new SectionPersistenceDelegate());
e.writeObject(this);
} // end writeObject XML
Thats it.
Except of course there are some import statements we need.
import java.beans.DefaultPersistenceDelegate;
import java.beans.Statement;
import java.beans.Encoder;
Yes, there is a unit test which defines the file to which the XMLEncoder is connected.
public void testXMLSerialization() {
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClass().get
ClassLoader());
try {
XMLEncoder e = new XMLEncoder(
new BufferedOutputStream(

239

new FileOutputStream("student.xml")));
// create a Section object
// and save it
s.writeObject(e);
e.flush();
e.close();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException fe) {
System.err.println(fe.toString());
}
}
Now we can write a Section object to an XML file, sometimes called an archive.
If you wish to see the XML file produced by the writeObject method, simply
navigate to the folder or directory in which it was placed (the default is the one in which
your project is located) and open it with a text editor. In a Microsoft Windows
environment, right-click the file and choose Open to open the file in the XML Editor
which Microsoft supplies, really Internet Explorer in disguise.
The file we have just created contains many lines, but is not that complicated. Here is
sample output, describing a section containing four students, meeting twice a week.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

- <java version="1.5.0_01" class="java.beans.XMLDecoder">
<object class="Section">
<void property="identifier">
<int>123</int>
</void>
<void property="departmentAbbreviation">
<string>COSC</string>
</void>
<void property="courseNumber">
<int>111</int>
</void>
<void property="sectionNumber">
<string>001</string>
</void>
<void property="startYear">
<int>2005</int>
</void>
<void property="startMonth">
<int>8</int>
</void>
<void property="endYear">
<int>2005</int>
</void>

240

- <void property="endMonth">
<int>11</int>
</void>
- <void method="addStudent">
<string>3</string>
</void>
- <void method="addStudent">
<string>2</string>
</void>
- <void method="addStudent">
<string>1</string>
</void>
- <void method="addStudent">
<string>4</string>
</void>
- <void method="addMeeting">
- <object class="Meeting">
- <void property="dayOfWeek">
<int>1</int>
</void>
- <void property="endTime">
<int>1250</int>
</void>
- <void property="roomNumber">
<string>L322</string>
</void>
- <void property="startTime">
<int>1200</int>
</void>
</object>
</void>
- <void method="addMeeting">
- <object class="Meeting">
- <void property="dayOfWeek">
<int>3</int>
</void>
- <void property="endTime">
<int>1250</int>
</void>
- <void property="roomNumber">
<string>L322</string>
</void>
- <void property="startTime">
<int>1100</int>
</void>
</object>
</void>
</object>
</java>

241

You can simplify the display somewhat (when you are using the XML Editor) by clicking
the minus sign beside each line that begins <object class =
This gives the following file.
<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8 ?>
- <java version=1.5.0_01 class=java.beans.XMLEncoder>
+ <object class=Section>
</java>
The plus and minus signs are from the editor. They tell us that the file contains an object
of type Section and nothing else, unlike when we were using object serialization. To
see more details about the instance variables of an object, click the plus sign. To suppress
the details, click the minus sign which replaces the plus sign.

Using an XMLDecoder - collection

The archive contains all the instructions necessary to reconstitute a Section object. The
following method does the reconstituting.
/**
* restore a Section from XML
*/
public void readObject(XMLDecoder d){
Section s = (Section) d.readObject();
this.identifier = s.identifier;
this.departmentAbbreviation =
new String(s.departmentAbbreviation);
this.courseNumber = s.courseNumber;
this.sectionNumber = new String(s.sectionNumber);
this.startYear = s.startYear;
this.startMonth = s.startMonth;
this.endYear = s.endYear;
this.endMonth = s.endMonth;
for (String st:s.getStudents()) {
this.students.add(st.clone());
}
for (Meeting mt:s.meetings) {
this.meetings.add(mt.clone());

242

}
The statement
Section s = (Section) d.readObject();
implements the instructions we placed in the archive to create a temporary object of the
appropriate type and we copy that temporary object into our object.
While copying elements from the temporary copy into our object, we ensure the object
contains its own elements, not just references to the elements of the temporary copy.
Thus we need to use new String for Strings, and the clone method for the
Meeting objects. If you have not implemented the clone method for Meeting, now
would be a good time to do so.
The other instance variables are numbers, primitive datatypes. We simply use an
assignment statement for them.
The code above shows how to deal with collections which are lists or sets. What about
maps? One possible solution is to save each key-value pair, and then reconstruct the map.
The Map.Entry interface provides an easy way to retrieve the key-value pairs.

Programming Style
I have adopted the practice of having readObject (having an XMLDecoder as a
parameter) and writeObject (having an XLEncoder object as a parameter) methods
in all my classes. The corresponding unit tests are called testXMLSerialization
and testXMLDeserialization.
Similarly, I have readObject (having an ObjectInputStream as a parameter) and
writeObject (having an ObjectOutputStream as a parameter) methods in all my
classes. The corresponding unit tests are called testObjectSerialization and
testObjectDeserialization.
As these methods have different signatures, Java does not get confused. I find it useful to
use the similar names for similar methods.

Using XML summary

This is only a brief introduction to using XML as a tool to provide persistence for objects.
There is much more to learn in this area.

243

Online sources you may wish to explore include the following.

The World Wide Web Consortium, http://www.w3.org/XML/
XML.org, found at http://www.xml.org/
The Guide to the XML Galaxy, http://www.zvon.org/
An OReilly (a publisher of well-received computer science books) website on
XML, http://www.xml.com/
A collection of XML resources and tutorials,
http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp
A list of links and resources, http://xml.coverpages.org/
Besides providing persistence, we actually have the ability, through the use of a
technology called XSLT, to present our saved information in many different ways. XSL
is a stylesheet language for XML. XSLT is XSL Transformations, a language for
translating one XML document into another.
This is definitely a topic better left to a another course.

Persistence via databases

There is another option to providing persistence, by writing data into a database. If you
are interested in this subject, start exploring Java Database Connectivity at
http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/database/index.jsp.
This topic is much too complicated to consider in an introductory course.

Summary
This chapter covered what is perhaps the most-advanced topic in this book. But it is a
topic which will become more and more important as the role of XML increases.
Now that we know how to create classes, and how to persist them, it is time to look at
how we allow the users to provide the data to create classes. In particular, we need to see
how to build data entry screens.

244

Exercises
1.

Implement the clone method in the Student and Meeting class. You will
need it for the Student class when you use XML to persist the College class.

2.

Check your knowledge of XML serialization by using it with some of the other
classes we have in our college model.
Remember that we have about 10 different classes from which you can choose. Of
course, if this were a real model, you would need to implement XML serialization
for all of the classes.

3.

In previous chapters, we discussed modelling a bank account.

Implement the XML serialization of a Transaction.
Implement the XML serialization of a BankAccount.

4.

In previous chapters, we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes.

Implement the XML serialization of a Sighting.
Implement the XML serialization of a YardList.

5.

Explore the topic of Scalable Vector Graphics. A good place to begin is

http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/

6.

Explore the topic of XSL and XSLT. A good place to begin is

http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/

7.

Explore the topic of using databases to persist Java objects. A good place to begin
is http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/database/

245

246

Chapter 14 - Creating a GUI Data entry screens, part 1

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Describe the parts of a Grapical User Interface.

Use Swing components to create data entry screens
Describe some of the considerations involved in data entry screen design
Describe the role of a layout manager in creating data entry screens
Use a layout manager to create data entry screens
Use ActionEvents and ActionListeners
Use InputVerifiers

Warning to the reader

This chapter and the two following it contain information which some people feel should
not be in an introductory course. I disagree. You may omit these three chapters should
you wish. However, since we have been discussing saving and retrieving objects, I feel
we should also look at how the objects receive their values in the first place. After all,
they wont always have their values defined in unit tests.

Introduction
You may have noticed that the way we have been running our program is not the way
you normally run a program. While BlueJ uses windows and buttons, the code we have
been creating has no windows, no buttons, and no labels. We need to develop a way in
which the program can present a prettier face to the world.
We need to explore the world of the graphical user interface. An alternative name which
is becoming common is user experience.

247

GUI
A graphical user interface (usually abbreviated GUI and pronounced gooey) is one way
by which we can enter data that exists in the real world into the program we have created,
which models that real world.
The major parts of a GUI are:
a frame which contains all the pieces of the interface,
panels, which divide the interface into logical sections,
labels, which identify data you should provide,
textboxes, which provide a space where you provide data,
buttons, which provide a way to enter commands using a mouse or other pointing
device,
radio buttons, which allow you to make a single choice from a collection,
checkboxes, which allow you to make zero or more choices from a collection, and
a layout manager, which helps you position all the parts of the interface.
These parts are standard (although the terminology may change somewhat) regardless of
the language you are using to create the GUI.
GUIs are built using a toolkit of predefined widgets. Widget is a generic term, with
several meanings. When I looked up the word in Wikipedia (on 2006-05-23), I found two
appropriate meanings. A placeholder name for any unspecified device or good and a
component of a graphical user interface that the user interacts with. The two names are
actually related; rather than list all the components of the interface, you might simply call
them widgets.
The toolkit you use to build a GUI provides the widgets, but it also provides a look and
feel. That is, it provides a specific style of widget. Windows programs have a different
look and feel from those designed to run on a Macintosh. Even within Windows, some
progress bars have square ends while others have rounded ends, and different versions of
Windows have a different look and feel.
The toolkit we will use is called Swing, and is available in the javax.swing package.
To quote from the documentation, this package Provides a set of "lightweight" (all-Java
language) components that, to the maximum degree possible, work the same on all
platforms. An earlier toolkit contained widgets which used code that was dependent on
the processor you were using.
The widgets mentioned above are called JFrame, JLabel, JTextField, JButton,
JCheckBox, and JRadioButton.
In addition to these widgets we will use JApplet, JMenuBar, JMenu, JMenuItem,
and JPanel.

248

The widgets in Swing all have names beginning with the letter J.

Some HCI considerations

HCI is an abbreviation of Human-Computer Interaction. Some prefer to call it CHI. (One
such group is the ACMs Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction,
SIGCHI. http://www.sigchi.org/.) Whatever the abbreviation, the field involves decisions
you should consider when building an interface which will be used by a person to interact
with a computer.
Here is a brief list of some of the HCI issues you should consider.

Most Western cultures read from left to right, and top to bottom. That means that
the important information someone must enter should be at the top, and any
buttons should be at the bottom. It also means that those rules dont apply when
your market is a culture that is not Western. It also means that a product designed
for international use should be customizable.

A cluttered screen is not good; it confuses people. Your mother was right,
neatness counts.

Columns are good, random (or non-columnar) arrangements are bad.

Balance is good. The left and right sides of a screen should be balanced with
approximately the same number of visible widgets and the same amount of
whitespace (the background) on each. Its okay when the top of the screen
contains more than the bottom.

Menus, which we will explore in the next chapter, should use standard terms, and
they should be in standard places. Commonly, File is the first item on a menu,
Help is the last.
Java is designed to run on many different operating systems, so the GUI for your
program should respect that. Dont present an interface suitable for a Macintosh
unless the computer actually is a Macintosh.

Colours are nice, but garish is not nice. Many people, particularly men, are
colour-blind, so pay attention to the colours you use. When you are colour-blind,
you may not see colours the same way others see them. A common problem is an
inability to distinguish between red and green. The Wikipedia article on color
blindness goes into a great deal of detail on this subject.

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Layout managers
Some of the rules above affect the positioning of widgets within your frame. A layout
manager helps us to follow these rules. What is a layout manager?
To once again quote the Java tutorial, a layout manager [d]efines the interface for
classes that know how to lay out Containers. A container is something (like a JPanel
or a JFrame) into which you can place widgets, including other containers.
There are many different layout managers, some very simple and some very complicated.
FlowLayout is one of the simpler layout managers. It places its widgets in left-to-right
(or right-to-left, should you choose) order. This can be very useful when you are placing
a series of buttons side-by-side. It can be useful if you are placing checkboxes beside
each other. While this layout manager is often used for widgets in a single line, it will
also serve for multi-line layouts. If there are too many widgets on one line, the next
widget will simply continue onto the next one. Of course, if you resize the container,
widgets may move from one line to another. This could be confusing for many of the
people using your GUI. Thus we will use FlowLayout only in special situations.
BorderLayout breaks its container into five regions, North, South, East, West, and
Center, and allows you to place widgets in each. This can be useful; place the buttons on
your screen in the South region, for example.
GridLayout might be useful should you be creating a Minesweeper-clone, a
calculator, a telephone, or a chess game. We wont be using it here.
GridBagLayout is useful when you are creating a more complicated screen, but it is
very complicated to use. Ideally, you will find a tool which lets you draw the screen and
then creates the appropriate Java code for you. This is considered the most complicated
layout manager.
I prefer a layout manager which lets you place widgets in relation to one another, or at
fixed percentages from the left and top of the surrounding container. Java provides a
couple of choices.
GroupLayout is described in the Java tutorial as a layout manager that was
developed for use by GUI builder tools, but it can also be used manually.
Yes, there are builder tools which will assist us in laying out a GUI. However, we wont
use them here. The experience of laying out a GUI yourself is something everyone should
do at least once, if only to understand the underlying principles.
Java also provides the SpringLayout class, but the documentation for this class
clearly advises against writing code using SpringLayout. Due to the painstaking

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nature of writing layout code by hand, it is strongly recommended that you use the
SpringLayout layout manager combined with a builder tool to lay out your GUI.
One of the strengths of Java is that you can add new features to it, simply by providing a
new library which implements that feature. Thats why there are so many layout
managers; everyone has his or her own idea of the way it should be done. One layout
manager, which matches the way I think but is not supplied by Sun, is
RelativeLayout, described several years ago at
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/09/18/relativelayout.html?page=1 A more
detailed explanation about how this layout manager works is at
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/11/27/layout2.html
Like SpringLayout, GroupLayout, and GridBagLayout, using this layout
manager requires painstaking attention to detail.

Installing the RelativeLayout layout manager

Download the jar file from the link specified in the first article above and note where you
save it. A jar file contains compiled Java classes. You can think of it as a zipped file of
classes.
To let BlueJ know that the jar file is available, choose Tools, Preferences, Libraries.
Choose Add. Navigate to the jar file. Click it and then choose Open. The name appears in
the list of libraries. Choose Ok.
A message box appears; what it means is You cant use RelativeLayout until you restart
BlueJ. So exit from BlueJ and restart it.
Should you be a cautious person, choose Tools, Preferences, Libraries again. Yes,
RelativeLayout is shown as being available.

Creating a data entry screen

For our first data entry screen we should begin with a simple example. Which is our
simplest class? That is, which has the fewest instance variables?
I think MyDate provides a good example of the process of creating a simple GUI. You
will want to review the first few pages of the first article cited above, to the end of
example 1, to have some idea how to use RelativeLayout and its constraints.
To summarise that reading, what we will be doing is identifying widgets and then
positioning each in terms of the container and/or the other widgets in the container.
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How the data entry screen should look

How should our data entry screen look? Lets make something simple, JLabels in one
column identifying the data to enter, and JTextFields in a second column providing
space to enter the data. Perhaps it would look something like this.

There are several things wrong with this illustration. The first is that there is probably too
much space between a label and its textfield. Can you spot the other errors? There at least
two.

Import statements
To use the RelativeLayout layout manager, here is the import statement.
import com.brunchboy.util.swing.relativelayout.*;
This provides the layout manager and its associated components.
To use Swing components, here are the additional import statements we need.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
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The first provides the widgets we will be using. These are better widgets than those in
the Abstract Window Toolkit, or AWT.
The second provides the AWT events to which we can respond. More details on events
will be given later.

Creating the JFrame

We begin by creating what we see - the JFrame (including a title bar, and minimize,
maximize, and exit buttons), the labels (implemented as JLabels), and the textfields
(implemented as JTextFields).
Below is a method to create the JFrame, the JLabels, and the JTextFields. To
summarise the process, first create the JFrame and attach a layout manager to it.
For each widget you wish to add to the JFrame, create the widget and the constraints
which specify its location. As we are using a relative layout, the constraints are relative to
the JFrame or to other widgets.
Finally, attach the widgets to the JFrame and the constraints to the layout manager.
The method is explained line-by-line on subsequent pages.
/**
* create a data entry frame for MyDate
* @return the Frame
*/
public static JFrame buildDataEntryFrame() {
// create the frame
final JFrame myDateInput = new JFrame("Enter MyDate");
myDateInput.setDefaultCloseOperation(
JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE);
// assign a RelativeLayout layout manager
RelativeLayout myDateLayout = new RelativeLayout();
myDateInput.getContentPane().
setLayout(myDateLayout);
// labels for the year, month and day
JLabel yearLabel = new JLabel("Year - four digits");
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(yearLabel, "year");
AttributeConstraint yearLabelLeft = new
AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.LEFT, 20);

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AttributeConstraint yearLabelTop = new

AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.TOP, 30);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("year",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearLabelLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("year",
AttributeType.TOP, yearLabelTop);
JLabel monthLabel = new JLabel("Month - two digits");
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(monthLabel, "month");
AttributeConstraint monthLabelTop = new
AttributeConstraint("year",AttributeType.TOP, 50);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("month",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearLabelLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("month",
AttributeType.TOP, monthLabelTop);
JLabel dayLabel = new JLabel("day - two digits");
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(dayLabel, "day");
AttributeConstraint dayLabelTop = new
AttributeConstraint("month",
AttributeType.TOP, 50);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("day",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearLabelLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("day",
AttributeType.TOP, dayLabelTop);
// JTextFields for the year, month, and day
final JTextField yearText = new JTextField(4);
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(yearText, "yearText");
AttributeConstraint yearTextLeft = new
AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.RIGHT, -150);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("yearText",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearTextLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("yearText",
AttributeType.TOP, yearLabelTop);
final JTextField monthText = new JTextField(2);
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(monthText,
"monthText");
myDateLayout.addConstraint("monthText",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearTextLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("monthText",
AttributeType.TOP, monthLabelTop);
final JTextField dayText = new JTextField(2);

254

myDateInput.getContentPane().add(dayText, "dayText");
myDateLayout.addConstraint("dayText",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearTextLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("dayText",
AttributeType.TOP, dayLabelTop);
// done
return myDateInput;
}

Making the JFrame visible

Finally, heres a method to create and make the JFrame visible.
/**
* show the Frame
*/
public static void showDataEntryFrame() {
// Show the data entry frame
JFrame box = buildDataEntryFrame();
// Specify the initial location (first two
// parameters and size (second two parameters)
// of the frame
box.setBounds(100, 100, 500, 300);
box.pack();
// and show it on the screen.
box.setVisible(true);
while (box.isVisible()) {}
System.exit(0);
}

Explaining the code

Lets examine this method in some detail. Well give a few lines of code and then an
explanation for them.

255

The JFrame
Lets begin with the creation of the JFrame.
final JFrame myDateInput = new JFrame("Enter MyDate");
You have seen frames whenever you have used a computer with a windowing system.
The Java tutorial says A frame, implemented as an instance of the JFrame class, is a
window that typically has decorations such as a border, a title, and buttons for closing
and iconifying the window. Applications with a GUI typically use at least one frame.
The JFrame we create has the title Enter MyDate.
myDateInput.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE);
When you click the X button in the top right, the JFrame will hide itself. Thus it will be
available quickly should we need it again.

The layout manager

RelativeLayout myDateLayout = new RelativeLayout();
myDateInput.getContentPane().setLayout(myDateLayout);
Associated with the JFrame are the rules that govern the placement of widgets in the
JFrame, as implemented by a layout manager. The RelativeLayout layout manager
will interpret those rules for us.
The Java documentation points out (in the documentation on the
RootPaneContainer interface) that we can simplify the second statement above by
just saying
myDateInput.setLayout(myDateLayout);

The labels
Continuing through the method, we begin to create and place widgets, starting with a
label. For each piece of data we wish to enter, there should be a label.
JLabel yearLabel = new JLabel("Year - four digits");
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(yearLabel, "year");
The way in which we create and place widgets is the same.

256

o
o
o
o

create a widget,
add it to a container (usually a JFrame or a JPanel),
create the constraints related to the position of the widget, and
add those constraints to the containers layout manager.

In the code above, we create a JLabel containing the words Year four digits and
then add it to the content pane of the JFrame. As noted above, we could have added it to
the JFrame directly.
Note the way in which we add a widget to the content pane. We provide the name of the
widget being added, and then we specify a String which gives the widget a logical
name.
This logical name is used to associate the constraints with the correct widget. As youll
see below, when we add a constraint to the layout manager, we dont specify the name of
the widget; we specify its logical name instead.
It happens that the characters of the logical name are similar to the characters of the name
of the widget because we are using the English language. But the logical names could be
any appropriate name, provided the names are unique. No two widgets in a frame can
have the same name. You may wish to use these logical names when you specify the
ActionCommand for widgets. ActionCommands are discussed below.
If you had only three widgets I suppose you could name them Huey, Dewey, and Louie,
after Donald Ducks nephews. (Perhaps its time for a joke about getting your ducks in a
row.) If you had many widgets, I suppose you could name them after the letters in the
Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and so on.) But neither naming strategy is a
good one.

The label constraints

AttributeConstraint yearLabelLeft = new
AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.LEFT, 20);
AttributeConstraint yearLabelTop = new
AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.TOP, 30);
We create two constraints to describe the position of the JLabel. The most common
constraints are those which specify the top edge of the widget and left edge of the widget.
Since this is a relative layout manager, we usually position widgets relative to other
widgets. But one or more widgets must be anchored to the frame itself. More correctly,
one or more widgets must be anchored to the container within the frame, accessed via the
name DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME. (This is a class name followed by a
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constant. From this name we realise we are accessing a static member of the class.) We
use this first JLabel as the anchor and then position other widgets relative to it.
The first constraint positions the left edge of the JLabel 20 pixels from the left edge of
the JFrame. The second constraint positions the JLabel 30 pixels down from the top.
The upper left corner of the JFrame is the origin (or 0, 0) in this measurement system.
Any positive number represents measurement to the right or down, depending on the
direction of motion. Similarly any negative number represents measurement to the left or
up. Also, note that we are positioning the widget in an absolute position; it may be better
to position it, say, 10% of the way down the JFrame. Well look at how to accomplish
that later.
We could create constraints describing the height and width of the JLabel but there is
no need to do so. JLabels have a default height, and their width expands to display the
contents.
myDateLayout.addConstraint("year",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearLabelLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("year",
AttributeType.TOP, yearLabelTop);
We have created the two constraints so we add them to the layout manager. When the
JFrame is made visible, the layout manager will process all the constraints and position
the widgets properly.
Now we have our first widget anchored relative t the frame. We can place the other
widgets relative to the anchor.

The other labels

JLabel monthLabel = new JLabel("Month - two digits");
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(monthLabel, "month");
Now we create another JLabel, this one representing the month, and add it to the
content pane.
AttributeConstraint monthLabelTop = new
AttributeConstraint("year",AttributeType.TOP, 50);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("month",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearLabelLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("month",
AttributeType.TOP, monthLabelTop);

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We need to create a constraint describing its top edge, saying, in this case, that it is 50
pixels down from the top of the year JLabel.
We do not need to create a constraint describing its left edge as we have decided that the
left edges of the JLabels will line up and we already have a constraint for the left edge
of a JLabel.
The layout manager will tell us, via IllegalStateExceptions, whenever we
provide too little information about the positioning of a widget. This problem usually
comes when we are sloppy in our cutting and pasting, and dont change all the logical
names we need to change, thus leaving one of the constraints attached to the wrong
widget.
The code to create the third JLabel is almost identical to the code for the second, so is
omitted here.

Textfields
Once we have the JLabels in position, we deal with the JTextFields, in which you
will enter data.
final JTextField yearText = new JTextField(4);
We create the JTextField, giving it enough space to accommodate four characters.
This width of four characters is based on the average width of the characters in the font
you are using; after all, a W is wider than an I. Thus the actual width (in pixels) may
vary depending on the typeface and point size you are using; a font is the combination of
typeface and point size. In the same way, the width of a label is determined by the
typeface and point size.
myDateInput.getContentPane().add(yearText, "yearText");
We add the JTextField to the content pane
AttributeConstraint yearTextLeft = new
AttributeConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeType.RIGHT, -150);
We create a constraint to describe the left edge of the JTextField. We define the left
edge as 150 pixels to the left of the right edge of the JFrame. Since we are measuring
distances increasing to the right and decreasing to the left, we provide a negative number.
myDateLayout.addConstraint("yearText",
AttributeType.LEFT, yearTextLeft);
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myDateLayout.addConstraint("yearText",
AttributeType.TOP, yearLabelTop);
And then we use an existing constraint to ensure the top of the JTextField is even
with the top of its corresponding JLabel.

Other textfields
Similarly, we place the other two JTextFields on the content pane. Note that the
statements to create their constraints are simpler as we are reusing existing constraints,
yearTextLeft for the left edge and the appropriate JLabel top constraint.
Once we have created the JFrame, we return it to the calling method.

Summarizing building a data entry screen

This is a simplified version of the process. A more complete version appears in the next
chapter.
The first step is to create a JFrame and associate a layout manager with it.
The second step is to create any widgets which we wish to place on the frame. Create the
constraints associated with each widget. Add the widgets to the frame, and add the
constraints to the frames layout manager.

Displaying the frame

Note that we have not yet specified the size of the JFrame. We have not specified its
location of the screen. We have not even made it visible.
You might say we have created the blueprint for the JFrame and now we need another
method to size and position it, and to make it visible. The showDataEntryFrame
method does that.
Lets examine its statements.

Create the frame

JFrame box = buildDataEntryFrame();

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First we create the JFrame, giving it the name box.

Position and size the frame

box.setBounds(100, 150, 500, 300);
We specify the location of the top left-hand corner of the frame (100 pixels in from the
left edge of the screen, 150 pixels down from the top of the screen) and its size (500
pixels wide by 300 pixels high.)
As I write this, Im running my screen at 1680 by 1050 resolution, so the JFrame will
be approximately 1/3 the width of the screen, and 1/3 its height. If you are using a
resolution larger than this, your JFrame will occupy less of the screen. If you are using a
resolution lower than this, your JFrame will occupy more of the screen.

Make it visible
box.setVisible(true);
And then we make it visible. There may be times when you wish to make it invisible, as
something else becomes visible. Simply change the parameter to false.

Keep it visible
while (box.isVisible()) {}
The while loop simply ensures the JFrame remains visible until we click the X in the
top right corner to dismiss the frame.

Exit
System.exit(0);
And when we click the X, the frame disappears and the program exits gracefully.

Displaying the frame

Compile MyDate, right-click the class in the class diagram, and run the
showDataEntryFrame method.
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Answering some questions

How do you place a widget without using pixel numbers? For example, how do you
place a widget 10% of the way down the JFrame?
RelativeLayout allows us to use AxisConstraints, rather than
AttributeConstraints.
AxisConstraint yearLabelTop =
new AxisConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.VERTICAL, 0.10);
This AxisConstraint says that the top of the JLabel will be 10% of the distance
down the vertical axis. That is, 10% of the distance down on the JFrame. Recall that all
positive distances are measured from the top left corner of the frame.
How do we change the position of the JFrame when it appears? First, of course, we
must set the size of the JFrame.
The following method call places the frame in the centre of the screen.
box.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
The following statement gives a specific location on the screen. The left edge of the
JFrame is 700 pixels from the left edge of the screen, and the top of the JFrame is 400
from the top of the screen.
box.setLocation(700, 400);
Normally, I would use setLocation with small values (like 100) for the arguments,
placing the JFrame near the top left corner of the screen. Depending on your screen
resolution and the size of the frame, having the left edge at 700 pixels may mean that part
of the frame is invisible since it is off your screen.
Of course, should the person using your program not like the size or position of your
frame, the mouse (or other pointing device) is available to resize and reposition it.
Is it appropriate to have the labels contain prompts about the corresponding
JTextFields?
No, it isnt.
Its much better to use JToolTips, small balloons of text that appear when the mouse
hovers over the JTextField.
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yearText.setToolTipText
("Please enter the year - four digits");
How do we use hot-keys to move to a specific JTextField?
Sometimes, you have many widgets on the screen and you wish to move to a specific
one, not by tabbing through the others, not by taking your hands off the keyboard to click
the one you want. You just want to press a combination of keys which will take you to
the correct widget.
Hot-keys allow you to do this.
We first specify the mnemonic, the letter in the JLabel caption which is to be
underlined (if your interface underlines mnemonics) and which will function as a hotkey. Here we assign Y as the mnemonic representing year. The documentation of the
KeyEvent class lists all the mnemonics you may use.
yearLabel.setDisplayedMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_Y);
Then specify the JTextField with which the JLabel is associated. When you press
and the mnemonic, the cursor will move to the JTextField.
yearLabel.setLabelFor(yearText);
How do I start the frame full-screen? Minimized?
In general, I feel it is not a good idea to start a frame full-size. Its rude, intruding on,
indeed obscuring, whatever a person is doing. Should you wish to ignore this advice (and
many programs do), import the java.awt.Frame class and then use this statement.
box.setExtendedState(Frame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
If you wish the frame to start minimized, import the java.awt.Frame class if you
have not already done so, and then use the statement
box.setExtendedState(Frame.ICONIFIED);
But these are minor questions. There are two biggies what about buttons (did you notice
they were missing from the frame we built?), and what about editing the data provided?

Buttons

263

The JFrame we created is quite unusual. It has JLabels and JTextFields, but it has
no JButtons. We would expect at least an OK button and a Cancel button.

Cancel button
Lets create the Cancel button first. Note the idiom we have seen throughout this section.
o create a widget,
o add it to a container,
o create constraints for the position of the widget, and
o add the constraints to the layout manager of the container.

Create the button

JButton cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
When we create a button, we provide its caption. This caption may be specified here, or it
may be retrieved from a resource bundle.

Add it to the frame

myDateInput.add(cancelButton, "cancel");
We continue to use RelativeLayout, so we must provide both the name of the button
and a logical name, which we use when specifying the constraints.

Create its constraints

AxisConstraint cancelButtonTop =
new AxisConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.VERTICAL, 0.85);
AxisConstraint cancelButtonLeft =
new AxisConstraint(DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.80);
We can use either (or both) AttributeConstraints and AxisConstraints to
position the buttons, as we can for other widgets. In this case, I felt it was more
appropriate to use AxisConstraints. The button is placed near the bottom of the
frame, off to the right.

264

Add the constraints to the layout manager

myDateLayout.addConstraint("cancel",
AttributeType.LEFT, cancelButtonLeft);
myDateLayout.addConstraint("cancel",
AttributeType.TOP, cancelButtonTop);
This is exactly the same process we used with all our other widgets.

Create a mnemonic
Buttons have mnemonics too, in this case the letter C.
cancelButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C);

The default button

And one of the buttons should be the default, the button which will be deemed to have
been clicked when you press
.
myDateInput.getRootPane().setDefaultButton(cancelButton);
At this point, we have only one button so of course it is the default button. But when we
have many (two or more) buttons the default button is usually the one which causes the
least damage when it is pressed accidentally.

Button action
What should happen when we click the Cancel button (or press
)? The same actions
as when we click the X button to exit the JFrame. How we make this happen is shown
below.

The OK Button
We use similar statements to create an OK button. Place it to the left of the Cancel
button.

265

Alternative layout managers

We have used RelativeLayout to place these buttons. A later example will show
how to place them within a JPanel, using FlowLayout.

ActionCommands, ActionEvents, and ActionListeners

How do we tell that a button has been clicked? This leads us to the world of
ActionEvents and ActionListeners.
When a button is clicked, an ActionEvent occurs.
When a JTextField gains or loses focus, an ActionEvent occurs. A
JTextField which has focus allows input.
When an ActionEvent occurs, the component containing the widget is notified, and
has the responsibility of doing something in response to the ActionEvent.

ActionCommand
To handle these ActionEvents, we need to associate an ActionCommand with each
widget that can create an ActionEvent. We will use a widgets logical name (required
by RelativeLayout) as the ActionCommand.
okayButton.setActionCommand("okay");
cancelButton.setActionCommand("cancel");
If we have one ActionListener that responds to many events, it may be looking at
the text in these ActionCommands to determine the source of the ActionEvent.

Creating an ActionListener
We need to create an ActionListener, an object which processes ActionEvents.
There are a number of ways in which to do this; here is the simplest.
ActionListener actionListener = new ActionListener () {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if ("cancel".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
System.err.println("cancel");

266

} else {
System.err.println("okay");
}
}
};
This ActionListener simply scans through the ActionCommands associated with
the widgets, seeking the widget which caused the event. In a few moments we will see
how to create individual ActionListeners for each widget.
Have you noticed that we have used the logical name for each widget several times? We
used it when we added the widget to the container. We used it when we were adding the
constraints to the layout manager. We used it again when we wrote the
ActionListener. Perhaps it would be a good idea if we used a constant for the
logical name. That way we would need to change it only once, if we needed to change it
at all.

Linking an ActionListener to a JButton

We need to connect the ActionListener to each JButton. The
ActionListener will be notified each time the JButton is clicked.
okayButton.addActionListener(actionListener);
cancelButton.addActionListener(actionListener);
Since we have only one ActionListener, we add it to both buttons.

Programming Style
Should you wish, you could create a separate ActionListener for each JButton,
rather than using the same one and having to check for the specific ActionCommand.
This is probably a better idea, as it allows several programmers to develop code in
parallel.
Well come back to this idea at a later time.

Displaying the frame

Compile MyDate, right-click the class in the class diagram, run the
showDataEntryFrame method, and then click either JButton. What happens?

267

A BlueJ Terminal window appears with the word okay or cancel, depending on the
JButton you clicked. If you continue clicking the JButtons, the words will continue
to appear.
So far, clicking a JButton simply displays a message. For a nicer message, replace the
System.err.println statement with
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Clicked okay.", "Okay",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
This produces an informational message, shown below.
o

o
o
o

The first argument to showMessageDialog is the name of the parent

component. The message which appears will be centred on that component.
Should the name be null, then the message is centred on the screen. This
may not be a good idea since it may not show a clear association between the
parent and the message.
The second argument is the message which appears beside the icon. This icon
will change depending on the value of the fourth argument.
The third argument is the title which will appear in the message dialog frame.
The fourth argument indicates that the message is one of information only,
and will result in an information icon appearing in the message dialog frame.

Note the different colours or shading in the titles of the two frames. The Okay dialog is
modal; you must click the OK button within it before you can continue and do anything
else with this application.

268

Behind the Cancel Button

But we wanted the cancel button to cancel the frame, to close it, not display a message in
a terminal window.
Replace the println statement or showMessageDialog call in the
ActionListener with
myDateInput.setVisible(false);
and the JFrame will no longer be visible, and thus showDataEntryFrame appears to
exit. It doesnt really exit; its just hidden so that you can make it visible at a later time.
While this technique creates a snappier application, it does use up memory, and you must
remember to close the data entry frame eventually.

Editing data
There are two times as you are entering data when it may be appropriate to test it is
reasonable. One is as it is being entered, the other is when an Okay button is clicked.
Why do we need both times? Consider the MyDateEntry frame.
We can check that the JTextFields contain only numbers.
We can not check that the month JTextField contains only the numbers from 1
through 12 until the JTextField is complete.
We can not check that the day JTextField is appropriate to the month (30 days hath
September ) until all three JTextFields (year, month and day) have been provided,
and we do not know the order in which the data will be provided.
Modern authors suggest that you not intercept keystrokes as they are typed, but you
verify the contents of a JTextField as you attempt to leave it. This is done with an
InputVerifier.

Verifying year and month

Here is the InputVerifier for the year. The InputVerifier for the month is
similar and is left as an exercise.

269

InputVerifier verifierYear = new InputVerifier() {

public boolean verify(JComponent input) {
int screenYear;
// because an InputVerifer can be attached to many
// types of Components, we must cast to the
// appropriate type
final JTextComponent source =
(JTextComponent) input;
String text = source.getText();
if (text.length() == 0) {
// no data provided
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Need to supply some data",
"Missing data",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}; // length = 0
try {
// data was provided. Is it an integer?
screenYear = (new Integer(text).intValue());
// the data contains an integer.
// is it reasonable?
// reasonable is defined as between 1000 and
// 9999 inclusive
if ((screenYear < 1000) ||
(screenYear > 9999)) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
Year should be four digits in length.",
"Bad year", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}
}
catch (Exception e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Year contains non-numeric characters.",
"Bad year", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
} // end catch
return true;
} // end verify
}; // end verifierYear
What could go wrong while entering a year?
o You could neglect to enter anything.

270

o You could enter non-numeric data.

o You could enter a numeric value which is too small or too large.
The InputVerifier checks each, in the order listed.
Note the use of (new Integer(text).intValue()) to convert a String into
an int.
The Integer class is a wrapper class; it takes a primitive data type and converts it to a
class. Of course there is a method (intValue) to extract the underlying int. We
attempt to make the conversion, catching an exception should it be unsuccessful.
We have already used the Integer class in our discussion of autoboxing.
Once we have created the InputVerifier, we must attach it to the appropriate
widget.
yearText.setInputVerifier(verifierYear);
Unlike ActionListeners, InputVerifiers are almost always associated with
only one widget. An obvious exception to this generalisation would occur on a data entry
screen which requires the entry of several dates. All the year fields could share the same
InputVerifier.

Verifying the day of the month

The InputVerifier for the day of the month is a little more complicated since the
upper limit for the day depends on the month and the year.
InputVerifier verifierDay = new InputVerifier() {
public boolean verify(JComponent input) {
int screenDay;
final JTextComponent source =
(JTextComponent) input;
String text = source.getText();
if (text.length() == 0) {
// no day has been provided
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Need to supply some data", "Missing data",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}; // length = 0
try {
screenDay = (new Integer(text).intValue());

271

if (screenDay < 1) {
// regardless of the month, 0 or a negative
// number is a bad day
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Day number is too small.", "Bad day",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}
// if the year, month, and day have been
// specified check maximum value for day
int screenYear = 0;
int screenMonth = 0;
try {
// do we have a year?
screenYear =
(new Integer(yearText.getText())).
intValue();
// do we have a month?
screenMonth =
(new Integer(monthText.getText())).
intValue();
}
catch (Exception e) {
// some part of the date is missing.
// do no more day editing
// screenYear or screenMonth is zero, so
// the following if statement will not be
// executed
}
if ((screenYear > 0) && (screenMonth > 0)) {
int maxDays = 31;
if (screenMonth == 2)
if (isLeapYear(screenYear))
// isLeapYear follows this method
maxDays = 29;
else
maxDays = 28;
if ((screenMonth == 9) ||
(screenMonth == 4) ||
(screenMonth == 6) ||
(screenMonth == 11))
maxDays = 30;
// now we know the maximum number of
// days in the month
if (screenDay > maxDays) {
// too many days
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(

272

myDateInput,
"Too many days in the month.",
"Bad day",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
} // end too many
} // end year and month provided
} // end try
catch (Exception e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myDateInput,
"Day number contains non-numeric characters.",
"Bad day", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
} // end non-numeric
return true;
} // end verify
}; // end verifierDay
The logic verifying the day is similar to that verifying the year and month (Is there
anything provided? If so, is it numeric? If so, is it appropriate?) but the logic for checking
the upper limit is a little more complicated since it depends on the year and the month.
First, this method checks that a year and month have been provided.
If so, it determines the correct number of days in the month and compares the value
provided to that number.
Note the isLeapYear method.
/**
* calculate if a year is a leap year
* @return true if so, false if not
*/
public static boolean isLeapYear(int year) {
return (new GregorianCalendar()).isLeapYear(year);
}
Rather than writing yet another leap year routine, embodying the logic necessary to
decide when a year is a leap year (see, for example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year), I have chosen to use the
GregorianCalendar class and its isLeapYear method. Dont forget the import
statement.
import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
Of course, we attach this InputIdentifier to its widget.
273

dayText.setInputVerifier(verifierDay);

Data entry for other classes

Using the ideas above, you can create simple data entry screens for the other classes
which require them, Student, Professor, Course, Meeting, Mark, and
Address. Most of these will be left as an exercise for the reader.

Summary
In this chapter, we have focussed on the basics of creating data entry screens, and have
seen how to create one simple data entry screen.
In the next chapter, we will see how to create more complicated data entry screens.
Section has some interesting aspects, so well examine its data entry screen next.

274

Exercises
1.

Complete the InputVerifier for the month textfield.

2.

Create a data entry screen for the Student class, collecting personal information,
but not registration information.

3.

Create a data entry screen for the Professor class, collecting personal
information but nothing on the sections and courses the professor teaches.

4.

Create a data entry screen for the Course class, but not collecting any information
about the sections of the courses which are offered.

5.

Create a data entry screen for the Meeting class, but not associating it with a
section just yet.

6.

Create a data entry screen for the Mark class, but not associating it with a student
and course just yet.

7.

Create a data entry screen for the Address class.

8.

Create a data entry screen for the College class. It will allow you to enter its
address and website, but nothing about employees, students, or courses.

9.

Explore the subject of look and feel. What options do you have with the Swing
toolkit? What are the differences between the options?

10.

What are some of the other layout managers you can use? When would you use
each? Could you use any of them to create the data entry screens we have seen in
this chapter?

11.

Use the GridBagLayout manager to recreate one of the data entry screens we
have created in this chapter. Which layout manager do you prefer?

12.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling a bank account. Create a data entry

screen for entering the personal information for the holder of the account.

13.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling a bank account. Create a data entry

screen for entering a transaction, omitting the choice of the account to which the
transaction applies. In the next chapter we will add the account.

14.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Create a

data entry screen for entering a species of bird, including both the common and
scientific name.

275

15.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Create a

data entry screen for entering a sighting, omitting the choice of the species which
was sighted. In the next chapter we will add the species.

276

Chapter 15 - Creating a GUI Data entry screens, part 2

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Use Swing components to create complicated data entry screens

Describe the role of a layout manager in creating data entry screens
Use a layout manager to create complicated data entry screens
Use ActionEvents and ActionListeners
Use InputVerifiers

Introduction
The data entry screen we created in the previous chapter is relatively simple. It contains
some labels, some textfields, and some buttons. But more complicated data entry screens
are very common. They include panels to separate portions of the frame. They include
checkboxes and radio buttons. They include lists of items.
Lets see how we create these data entry screens.

Building the Section data entry screen

The data entry screen for a Section naturally divides itself into several portions: the
course with which the section is associated, the meeting times for the section, and a
collection of buttons.
To build this screen, additional Swing components are necessary, including the
JRadioButton, JList, JScrollPane, JPanel, and JCheckBox components.
The data entry screen we will create is shown below.

277

You can see the three JPanels in the image above.

One JPanel is the portion of the screen containing the course list and section number. It
is clearly separated from the rest of the screen by a border.
A second JPanel contains the radio buttons, labels, textfields, and checkboxes
associated with meeting times. It also has a border.
The third JPanel contains the buttons. I have omitted the border on the third panel
because it seems to be superfluous. The bottom border of the second panel serves as a top
border and the left, right, and bottom borders of the frame itself serve as the left, right,
and bottom borders.
278

Lets examine parts of the method necessary to build this screen, a few statements at a
time.

Create the frame

public static JFrame buildDataEntryFrame() {
// create the JFrame.
final JFrame sectionInput =
new JFrame("Enter Section Information");
sectionInput.setDefaultCloseOperation
(JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE);
We have created the frame and specified that it will hide itself when we click the X icon
in the top-left corner of the frame. These statements are common to most data entry
screens you create.

Create a column of panels

// create a Box to use in the frame to create
// a column of JPanels
Box verticalBox = Box.createVerticalBox();
A Box is a container into which you can place Objects either vertically or horizontally.
More correctly, a Box is a container which uses the BoxLayout layout manager, a
manager which stacks widgets on top of each other, or beside each other, depending on
the orientation of the Box. When you have columns of widgets, it may be easier to use a
VerticalBox to contain and position them than to use the RelativeLayout
manager (or any other layout manager.)

Create the three panels

//
//
//
//
//

create three panels for the frame

at the top - choose a course and enter
section number
in the middle - meeting times
at the bottom - buttons

JPanel top = new JPanel();

JPanel middle = new JPanel();
JPanel bottom = new JPanel();
// and add the panels to the Box

279

verticalBox.add(top);
verticalBox.add(middle);
verticalBox.add(bottom);
Notice that we have created the three JPanels and placed them within the
VerticalBox, but we have not yet specified what the JPanels contain. Well do that
in a moment, starting with the top JPanel.

Place the column in the frame

// and add the Box to the frame, centred
sectionInput.add(verticalBox, BorderLayout.CENTER);
The panels are in the box and the box is in the frame.

Create the top panel

//
//
//
//

the top panel contains two Boxes, one containing a

JLabel and a JList to choose the course,
the other containing a JLabel and a
JTextField to enter a section number

Box courseSelector = Box.createVerticalBox();

Box sectionSelector = Box.createVerticalBox();
Looking back at the sample screen, youll see that the top JPanel contains two columns
of Objects. Following the same logic by which I decided to use Boxes to lay out the
screen, well use Boxes to lay out the top JPanel, too. Of course, you could use
RelativeLayout, should you wish.
// courseSelector Box
JLabel courseLabel = new JLabel("Course");
courseSelector.add(courseLabel);
// the course JList, a list of items from which
// the user can choose. First prepare
// some default values, stored in an array.
// These values should come from a database, but we
// dont know how to use databases yet
String[] data = {"COSC 109", "COSC 111", "MATH 139",
"NTEN 112", "BUAD 123", "PSYC 123",
"GEOG 111", "POLI 100", "BUAD 123",
"BUAD 128", "BUAD 111"};
// create the list box and place the contents

280

// of the array in the JList

JList courses1 = new JList(data);
// allow user to make only one selection
courses1.setSelectionMode(
ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
// embed the JList in a JScrollPane to allow
// for scrolling
JScrollPane courses = new JScrollPane(courses1);
// add the JScrollPane to the panel
courseSelector.add(courses);
// done with courseSelector Box
So the courseSelector Box contains a JList (which scrolls, and allows only one
choice to be made). We dont have a database of courses, which we would normally use
to populate the JList. Instead, we simply create an array containing some courses, and
use that array to initialize the JList, using enough courses that we will see the scroll
bars appear. We have seen arrays before, and will see them again. There is a later section
of this chapter which talks about arrays in more detail.
// sectionSelector Box
JLabel sectionLabel = new JLabel("Section");
sectionSelector.add(sectionLabel);
// the section JTextField
final JTextField sectionText = new JTextField(4);
sectionSelector.add(sectionText);
Similarly, we create and place the widgets in the second VerticalBox.

Place boxes in the panel

// and add both Boxes to the top JPanel
top.add(courseSelector);
top.add(sectionSelector);
And we place both Boxes in the JPanel.

281

Decorate the panels

We would like to separate two of the panels from the rest of the frame by surrounding
each with a border. So we need to create the borders.
// create borders for the JPanels
Border raisedBevel =
BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder();
Border loweredBevel =
BorderFactory.createLoweredBevelBorder();
Border compound = BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(
raisedBevel, loweredBevel);
Border is a Swing interface used to describe a border around a JPanel. A
BorderFactory is a class which creates objects implementing the Border interface.
To use these objects, you must include two import statements at the beginning of the
class.
import javax.swing.border.*;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
Continuing with our method,
// finish with a border
top.setBorder(compound)
Now that we have a Border available, we place it around the JPanel and the
appearance of the top JPanel is complete.

Create the middle panel

This panel is more complex than anything we have seen.
RelativeLayout middleLayout = new RelativeLayout();
middle.setLayout(middleLayout);
Because of its complexity, we will use RelativeLayout to design it. I suppose we
could have build it using 11 vertical boxes, or six horizontal ones.

Labels
Note that there is a row of labels. For each label, we follow our usual practice.
282

First create a widget and add it to its container. Then create the constraints (a minimum
of two, when using RelativeLayout) for a widget, and add the constraints to the
containers layout manager.
In this case, the top edge of all the labels is the same, so we create a constraint for that,
and then use it for each label.
AxisConstraint labelTop = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.VERTICAL, 0.10);
JLabel dayLabel = new JLabel("Day of the week");
middle.add(dayLabel, "day");
middleLayout.addConstraint("day",
AttributeType.TOP, labelTop);
AxisConstraint dayLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.10);
middleLayout.addConstraint("day",
AttributeType.LEFT, dayLeft);

JLabel startLabel = new JLabel("Start Time");

middle.add(startLabel, "start");
middleLayout.addConstraint("start",
AttributeType.TOP, labelTop);
AxisConstraint startLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.50);
middleLayout.addConstraint("start",
AttributeType.LEFT, startLeft);
JLabel endLabel = new JLabel("End Time");
middle.add(endLabel, "end");
middleLayout.addConstraint("end",
AttributeType.TOP, labelTop);
AxisConstraint endLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.65);
middleLayout.addConstraint("end",
AttributeType.LEFT, endLeft);
JLabel roomLabel = new JLabel("Room");
middle.add(roomLabel, "room");
middleLayout.addConstraint("room",
AttributeType.TOP, labelTop);

283

AxisConstraint roomLeft = new AxisConstraint(

DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.80);
middleLayout.addConstraint("room",
AttributeType.LEFT, roomLeft);

The meetings
The labels are followed by five similar rows for the different meetings of the section.
This limit of five rows is because we made a design decision that a Section would
meet no more than five times a week.

284

For each meeting of the section (for each of the five rows), we need seven
JRadioButtons (corresponding to the days of the week), and three JTextFields
(the start and end times of the meeting, and the room in which it will take place.) Well
see how to do the checkboxes in a moment.
So we have five rows of widgets, each row of which appears identical. Intuition (another
name for learning from past mistakes) tells me that a good way to do this is to use a data
structure of some kind, perhaps an array or a Vector or a List, with each element of
the collection corresponding to one row on the data entry screen. Continuing with
intuition, we realise there are seven radio buttons. They could make a collection too.
Since the data structure or collection is quite simple and there is no real processing of the
elements in the collection, we can use an array. To do that, we should examine arrays
more fully before we continue.

Arrays
We have used collections before. A Student object contains a collection of Mark
objects. A Course object contains a number of Section objects. A Section object
contains a number of student identifiers.
Generally we needed to go through all the elements in the collection, starting at the first
and ending at the last. But what if we need to access the elements of the collection
randomly? That is, we want the fourth element, then the eighth, then the first.
It would be very inefficient (slow) to have to process all preceding elements in the
collection to retrieves a specific one. Fortunately, there is a very traditional data structure
which supports random access. This is the array.
An array has two parts. The first is the collection of data items. The second is the
subscript or index, a number used to indicate which element of the collection we wish.
Suppose we have a collection of Student objects, which we wish to store as an array
because we need to access the Student objects randomly. Consider the statement
Student[] theStudents = new Student[50];
This array, whose name is theStudents, contains space for 50 Student objects. The
objects are numbered zero through 49. The index always starts at zero. In memory, these
50 objects are stored next to each other.
When we wish to retrieve the last Student object we retrieve theStudents[49]. If
we wish to retrieve the first Student object, we retrieve theStudents[0].

285

When we wish to retrieve all the Student objects, we use a for statement.
for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
// do something with theStudents[i]
}
But why stop at an array of Student objects? We can have an array of anything,
primitive datatypes like int or char (Did you realise that you can think of a String
as an array of char? You probably did since we inspected a String and saw its array
of char.), or an array of arrays.
An array of arrays? Yes, each element of one array is itself a second array. You have
probably seen this structure often.
The board on which you play chess or checkers is a two-dimensional array. The rows are
elements of an array; but each row contains an array, each element of which is a column.
Each sheet of a workbook (a spreadsheet) is a two-dimensional array, whose elements are
much more complicated than those of a chess board.
That is, these are arrays in which you can think of each array element consisting of an
array.

Were we to create a variable to represent a chessboard, we might use something like this.
int [][] chessboard = new int [8][8];
The model of a chessboard and its pieces could represent an empty cell with a zero, a cell
containing a white piece with a negative number (different numbers correspond to
different pieces), and a cell containing a black piece with a positive number.
If you stretch your mind you can imagine ragged arrays, in which each row may not have
the same number of cells. Imagine this histogram turned on its side.

286

So, now that we know a little more about arrays, lets continue building the data entry
screen.

Create the middle panel, continued

Radio buttons
The radio buttons form a two-dimensional array (five rows, seven columns), while the
start time, end time, and room each form one-dimensional arrays (five rows each). Most
importantly, the arrays are associated. That is, an element in one row of one of the arrays
is associated with the corresponding element in the other arrays.
When you look at the data in, for example, the third elements of these arrays, you will
find the day of the week on which the third meeting takes place, the time it starts, the
time it ends, and the room in which it occurs.

ButtonGroup
Note that radio buttons occur in groups. When you select one button in a group, all the
others are deselected. Thats the traditional way you choose which radio station to listen
to on your vehicle radio. When you have more than one group of radio buttons on a
screen, selecting and deselecting in one group does not influence your choices in the
other groups. We accomplish this by placing the buttons for each of the five possible
meetings in different ButtonGroups.
ButtonGroup aGroup = null;
We will see how to add JButtons to ButtonGroups in a moment.
Note that there are some applications in which choosing a button in one group may affect
the contents of another group. For example, a washing machine I recently purchased lets
you choose the type of material you are washing. Depending on your choice, you may not
be able to use hot water. The hot water choice in the temperature group is disabled.

287

An array of radio buttons

Since we have arrays, we need to have values which tell us the bounds of the loops which
we will use to process the elements of the arrays.
final int MAX_MEETINGS = 5;
final int DAYS_IN_WEEK = 7;
And then we create the arrays.
final JRadioButton[][] aRadioButton =
new JRadioButton[MAX_MEETINGS][DAYS_IN_WEEK];

An array of textfields
Similarly, we create arrays of textfields for the start and end times, and the room
numbers.
final JTextField[] startText =
new JTextField[MAX_MEETINGS];
final JTextField[] endText =
new JTextField[MAX_MEETINGS];
final JTextField[] roomText =
new JTextField[MAX_MEETINGS];

Checkboxes
In thinking about this screen, I realised it would be difficult to tell which of the five
meeting possibilities are actually being used. So I decided to place a column of
checkboxes down the right side of the screen. Whenever the data entry person chooses a
day, or a time, or a room, the appropriate checkbox will be checked by the method.
(When the data entry person unchecks a checkbox, the appropriate time and room will be
erased from the screen.) When the data entry person clicks the OK button, we will
process only those rows which have the checkbox checked. This requires another array.
final JCheckBox[] hasMeeting =
new JCheckBox[MAX_MEETINGS];
And it requires another constraint, specifying the horizontal position of the checkboxes.
AxisConstraint checkLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.95);

288

Placing the arrays in the frame

At last we are able to begin creating the individual elements of the arrays and placing
them on the screen.
Note that RelativeLayout requires a unique logical name for each component we
add. To ensure unique names when we add many rows, all of which have the same
structure, I have assigned logical names to each column and have then created a suffix,
from the row number. Thus, for example, the Sunday radio button in the first row is S0;
the one in the second row is S1.
First, the positioning of the radio buttons.
AxisConstraint sundayLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.025);
AxisConstraint mondayLeft = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.HORIZONTAL, 0.085);
And so on, increasing the value in the AxisConstraint by a small amount. When
you position the radio buttons, be aware that not all letters have the same width so the
radio buttons may not be evenly spaced across the screen.
Recall that RelativeLayout expects you to position each of the components by
specifying two constraints, usually specifying the left and top edges. I have chosen to use
AxisConstraints wherever possible. You can see that designing screens one
component at a time may be a tedious and possibly frustrating experience. Thats why
there are screen design tools available, but not here.
Note also the special work we need to do with radio buttons. Not only do we need to
place them in the JPanel, we need to place them in a ButtonGroup. Placing them in
a ButtonGroup has nothing to do with their placement on the screen; it has to do with
their behaviour. Combining the code for placement into a group with the placement on
the screen may make for shorter code, but does it make for better code?
// the variable pct is used for positioning the
// rows in the middle panel
double pct = 0.20;
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_MEETINGS; i++) {
AxisConstraint rowTop = new AxisConstraint(
DependencyManager.ROOT_NAME,
AttributeAxis.VERTICAL, pct);
// a separate ButtonGroup for each line
aGroup = new ButtonGroup();

289

// a suffix to use in providing logical names

// for the widgets
String suffix = (new Integer(i)).toString();
aRadioButton[i][0] = new JRadioButton("S");
middle.add(aRadioButton[i][0], "S"+suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("S"+suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, sundayLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("S"+suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);
aGroup.add(aRadioButton[i][0]);
aRadioButton[i][1] = new JRadioButton("M");
middle.add(aRadioButton[i][1], "M"+suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("M"+suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, mondayLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("M"+suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);
aGroup.add(aRadioButton[i][1]);
And so on, for the other radio buttons.
Then we do the same thing for the three textfields on each line and the checkbox. The
textfields already have constraints for their left edges, from when we positioned the
labels.
startText[i] = new JTextField(4);
middle.add(startText[i], "start" + suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("start" + suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, startLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("start" + suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);
endText[i] = new JTextField(4);
middle.add(endText[i], "end" + suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("end" + suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, endLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("end" + suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);
roomText[i] = new JTextField(4);
middle.add(roomText[i], "room" + suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("room" + suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, roomLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("room" + suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);

290

hasMeeting[i] = new JCheckBox();

middle.add(hasMeeting[i], "has" + suffix);
middleLayout.addConstraint("has" + suffix,
AttributeType.LEFT, checkLeft);
middleLayout.addConstraint("has" + suffix,
AttributeType.TOP, rowTop);
Then we prepare to display the next row of radio buttons, text fields, and checkboxes.
pct = pct + 0.15;
}

InputVerifiers
But wait a moment! We realize that we will need InputVerifiers for the textfields,
methods which check that the data we enter is reasonable.
// InputVerifier for the times
InputVerifier verifierTime = new InputVerifier() {
public boolean verify(JComponent input) {
int screenTime;
final JTextComponent source =
(JTextComponent) input;
String text = source.getText();
if (text.length() == 0) {
// no time specified
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
sectionInput, "Need to supply some time",
"Missing data",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}; // length = 0
try {
// is there a numeric time
screenTime =
(new Integer(text).intValue());
// and is it reasonable?
int screenHour = screenTime/100;
int screenMinutes = screenTime % 100;
if ((screenTime < 0000) ||
(screenTime > 2359) ||
(screenMinutes > 59)) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog
(sectionInput,

291

"Time should be four digits.\n" +

"First two 00 - 23\n" +
"Second two 00 - 59", "Bad time",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
}
}
catch (Exception e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
sectionInput,
"Time contains non-numeric characters.",
"Bad time",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return false;
} // end catch
return true;
} // end verify
}; // end verifierTime
The InputVerifier below, for the rooms, is incomplete, as we do not have any way
of storing and retrieving a list of allowable rooms. The InputVerifier simply returns
true, the room is acceptable, whenever we supply a room. This InputVerifier is
simply a stub, a small piece of code which will be completed at a later time.
// InputVerifier for the room
InputVerifier verifierRoom = new InputVerifier() {
public boolean verify(JComponent input) {
int screenRoom;
final JTextComponent source =
(JTextComponent) input;
String text = source.getText();
if (text.length() != 0) {
// should check if the room is in
// a database, but we don't have one yet
return true;
}
return true;
} // end verify
}; // end verifierRoom
Of course each InputVerifier must be attached to the appropriate widget.
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_MEETINGS; i++) {
startText[i].setInputVerifier(verifierTime);

292

endText[i].setInputVerifier(verifierTime);
roomText[i].setInputVerifier(verifierRoom);
}

ActionListeners for radio buttons

We need ActionListeners for the radio buttons. When a radio button is clicked, it
will change the associated checkbox.
// ActionListener for the radio buttons
ActionListener actionListenerRadioButton =
new ActionListener () {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
try {
int row =
new Integer(e.getActionCommand()).
intValue();
hasMeeting[row].setSelected(true);
}
catch (Exception x) {
}
}
};

ActionListeners for checkboxes

We need ActionListeners for the checkboxes. When a checkbox is deselected, we
will erase all the information associated with that meeting.
// ActionListener for the checkboxes
ActionListener actionListenerCheck =
new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// which button
AbstractButton abstractButton =
(AbstractButton)e.getSource();
// was it checked or unchecked?
boolean selected =
abstractButton.getModel().isSelected();
// if unchecked
if (!selected) {
try {
int row = new
Integer(e.getActionCommand()).

293

intValue();
startText[row].setText("");
endText[row].setText("");
roomText[row].setText("");
}
catch (Exception x) {
}
}
}
};

ActionEvents
Once we have created the radio button ActionListeners, we need to define the
messages to which the ActionListeners will respond. These messages are simple
just numbers. Since the radio buttons are represented as a two-dimensional array, we
need two for loops, one nested within the other.
// set up ActionEvents relating to JCheckBoxes
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_MEETINGS; i++){
String eventMessage = (new Integer(i)).toString();
hasMeeting[i].setActionCommand(eventMessage);
hasMeeting[i].addActionListener(
actionListenerCheck);
for (int j = 0; j < DAYS_IN_WEEK; j++) {
aRadioButton[i][j].setActionCommand
(eventMessage);
aRadioButton[i][j].addActionListener
(actionListenerRadioButton);
}
}

Decorate the middle panel

Place a border around the middle JPanel and we are done.
middle.setBorder(compound);

The bottom panel

Lets continue and build the bottom JPanel, the one containing the buttons.

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Which layout manager should we choose?

It contains only two JButtons. RelativeLayout would be overkill for such a
simple situation. Instead, we will use FlowLayout. With this layout manager,
components are placed side by side, at the specified end of the panel, in the order in
which they are added to the JPanel. That is, the okay button is added first, so will be
moved to the left when we add the cancel button.
// build the bottom JPanel. it contains JButtons
// use FlowLayout placing components at the right.
// the standard order (left to right) is
// OK and then cancel
FlowLayout bottomlayout =
new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT);
bottom.setLayout(bottomlayout);
JButton okayButton = new JButton("OK");
okayButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_K);
bottom.add(okayButton);
JButton cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
cancelButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C);
sectionInput.getRootPane().
setDefaultButton(cancelButton);
bottom.add(cancelButton);

Button ActionListeners
Of course, buttons need ActionListeners, attached to the appropriate buttons.
ActionListener actionListenerOkay =
new ActionListener () {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(sectionInput,
"Clicked okay.", "Okay",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
};
ActionListener actionListenerCancel =
new ActionListener () {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
sectionInput.setVisible(false);
}

295

};
okayButton.addActionListener(actionListenerOkay);
cancelButton.addActionListener(
actionListenerCancel);

Done!
And then the screen is complete.
// done
return sectionInput;
}
Create a method to display it. Yes, this is exactly the same technique we used to display
the MyDate data entry screen.
/**
* show the Frame
*/
public static void showDataEntryFrame() {
// Show the data entry frame
JFrame box = buildDataEntryFrame();
// Specify the initial location (first two
// parameters and size (second two parameters)
// of the frame
box.setBounds(100, 100, 500, 300);
box.pack();
// and show it on the screen.
box.setVisible(true);
while (box.isVisible()) {}
System.exit(0);
}
Test it.
Modify it as you think appropriate. Some companies have design standards to which you
must adhere, but for now, you may customise the data entry screen to suit your
preference.

296

Summarizing building a data entry screen

This is a longer summary than the one you saw in the previous chapter.
The first step in building a data entry screen is to create a JFrame and associate a layout
manager with it.
The second step is to create any widgets (including panels, which will need their own
layout managers) which we wish to place in the frame. We create the constraints
associated with each widget. Then we add the widgets to the frame, and the constraints to
the layout manager.
The third step is to create any panels which we wish to place within other panels. Create
the constraints associated with each panel. Add the panels to their containers. Their
container may be the frame or it may be another panel. Add the constraints to the
containers layout manager. Repeat this step as necessary, if there are nested panels.
The fourth step is to examine all the panels. For each, create the (non-panel) widgets the
panel contains and add them to the panel. Create the constraints for each widget and add
the constraints to the panels layout manager.
The fifth step is to add InputVerifiers to all the textfields, and
ActionListeners to all the buttons.

Some general comments on data entry

You may need to accept data in a special format, be it phone numbers, postal codes,
Canadian Social Insurance Numbers, or American Social Security Numbers. You will
find the JFormattedTextField makes your life easier. It is described in the online
Java documentation.
When you are entering a large amount of data, you may find the JOptionPanes that
appear from the InputVerifiers when you make errors interrupt the flow of typing.
If that is so, you may wish to avoid the use of JOptionPanes. Instead, add a normallyinvisible label to the data entry screen; place an error message in it and make it visible,
whenever the input is in error. The InputVerifier method will need to return true
always, or you will not be able to exit from the field.
If you adopt this method, you will need to verify all the fields when you attempt to accept
the data on the screen, perhaps by clicking the okay button.
Here are a couple of interesting problems.

297

Attempt to leave the data entry screen without entering any data. A person might do this
when there were many data entry screens and the person accidentally chose the wrong
one. If you choose the X in the top-right corner, you are able to leave the data entry
screen with no problem. But if you choose the cancel button, an error message appears.
Why does this happen? More importantly, how can you correct it? Hint, consider this
statement.
cancelButton.setVerifyInputWhenFocusTarget(false);
How is that for the name of a method? What does that method do?
Heres another problem: assume you have entered 2009/02/30 as the date on the
Meeting data entry screen you created in the previous chapter. You meant to enter
2009/03/30. As you leave the day JTextField you will receive an error message. You
acknowledge it, and click in the month JTextField. But the day error message
reappears. The only way to leave the day JTextField is to provide a valid day within
February 2009. Then you may change the month to March, and return to the day field to
enter the number 30. Why does this happen? How can you avoid it?
Similarly, suppose your Section data entry screen checks that the end time is after the
start time, but you entered the start time incorrectly. How can you fix it? You may be
forced to change a time which is correct and then change it back. For example, a start
time of 1130 with an end time of 1120, when you meant to enter 1030 and 1120.

Beyond data entry

But a complete system does not involve only data entry screens. A complete system
probably involves a splash screen (something to watch as the rest of the program loads),
and screens containing a menu, allowing you access to other parts of the system. Creating
a screen containing a menu is the subject of the next chapter.

298

Exercises
1.

Combining the code for placement into a group with the placement on the screen
may make for shorter code, but does it make for better code?

2.

Explore the capabilities of the JFormattedTextField.

3.

Use the GridBagLayout manager to recreate one of the data entry screens we
have created in this chapter. Which layout manager do you prefer?

4.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling a bank account. In the previous

chapter you created a data entry screen for entering a transaction. Complete that
screen, adding the choice of the account to which the transaction applies.

5.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling a bank account. Assume that this has
grown into a system which has many accounts. Develop a screen which allows you
to display details on a specific account, whose number you must provide.

6.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. In the

previous chapter you created a data entry screen for entering a sighting. Complete
that screen adding the choice of the species which was sighted.

7.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Assume

this has grown into a system containing many sightings. Develop a screen which
allows you to display the sightings of a particular species, whose name you must
provide.

299

300

Chapter 16 - Creating a GUI Menus

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Use Swing widgets to create menus

Describe some of the considerations involved in designing a menu
Describe the role of a layout manager in creating menus
Use ActionEvents and ActionListeners with menus

Introduction
Having data entry screens is fine, but how do you access them?
In modern computer applications, you often have a menu system that allows you to
access the various parts of your system. In this chapter, we will focus on creating a menu
system. In particular, BlueJ has menus, and BlueJ is a Java application. How did the
developers make those menus?

Creating the menus

Definitions
A menu appears across the top of a frame and is implemented through the JMenuBar
class. The Java documentation says that the JMenuBar class is An implementation of a
menu - a popup window containing JMenuItems that is displayed when the user selects
an item on the JMenuBar. In addition to JMenuItems, a JMenu can also contain
JSeparators.
That is, a JMenuBar object is the horizontal menu, containing a collection of JMenu
objects. A JMenu object is the vertical list of JMenuItems which appears when you
click an item in the JMenuBar. JSeparators are the visual dividers, usually
horizontal lines, you see separating JMenuItems into logical groups.

301

Designing the menu system

So what do we want our menu system to contain? We need to answer that question before
we begin to implement the menu system. But note that we will not be implementing all
the functionality behind the menus.
On the JMenuBar, I would suggest, as a minimum, these items.
File, containing all choices relating to the files in which we are storing data
Edit, containing all choices relating to data entry
Help, containing a help system
On the File JMenu, I would suggest these items.
New, to create a new college or a new semester
Open, to work with an existing college or semester
Save, to save any unsaved work
Print, to allow us to display timetables, transcripts, list of professors, etc.
Exit, to shut down our program
On the Edit JMenu, I would suggest:
Professor, entering a new professor or editing an existing one
Student, entering a new student or editing an existing one
Course, entering a new course or editing an existing one
Section, entering a new section or editing an existing one
On the Help menu, I would suggest these items.
Help, to provide access to documents describing how to use our program
About, to provide a brief blurb about the developers of the program

Implementing the menu

So, lets begin. The Java tutorial provides us guidance.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/menu.html
Create a class named CollegeMenu. It contains only a few methods. The constructor
uses a helper method to create the JMenuBar. A third method, createAndShowGUI,
displays the JMenuBar within a JFrame. Note that the constructor is private; we dont
want a menu created except under the control of the createAndShowGUI method.
We need the Swing library for the widgets and the AWT library for the events associated
with them.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

302

public class CollegeMenu

{
The only instance variable in this class is the menubar, which will appear across the top
of the frame.
private JMenuBar bar;
The constructor calls the createMenuBar method.
private CollegeMenu()
{
createMenuBar();
}
The createMenuBar method does all the work of creating the menu.
private JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
Create the horizontal menu, but it is empty. It does not contain any of the vertical menus
yet.
bar = new JMenuBar();
We define a variable to contain the File menu. The menu will contain the word which
appears in the menu bar, along with all the choices in the vertical menu.
JMenu fileMenu = new JMenu("File");
fileMenu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
fileMenu.getAccessibleContext().
setAccessibleDescription
("Deal with files - open, save, etc");
Recall that we used mnemonics when we established shortcuts in our data entry screens.
The accessibility methods are described below.
Once fileMenu has been created add it to the menu bar.
bar.add(fileMenu);
Now the menu bar contains one choice, but the vertical menu is empty.
We define a variable which will be used to successively create the choices on the File
menu.

303

JMenuItem menuItem;
And then we create the choices.
// create JMenuItems for fileMenu
menuItem = new JMenuItem("New", KeyEvent.VK_N);
menuItem.getAccessibleContext().
setAccessibleDescription
("Create a new file");
fileMenu.add(menuItem);
// repeat for other JMenuItems (see below)
// repeat for other JMenus (see below)
// done
return bar;
}
As we did with the data entry screens, the method above creates the menu bar but does
not display it. We need another method which will create the frame into which we can
place the menu.
/**
* Create the GUI and show it.
*/
public static void createAndShowGUI() {
// provide a frame in which to display the menu
JFrame frame = new JFrame("COSC 111/121 Example);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation
(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// create the menu system
CollegeMenu demo = new CollegeMenu();
frame.setJMenuBar(demo.createMenuBar());
//Display the window.
frame.setSize(450, 260);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
The code as shown will work, but it is incomplete.
To test the menu system, compile the CollegeMenu class and then execute its
createAndShowGUI method.

304

Accessibility
We have used some new methods here, relating to accessibility.
Accessibility refers to making computers easier to use by those with different types of
sensory challenges. In this case, we are providing access for those with serious vision
problems, who may use a screen reader to identify the mouse location and the text on
which it is located. An alternative to using the
getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription method would be
to use tooltips for those who dont use a screen reader. Tooltips appear when you hover
your mouse over a choice but do not click a button on the mouse; we saw them in an
earlier chapter. An example is
menuItem.setToolTipText("Create a new file");
To accommodate all users, you should use both AccessibleDescriptions and
ToolTips.

Completing the menu

Now complete the other parts of the menu system.
As you do this, you may run across an interesting challenge, the duplication of
mnemonics. We have seen that a mnemonic is a single letter abbreviation you can use to
choose a selection from a menu. S for Save and P for Print are common mnemonics.
On the Edit menu, what mnemonics did you use for Student and Section? As a general
rule, you shouldnt have the same mnemonic for two selections on the same menu. To
avoid this, I used T for student and S for section. You could use S for student and E for
section if you prefer. Or you could use S for both.
When you have duplicates and you can not find suitable different mnemonics, pressing
and the mnemonic repeatedly will switch among the duplicate entries.
The other problem you run across is that the vertical, drop-down, menus are divided into
logical sections (New, Open, and Save all deal with files) and you usually wish to
separate one logical group from another. Do this with JSeparators, adding one to the
menu wherever appropriate.
fileMenu.add(new JSeparator());
I added a separator after Save, and one before Exit.

305

Performing actions
Some of the choices on a menu simply lead to other choices. Others, however, lead to
data entry screens, or query screens (but we dont have any of those yet). How do we
invoke methods to do these actions?
We use ActionListeners again. We have seen where the frame implements the
ActionListener and we have seen where each widget implements the
ActionListener.
Herer the CollegeMenu class itself will implement the ActionListener interface.
public class CollegeMenu implements ActionListener
Each menuItem variable must register itself with the listener.
menuItem.addActionListener(this);
The word this refers to the current object, the menu itself, which is an
ActionListener, since it implements the ActionListener interface.
We use the setActionCommand method to identify each menu choice. For example,
menuItem.setActionCommand("exit");
The listener uses the ActionPerformed method to identify which menu selection is
made. This is a simple version, listening only for the Exit and About menuItems.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JMenuItem source = (JMenuItem)(e.getSource());
if (source.getText().equals("Exit")) {
System.exit(0);
}
if (source.getText().equals("about")) {
// display message box
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
"CollegeMenu - demo program for COSC 111/121",
"About", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
// do something for each other possibility
return;
};

306

The getText method allows us to identify which menu item has been chosen, by
returning the word which it displays. Should you be planning to internationalise this
system, so that the menu selections will appear in other languages, be prepared to change
this method. It will either have to recognise the other languages.
Would it be better after all to have separate listeners for each menu item? What changes
would you need to make to your menu to make this possible?

Help
Implementing a help system is a complicated task, since it should be able to answer any
questions that the user has about your program. Rather than going into great detail about
implementing a help system, Ill refer you to the website for JavaHelp. This is described
as an open source software, a full-featured, platform-independent, extensible help
system that enables you to incorporate online help in applets, components, applications,
operating systems, and devices.
For more details on JavaHelp, see
http://java.sun.com/javase/technologies/desktop/javahelp/

Summary
There is still a lot of work to do to make this system a complete, working system, but
there are other ideas we should pursue. You have seen the basics of how to design a
program, entering data, storing data, and manipulating data. You have seen a large
amount of Java.
However, there are additional aspects of programming, and of Java, which do not fit well
into this example of a college. Thus, well set the college, its students, and its professors
aside as we consider other ideas and examples.

307

Exercises
1

Complete the College menu system started in this chapter.

2.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling a bank account. Create a menu system

for a banking system involving many accounts.

3.

In previous chapters we discussed modelling the sightings a birder makes. Create a

menu system for a birding system involving many sightings.

308

Chapter 17 - Applets
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define applet
Use the predefined methods which applets provide
Create applets to carry out a variety of tasks

Introduction
Up to now, we have been building parts of an application as a stand-alone program which
runs on its own. The GUI is part of the application and so are all the classes.
But Java can also be used to create applets. These are small programs, used as part of a
web page. They are described in most books on Java, and online, for example at
http://java.sun.com/applets. This site includes many sample applets.
Lets see how we can create an applet.

Creating an applet
Open BlueJ and create a new project. Then create a new class in that project, but make
sure it is an applet, not a class. Traditionally, the first program students write is named
HelloWorld, so we will use that name for the first applet you write.

309

Well, it looks like a class on its class diagram, but it is clearly marked as an applet.

Running an applet
I know we have added no code to the applet, but BlueJ has created a complete, workable,
although minimal, applet for us. To see this, right-click the applet and choose Compile
the Applet, and then right-click the applet again and choose Run Applet. The window
below appears.

310

The appropriate radio button has been chosen, and the height and width are fine. Click
Ok, and the applet opens, using an application called AppletViewer.

Much of what you see comes from AppletViewer; in particular, the menu allowing you to
control the applet comes from AppletViewer. The output of the applet is two lines of text.
Terminate AppletViewer.

311

In my case, the name in the title bar was truncated. The three dots at the end of the name
(an ellipsis) indicate this truncation. Due to the font chosen and the width of the frame,
there was not enough room to display the full name. Run the applet again, but this time
make its width larger. I set the width to 600 and the complete title appeared.
Run the applet a third time, but this time choose Run applet in web browser. Then click
Ok. The applet runs, but this time in your default web browser. In my case, it started on a
new tab in Firefox, as Firefox was already running. If the browser was not running, it
would have started.
How does the applet do its work? Lets open it in the editor and see.

An applet (as created by BlueJ) under the microscope

Here is the code as it appears in the editor (formatted as usual to fit on the printed page.)
This is much longer than most applets youll see in textbooks, but dont be concerned.
Most of the length is documentation. After this code, well examine the parts of the
applet in detail.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
/**
* Class HelloWorld - write a description of the class here
*
* @author (your name)
* @version (a version number)
*/
public class HelloWorld extends JApplet
{
// instance variables - replace the example
// below with your own
private int x;
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to
* inform this JApplet that it has been loaded into
* the system. It is always called before the first
* time that the start method is called.
*/
public void init()
{
// this is a workaround for a security conflict
// with some browsers including some versions of
312

// Netscape & Internet Explorer which do not

// allow access to the AWT system event queue
// which JApplets do on startup to check access.
// May not be necessary with your browser.
JRootPane rootPane = this.getRootPane();
rootPane.putClientProperty(
"defeatSystemEventQueueCheck",
Boolean.TRUE);
// provide any initialisation necessary
// for your JApplet
}
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to
* inform this JApplet that it should start its
* execution. It is called after the init method and
* each time the JApplet is revisited in a Web page.
*/
public void start()
{
// provide any code required to run each time
// web page is visited
}
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer
* to inform this JApplet that it should stop
* its execution. It is called when the Web page that
* contains this JApplet has been replaced by
* another page, and also just before the
* JApplet is to be destroyed.
*/
public void stop()
{
// provide any code that needs to be run
// when page is replaced by another page or
// before JApplet is destroyed
}
/**
* Paint method for applet.
*
* @param g
the Graphics object for this applet
*/
public void paint(Graphics g)
{

313

// simple text displayed on applet

g.setColor(Color.white);
g.fillRect(0, 0, 200, 100);
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawString("Sample Applet", 20, 20);
g.setColor(Color.blue);
g.drawString("created by BlueJ", 20, 40);
}
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to
* inform this JApplet that it is being reclaimed
* and that it should destroy any resources that it
* has allocated. The stop method will always
* be called before destroy.
*/
public void destroy()
{
// provide code to be run when JApplet
// is about to be destroyed.
}

/**
* Returns information about this applet.
* An applet should override this method to
* return a String containing information about
* the author, version, and copyright of the JApplet.
*
* @return a String representation of
* information about this JApplet
*/
public String getAppletInfo()
{
// provide information about the applet
return "Title:
\nAuthor:
\n +
A simple applet example description. ";
}

/**
* Returns parameter information about this JApplet.
* Returns information about the parameters than
* are understood by this JApplet. An applet should
* override this method to return an array of Strings
* describing these parameters.
* Each element of the array should be a set of

314

* three Strings containing the name, the type,

* and a description.
*
* @return a String[] representation of
* parameter information about this JApplet
*/
public String[][] getParameterInfo()
{
// provide parameter information about the applet
String paramInfo[][] = {
{"firstParameter", "1-10",
"description of first parameter"},
{"status", "boolean",
"description of second parameter"},
{"images",
"url",
"description of third parameter"}
};
return paramInfo;
}
}
Whew!
The applet begins with two import statements. As we have seen in the previous chapters,
Java has two graphics libraries, awt (Abstract Window Toolkit) and Swing. Applets use
both.
JApplet is a Swing class that extends Applet, an awt class, and the applet we are
creating extends JApplet. That is, HelloWorld is a JApplet (as well as being an
Applet.)
A JApplet must implement several methods. These are init, start, stop, paint,
and destroy. We look at each in turn below.
getAppletInfo and getParameterInfo should be implemented as a favour to
people who wish to use the applet. We look at each in turn below.

init
The documentation BlueJ creates states it all.
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to inform
* this JApplet that it has been loaded into the system.
* It is always called before the first time that the

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* start method is called.

*/
Many times the init method will do nothing. In particular, the workaround that is
shown appears to be unnecessary on my computer. Should you have an applet that
requires a specific version of a browser (or a specific browser or operating system), then
the init method would be where you check.
When you have any GUI components in your applet, this is the place to define them and
add their listeners. Yes, applets can contain buttons and textfields and

start
The documentation BlueJ creates gives the purpose of the start method.
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to inform
* this JApplet that it should start its execution.
* It is called after the init method and each time
* the JApplet is revisited in a Web page.
*/
Applets can not open files on the machine on which they are running without asking your
permission, but they can contact other websites to download images, files, or other data.
Should your applet do that, the code to do it is here.
Of course, this method may do nothing.

stop
The documentation BlueJ creates gives the purpose of the stop method.
/**
* Called by the browser or applet viewer to inform
* this JApplet that it should stop its execution.
* It is called when the Web page that contains this
* JApplet has been replaced by another page, and also
* just before the JApplet is to be destroyed.
*/
Perhaps the applet is playing some music and it should stop. Perhaps it is running an
animation and it should stop.
This method may do nothing.

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paint
This is the method which does all the heavy lifting in an applet. That is, this is the method
in which you will write most of your Java statements. The documentation BlueJ creates
does not let you know this.
An applet is a graphics program. As such, it needs an area on which to draw. This area,
called a graphics context (an object of type Graphics) is provided as a parameter and
then you can issue whatever commands you need to produce the graphics output you
wish.
As you see from the sample BlueJ provides, these commands allow you to specify
colours, to draw filled rectangles (and other shapes as well), and to write text (beginning
at a specified position).
g.setColor(Color.white);
g.fillRect(0, 0, 200, 100);
This creates a white rectangle. Its upper corner is in the upper left corner of the window
(and has co-ordinates 0, 0). The rectangle has a width of 200 pixels and a height of 100
pixels. It is hard to see the rectangle, since it appears on a white background. To see the
rectangle, change it to a different colour, perhaps Color.yellow.
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawString("Sample Applet", 20, 20);
This changes the colour to black, and displays some text (in black). The lower left corner
of the leftmost character is 20 pixels from the left edge and 20 down from the top.
g.setColor(Color.blue);
g.drawString("created by BlueJ", 20, 40);
This changes the colour to blue and displays some more text.
To see the other methods you can use to draw, look at the online documentation of the
Graphics class. You will have the opportunity to use some of the other methods in the
exercises for this chapter.

destroy
The documentation BlueJ creates gives the purpose of the destroy method.
/**

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* Called by the browser or applet viewer to inform

* this JApplet that it is being reclaimed and that
* it should destroy any resources that it has
* allocated. The stop method will always be called
* before destroy.
*/
Perhaps the applet has allocated some memory and it should be released. Perhaps it has
established a connection to another website somewhere and that connection should be
severed.
Of course, this method may do nothing.

getAppletInfo
The BlueJ documentation gives the purpose of the getAppletInfo method. You can
see that it is similar to the toString methods we have written in all of the classes we
have developed earlier.
/**
* Returns information about this applet.
* An applet should override this method to return a
* String containing information about the author,
* version, and copyright of the JApplet.
*
* @return a String representation of information
* about this JApplet
*/
It is only politeness that you should provide meaningful information from this method.
The default value of null is not informative.

getParameterInfo
When you run an applet, you can provide it with input. This information is provided
through parameters. You can see this in the window which appears when we choose to
run the applet.

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getParameterInfo provides a way to find out which parameters an applet will

process.
The BlueJ documentation describes this in more detail.
/**
* Returns parameter information about this JApplet.
* Returns information about the parameters than are
* understood by this JApplet. An applet should override
* this method to return an array of Strings describing
* these parameters.
* Each element of the array should be a set of three
* Strings containing the name, the type, and a
* description.
*
* @return a String[] representation of parameter
* information about this JApplet
*/

This method returns a two-dimensional array (the documentation does not make this
completely clear), the elements of which are Strings.
Interpret this two-dimensional array as a one-dimensional array, each of whose elements
is an array whose three elements are the name of the parameter (element 0), the type of
the parameter (element 1), and a description of the parameter (element 2).

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Notice the way you can declare an array and give its elements at the same time. Thus
{"firstParameter", "1-10",
"description of first parameter"}
is an array, containing three elements, all Strings, and
String paramInfo[][] = {
{"firstParameter", "1-10",
"description of first parameter"},
{"status", "boolean",
"description of second parameter"},
{"images", "url",
"description of third parameter"}
}
declares an array of three elements, each of whose elements is itself an array of three
elements. You can refer to individual elements of paramInfo by giving the individual
row and column subscripts. Thus paramInfo[1][2] is description of second
parameter. paramInfo[2][1] is url. Trying to access paramInfo[3][3] will cause
an exception ( an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException) to be thrown. Remember
that both row and column subscripts start at 0.
When you use AppletViewer to view the applet, you can specify those parameters. When
you run the applet from a web browser, you can specify those parameters.
But you cant specify the parameters unless you know what they are called. This method
will tell you about the parameters.
The applets we create in this chapter do not use parameters, but you will have the
opportunity to do so in the exercises. To complete those exercises, you will need to
explore the getParameter method of the Applet class.

Hello world
Since Kernighan and Ritchie published their book on C, in which the first sample
program was to display the words Hello World, beginning programmers have learned
how to do this as well.
You are definitely not a beginning programmer if you have covered the previous
chapters, but writing a Hello World program is something all programmers do.

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To follow in the steps of those who have gone before, modify the skeleton applet to
display the message Hello World, in green text on a purple background, in 32 point text.
Oh, purple is not one of the constants in the Color class!
All colours can be constructed from a mixture of red, green, and blue. Google the words
RGB purple and you will find many sites which tell you that purple is something like
160-32-240. The colours (the firstnumber refers to the amount of red in the colour, the
second to the amount of green, and the third to the amount of blue) are measured on a
scale from 0 (none) to 255 (all). Thus 0-0-0 is black, and 255-255-255 is white. 160-32240 is interpreted by our brain as purple.
Color purple = new Color(160, 32, 240);
g.setColor(purple);
Once we have the colour we want, we create a rectangle in which we can display the text.
g.fillRect(0, 0, 200, 100);
Before we display the text, we need to create the correct font, based on the default font.
g.setFont(g.getFont().deriveFont(Font.PLAIN,32));
Then we set the color of the text, this time using a predefined value.
g.setColor(Color.green);
And we display the text.
g.drawString("Hello World", 20, 50);
Ugly, isnt it? That is, green on purple is ugly, not the Java code to create green text on a
purple background.

A problem
When I resize the applet in AppletViewer, the contents disappear. When I minimize
AppletViewer and then restore it, the contents remain.
This behaviour does not happen when I run the applet in my web browser.
Why does it happen in AppletViewer and how can you fix it?

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Squares
You can create an abstract painting by placing a series of filled rectangles on the graphics
context.
Make it so.

Canadian flag
Or you can create your national flag. Being Canadian, Ill create a Canadian flag.

The bars and background are easy to draw. The maple leaf is the challenge. All you need
to do is identify the points on the maple leaf where the line surrounding it changes
direction and then provide that information to the drawPolygon method.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/etiquette/images/fig3.gif provides an appropriate
image. I used a drawing program to identify the approximately 30 points I needed to
define the vertices of the polygon adequately.
As an aside, what does the world think of Canada? While looking for this image in
Microsoft Office Word 2003s library, I found images of maple syrup, blueberry pie,
hockey, skating, tuques, and Nanaimo bars, along with the maps, flags, and flowers of the
provinces, and a loon!

Creating HTML to run an applet

While we have used AppletViewer to run our applet, applets are more often viewed via a
web browser. Thus you need to create a webpage which contains the applet. BlueJ allows
us to do this very easily.

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Compile the applet; Ive chosen the Canadian Flag applet. When you run the applet, dont
tell BlueJ to run it in AppletViewer or the web browser; tell BlueJ to create webpage
only; in my case, since the applet is called CanadianFlag.java, the webpage is called
CanadianFlag.html and is located in the same folder as the applet.
If you wished to create the webpage with another name, you could just rename the
automatically-created page. Or you could right-click the applet in the class diagram;
choose Run Applet, Generate web page only, and click Ok. A Save As window
appears, titled Select HTML page destination. Double-click the Applet folder name,
and then provide a name for the HTML page. I chose CanadianFlagTest and the
extension .html was appended automatically.
Here are the contents of CanadianFlag.html (or CanadianFlagTest.html).
<html>
<!-- This file automatically generated by BlueJ Java Development -->
<!-- Environment. It is regenerated automatically each time the -->
<!-- applet is run. Any manual changes made to file will be lost -->
<!-- when the applet is next run inside BlueJ. Save into a
-->
<!-- directory outside of the package directory if you want to -->
<!-- preserve this file. -->
<head>
<title>CanadianFlag Applet</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>CanadianFlag Applet</h1>
<hr>
<applet code="CanadianFlag.class"
width=500
height=500
codebase="F:\DATA\COSC111\java\Fall2006\Applet"
archive="file:/C:/BlueJ/lib/bluejcore.jar,file:/C:/BlueJ/lib/junit.jar,file:/F:/DATA/COSC1
11/java/Fall2006/RelativeLayout/RelativeLayout.jar,file:/F:/DATA/COSC111/java/Fall2
006/Applet/"
alt="Your browser understands the &lt;APPLET&gt; tag but isn't running the
applet, for some reason."
>
Your browser is ignoring the &lt;APPLET&gt; tag!
</applet>
<hr>
</body>
</html>
But much of this is unnecessary. The simpler version of the HTML file is:

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<html>
<head>
<title>CanadianFlag Applet</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>CanadianFlag Applet</h1>
<hr>
<applet code="CanadianFlag.class"
width=500
height=500 >
</applet>
</body>
</html>

A quick introduction to HTML

Should you not be familiar with HTML, heres the quick introduction. You may have
seen a similar idea in the chapters using XML.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a language used to describe the way webpages
will appear when viewed with a web browser.
The description of each webpage begins with <html> and ends with </html>. These are
called tags; capitalization doesnt matter. You have seen different tags when we used
XML to serialize objects.
Within a webpage, there are two sections, the heading and the body. The heading is
surrounded by <head> and </head> tags, and the body is surrounded by <body> and
</body> tags.
Within the heading, you can specify a title, surrounded by <title> and </title> tags, which
appears as the title of the window in which the webpage is displayed.
Within the body of the webpage, you may have headings; these control the appearance of
lines which you use to separate parts of your webpage. The <h1> and </h1> tags mark
the largest type of heading, <h6> and </h6> (unused in this example) mark the smallest.
<hr> (without a matching </hr>) inserts a horizontal line across the screen.
<applet> and </applet> mark the instructions which identify the applet to run (code=),
and the size of the window in which it is to appear. Should you omit the size, the applet
will run in a window of default size but the default is too small to show the entire flag.

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Should you wish to add some text to the webpage (not shown here), surround each
paragraph you wish to add with <p> and </p> tags. For example <p>This is the national
flag of the great country of Canada. Its national holiday is July 1, celebrating the day
Canada became a nation in 1867.</p>
Should you wish to add comments within your webpage (see the second line of the
automatically-generated webpage), comments begin with <!-- and end with -->, and may
extend over any lines if you wish. These comments will not appear when you display the
webpage.

Summary
Applets are graphics programs designed to run in a browser. Should you develop
websites, you find you use them extensively. If not, you may not use them at all.
I have included them here as many students enjoy creating visual artefacts, and because
they can be fun.
In the next chapter, we will step back from Java for a moment, and look at some of the
underpinnings of good analysis and design. We will look at patterns, solutions which
have worked for others and which you can adopt to make your own programs better.

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Exercises
1.

Create a simple applet which displays your name.

Modify the applet so it accepts parameters to specify the size of the frame. First,
decide on the names of your parameters. I would suggest length and width
should be the names. When you use BlueJ to run the applet, specify those
parameters and their values.

If you dont specify the size, your applet should choose some reasonable value.
To accomplish all this, begin by declaring instance variables for your applet. Create
a loadParameters method and call it from the init method. Lets start with
height and width
The declarations are
private int width;
private int height;
and the loadParameters method is
private void loadParameters() {
String parameter = getParameter("width");
if (parameter != null)

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width = new Integer(parameter);

else
width = 300;
parameter = getParameter("height");
if (parameter != null)
height = new Integer(parameter);
else
height = 400;
}
Modify the applet so it doesnt display always your name. It should display the
name provided as a parameter, with your name being the default value. Accomplish
this by declaring an instance variable and then establish its value in
loadParameters. If the name you wish to enter contains one or more spaces,
ensure you enclose it in quotation marks.
Modify the getParameterInfo method to explain the parameters the applet
accepts. To test this method, create a new applet on the workbench, and execute its
getParameterInfo method.
Modify the applet so it uses the colour provided as a parameter. You should
probably make sure the applet accepts both the name color (the American spelling)
and colour (the Canadian and English spelling). Ensure there is an appropriate
default colour.
2.

Create a simple applet to draw some geometric shapes. You may draw circles and
ovals using the drawOval and fillOval methods. (An oval is a circle drawn
within a non-square rectangle.) You may draw squares and rectangles with the
drawRect and fillRect methods.
Other polygons are drawn using the drawPolygon and fillPolygon methods.
You will need to explore the Graphics classto use these methods.

3.

Create an applet which generates a circle in the centre of its graphics context. To
determine the centre, use something like the following statements.
Rectangle r = g.getClipBounds();
int x = (r.x + r.width)/2;
int y = (r.y + r.height)/2;
The Rectangle that ClipBounds returns has its top left corner, represented by
x and y, as 0, 0. The Rectangles width and height are the values you (or
BlueJ) specify when you run the applet. Assume for a moment that you use the
height and width that BlueJ suggests.

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When you draw a circle, recall that you are specifying the corners of the box
surrounding it. Thus when you use the statements
int width = r.width / 4;
int height = r.height / 4;
to determine the size of the box and then use the statement
g.drawOval(x y, width, height);
to draw the circle, you will not draw a circle in the centre of the graphics context.
You will draw a circle in an invisible box, whose top left corner is at the centre of
the graphics context. To actually draw a circle whose centre is in the centre of the
graphics context, you need to use this statement.
g.drawOval(x - width / 2, y height / 2,
width, height);
If you specify that the applet runs in a non-square frame, the calculation of the
centre of the frame is the same. But the statement above will draw an oval, not a
circle. What value should you use as the diameter of the circle if we really want to
draw a circle? I would suggest the minimum of the height and width you have
calculated.
int diameter = Math.min(height, width);
int radius = diameter / 2;
g.drawOval(x - radius, y - radius,
diameter, diameter);
Make the circle move from the centre along a path whose angle you specify, in
degrees, through a parameter. This involves a little trigonometry.
When you move in a direction, any direction, there are at least two ways to do so.
You could go directly to your destination, or you could do it in two steps; move a
certain distance in one direction and move a certain distance in anther direction.
Think of a right-angled triangle. You could follow a route along the hypotenuse (the
long side), or you could follow a route along the other two sides. Both routes get
you to the same destination. They just take different amounts of time.
We can calculate the distances in the x and y directions by using the cosine and sine
functions, applied to the angle we specified. Thinking again of the right-angled
triangle, we cant determine the lengths of the sides unless we also know the length
of the hypotenuse. Consider the statements below. We have used a
loadParameters method to provide a value for angle.
// distance to move radially

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int hypotenuse = diameter / 20;

double doubleAngle = Math.toRadians(angle);
int deltaX = new Long(Math.round(
Math.cos(doubleAngle) *
hypotenuse)).intValue();
int deltaY = new Long(Math.round(
Math.sin(doubleAngle) *
hypotenuse)).intValue();
The first two lines decide the maximum distance the circle will move in a radial
direction, out from its current centre. I chose this distance since it is large enough to
see, but small enough that it will take a number of steps to move the circle a long
distance.
The trigonometric functions in the Math library expect the angle to be in radians,
but we have specified the angle in degrees. The toRadians method converts
degrees to radians, giving a double, which the trigonometric functions expect.
The distance the circle moves in the x direction is given by the hypotenuse times the
cosine of the angle. The distance the circle moves in the y direction is given by the
hypotenuse times the sine of the angle.
The conversions in the last few statements arise because drawOval expects ints
while the sine and cosine produce doubles. Thus we convert the double to a
Long and then extract the int equivalent,
Finally we are at a point where we can make the circle move.
Color fg = g.getColor();
Color bg = Color.white; // default background
g.drawOval(centreX, centreY, diameter, diameter);
for (int i = 0; i < 25; i++) {
// draw the oval in the background colour
g.setColor(bg);
g.drawOval(centreX, centreY,
diameter, diameter);
// and redraw it somewhere else
//in the original colour
centreX = centreX + deltaX;
centreY = centreY + deltaY;
g.setColor(fg);
g.drawOval(centreX, centreY,
diameter, diameter);
}

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These statements determine the colours to use, and draw the first circle. Then they
redraw it using the background colour (this makes it disappear), calculate the new
location of the circle and draw it there, repeating as many times as necessary.
When you run the applet, you may not see the circle move, unless you have a very
slow computer. You may see it only at its last position. How do you slow this action
down?
One solution is to use the Timer class defined in javax.swing.Timer.
Explore that class.
The circle should appear to vanish as it reaches the edge of the frame. But that
happens automatically!
4.

Create an applet which generates a small circle in the graphics context. Its centre is
specified via parameters. Make the circle move along a path whose angle you
specify through a parameter. The circle should bounce off the edge of the frame and
continue on its path.
This exercise will use many of the ideas from the previous exercise, plus you will
need to detect collisions between the circle (think of it as a ball) and the edge of the
frame (think of it as a wall.)
If the edge of the frame is smooth (and it is) the angle at which the circle
approaches the edge of the frame is the supplement of the angle at which it bounces
off. (Two angles are supplements if they total 180 degrees or radians.) Assume
that you move the ball by deltaX and deltaY, as in the previous exercise. Then,
hitting a vertical wall means changing the sign of deltaX while leaving deltaY
unchanged. Hitting a horizontal wall means changing the sign of deltaY while
leaving deltaX unchanged.

5.

Create an applet which generates a triangle in the centre of the frame.

Rotate the triangle. This will use much of what you have seen in the previous two
questions.

6.

Create an applet which creates the flag of your country. Some flags are harder than
others due to curved shapes. If you look at the World Flag Database, at
www.flags.net, youll quickly find some of these difficult-to-draw flags. For
example, Afghanistan and Albania are probably impossible to create using Java.
Some international organizations, for example the African Union, are also difficult
to create. But the Olympic Movement flag would be easy to create.

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Chapter 18 Design Patterns

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define design pattern

Use design patterns to help you design classes
Use design patterns to help you understand the design of existing classes

Introduction
In his book on Design Patterns, Steven John Metsker states that A pattern is a way of
doing something, or a way of pursuing an intent. This idea applies to cooking, making
fireworks, developing software, and to any other craft. In any craft that is mature or that
is starting to mature, you can find common, effective methods for achieving aims and
solving problems in various contexts. The community of people who practice a craft
usually invent jargon that helps them talk about their craft. This jargon often refers to
patterns, or standardized ways of achieving certain aims. Writers document these
patterns, helping to standardize the jargon. Writers also ensure that the accumulated
wisdom of a craft is available to future generations of practitioners.
Among the crafts in which patterns are used are sewing, knitting, and woodworking. The
name may be pattern, or recipe, or blueprint.
The idea of patterns in computer science comes from the world of architecture,
popularised by Christopher Alexander. An architectural example is the pattern called
Capturing Light. Many people like to have a quiet place to have their morning coffee.
Often they prefer to sit in the sunlight, so the quiet place should be on the east side of the
building, since the sun rises in the east. You can see this in the house described at
http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0423/patterns.html and, you can see nine
additional architectural patterns at http://www.architectureweek.com/topics/patterns.html.
They have names like Inhabiting the Site, Sheltering Roof, and Parts in Proportion.
The word pattern became known in computing with the publication of Design Patterns:
Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software in 1995. The authors are Erich Gamma,
Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and the late John Vlissides; collectively they are known as
the Gang of Four or simply GoF.) They define a pattern as having four essential
elements. The pattern name is a handle we can use to describe a design problem, its
solutions, and consequences in a word or two. The problem describes when to apply
the pattern. The solution describes the elements that make up the design, their

331

relationships, responsibilities, and collaborations. The consequences are the results

and trade-offs of applying the pattern. We will see some of the GoF patterns below, but
we will also see patterns from other sources.
Regardless of the field, a pattern is a named solution to a problem in design, one which
has been used by many people to solve a problem. In architecture, we have Capturing
Light; in software engineering we have Singleton and Creator.
Metskers paragraph which I quoted appears near the beginning of his book, Design
Patterns Java Workbook. In this book he shows how to apply the design patterns first
publicised in the GoF book.
In software engineering a pattern is not a piece of Java code; that would be an
implementation artefact. The GoF book describes many patterns; Metskers book shows
how to implement the patterns in Java. Throughout this book we have been using patterns
without naming them. Its now time to do so.
Wikipedia provides details on the history of patterns within computer science, and lists
many of the patterns that have been published, at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pattern_%28computer_science%29. The article
begins with the words In software engineering, a design pattern is a general repeatable
solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design. A design pattern is not a
finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template
for how to solve a problem that can be used in many different situations. Object-oriented
design patterns typically show relationships and interactions between classes or objects,
without specifying the final application classes or objects that are involved.
A few of these patterns are independent of the others, but many work with other patterns.
This is clearly shown in a pattern map from the GoF book, illustrating the connections
between the GoF patterns.

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Interface pattern
Here is a pattern that underlies much of the philosophy behind Java. This pattern is not
directly named in the GoF book since the authors were not using Java examples; they
used Smalltalk and C++ and those languages dont support interfaces as Java does.
We have used many Java interfaces in our coding, including Serializable and
Comparable. The basic idea behind this pattern is to describe some additional
capabilities a class may have, capabilities which many classes may be expected to have,
and then leave the classes to provide the details of how those capabilities are
implemented.
For the Serializable interface, we saw that the capabilities it specifies are the ability
to write objects of a class into a format that may be read back easily. The details of how
that is accomplished depend on the specific class.

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The Student class implements Serializable. Thus, a Student object is also a

Serializable object. If we have a method which, for some reason, requires a
Serializable object to be used as argument, a Student object may be used. But so
too may be a Mark object, since a Mark object is also a Serializable object.
If a class implements several interfaces, then an object of that class has several types.
A few more details on this pattern are available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_pattern.

Marker interface pattern

A specialisation of the Interface pattern is the marker interface pattern.
With this pattern, an object which implements a marker interface indicates that it will
support the capabilities of the interface. Sometimes this capability will require us to write
code, sometimes it will not. Serializable (where we may not implement code) and
Cloneable (where we will implement code) are both marker interfaces we have used
which involve this pattern.
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marker_interface_pattern

Creator pattern
This pattern is a simple one. It helps you answer the question Which class should create
new objects? As such it is a pattern that you use while designing your system. It is not a
pattern you use in solving problems that arise while implementing the system.
For example, in our college model, we have students and courses. Which class should
create a new Student object? Which should create a new Course object?
Since students are registered at the college, College should create new Student
objects.
Courses are taught by professors. Does that mean Professor objects should create
Course objects? No, a course is taught by a professor, but the course continues to be
available after the professor has left the college. Thus, College should create Course
objects.
The Creator pattern was publicised by Larman as part of his General Responsibility
Assignment Software Patterns, GRASP.

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High Cohesion
This is another of Larmans patterns, and gives a name to a practice used for a long time.
Many would note that this is a design principle and not a pattern. A design principle is
less important than a pattern.
The problem it is solving is how to write high quality code, code which can be
understood by a single programmer.
Something which gets in the way of understanding is complicated code, code which
attempts to do too much.
This pattern (or design principle) states that a class should do a limited number of things
and it should do them well.

Low Coupling
This too is another of Larmans patterns, and gives a name to a practice used for a long
time. Many would note that this is a design principle and not a pattern.
The problem it is solving is how to minimise the connections between classes, so that a
change in one class has minimal effects on another.
This pattern (or design principle) states there should be no more connection between
classes than is necessary, and that those connections be as simple as possible.
This is related to the GoF Mediator pattern.

Observer or Event listener

The GoF defines the problem this pattern solves as Define a one-to-many dependency
between objects so that when one object changes state, all its dependents are notified and
updated automatically.
This is another pattern which is clearly reflected in the philosophy of Java, particularly in
the ActionListeners we used while building our data entry screens.
An object listens for events and acts on them. To do this, it must identify itself to some
other object which also listens, but lets other objects know of the events. This has also
been called a publish and subscribe pattern. One object publishes, or sends, messages
about events, while others (the listeners) subscribe to receive those messages.
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_listener

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Delegation
This is another pattern which is clearly reflected in the philosophy of Java; objects appear
to possess behaviours but delegate those behaviours to other objects.
We saw this most clearly while using the XMLEncoder; we replaced the
DefaultPersistenceDelegate with one which knew about the collections our
object contained.
More details on this pattern are at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delegation_%28programming%29.

Factory
Like delegation, this is a pattern which is clearly reflected in the philosophy of Java. Not
all classes have the constructors you would expect. In some cases they have methods
which act as constructors. More correctly, the methods are factories, which build objects.
We have seen this with the BigInteger.valueOf method, and the various
BorderFactory.create methods.
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_pattern.

Lazy initialization pattern

Perhaps this is a design principle rather than a pattern but it deserves mention.
Suppose you have a program which involves many data entry screens. One school of
thought says you should create all the screens before the program displays its main menu.
Simply display a splash screen and an hourglass icon until all the screens are ready to
use. That could involve a lengthy wait as the program loads.
Or suppose you have a program that takes some time to create an index for a document
(or some other large, complicated data structure.) Some programs would create the index
while you are typing the document, slowing down the program. Other programs would
create the index only when requested.
Both of these could be improved by paying attention to the lazy initialization pattern.
This pattern says dont create something until its needed. When it is needed, perhaps you
could use the factory pattern to decide how it is created.
Note that this is also one of the principles behind extreme programming.

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Dynamic programming, which we will use with some of the mathematical functions in
the next chapter, is another use of the lazy initialization pattern.
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_initialization_pattern
And when the aria onwhat you want no longer . The

Singleton pattern
The GoF book defines the problem this pattern solves as Ensure a class only has one
instance, and provide a global point of access to it.
We used this pattern when we created the College class, a class which ensures there is
only one set of rules which applies to all students. For our college, the marks for a student
in a course are stored as a percentage. But sometimes, you want to display them as a
letter grade. The college needs to have one set of rules for translating percentages to letter
grades, independent of the student, the course, or the department.
We would need a class which creates a method to translate these percentages into letter
grades. But we wish only one such method. Thus the constructor would need to see it
there already was such a method created.
Similarly, were we to examine bank accounts as an example of objects, we would find
that the Singleton pattern helps us keep the interest rates paid in only one place. There
would be only one rule to determine the interest paid on a bank account.
As an aside, many older programming languages used global variables, variables which
were known and changeable in all parts of a system. This allowed for all sorts of
problems when values were accidentally changed. The Singleton pattern allows the
retrieval of global values, but it can limit the changing of those values. As such, it is a
more powerful technique than using global variables.
It also allows changing values on the fly, by reading something in from a resource
bundle, without recompiling the system.
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singleton_pattern

Model-view-controller (MVC)
This is quite an old pattern, dating back to the days when Smalltalk, one of the first
object-oriented languages, was new. Of course, the term pattern was not used then.
MVC is the pattern we have tried to use in creating the GUI for the College.

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The model represents the data and how it is stored. Note that we have looked at several
candidates for the model, including serialization and XML. We have also mentioned the
use of databases.
The view represents the interface we have created to manipulate and present the data.
The controllers are the glue that connects the model and the view. Controllers respond to
user events and modify the model. By using controllers, the interface is isolated from the
details of the model implementation. If we write the controllers correctly, they too are
ignorant of the model implementation. For example, the model could have a
writeData method which the controller could invoke. That method would know
whether XML or a database is being used. This is also an example of the application of
the Low Coupling pattern.
A famous example of MVC divides the screen into four quadrants. In the first you enter
data into the model. In the second, that data is displayed as a histogram. In the third, it is
displayed as a pie chart. In the fourth it is displayed as a table of data. I wish I could find
it!
More details on this pattern are at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model-view-controller

Summary
Patterns are a very important part of design. This chapter has provided a very brief
introduction to patterns. We are not able to go into them further as this book, while it
touches on design, is mainly dealing with implementation.
If you wish to look into patterns in more detail (and you may do so in further courses),
good places to start online are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns and
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?DesignPatternsBook, and the exercises on the next page.

338

Exercises
1.

Look in the GoF book and explore the patterns they discuss. Their catalog contains
23 patterns with which you should become familiar. These include Abstract
Factory, Adapter, Bridge, Builder, Chain of Responsibility, Command, Composite,
Decorator, Faade, Factory Method, Flyweight, Interpreter, Iterator, Mediator,
Memento, Observer, Prototype, Proxy, Singleton, State, Strategy, Template
Method, and Visitor. You will become a better designer and programmer when you
gain familiarity with these patterns. Dont attempt to become familiar with all the
patterns at once.
Note that the GoF book is available on CD as well as in printed format. For learning
the patterns, the CD is perhaps better.

2.

Look in Metskers book and see how the GoF pattern may be implemented in Java.
I suggest you use Metskers book in combination with the GoF book. One provides
the theoretical underpinnings for the pattern, and the other provides a Java
implementation.

3.

Look in Larmans book and explore the patterns he discusses. These include
Information Expert, Creator, Controller, Low Coupling, High Cohesion,
Polymorphism, Pure Fabrication, Indirection, and Protected Variations

4.

Visit http://www.hillside.net/, particularly the patterns section of the website,

http://www.hillside.net/patterns/
Explore the links they provide.

339

340

Chapter 19 - Mathematical examples

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define rational number

Define complex number
Use Java to create classes which were omitted from the Java libraries

Introduction
The classes we have created in earlier chapters were all related to computer
representations of things in real life. Sometimes a class can represent mathematical
objects instead.
Id like to look at some mathematical examples now, one of which is available as part of
a Java package, and two of which we can create ourselves.

BigInteger
What is the largest integer?
Since the time of the Greeks it has been known there is no largest integer. (If there were,
what would that integer plus one be?) Unfortunately computers dont work well with
large numbers. We have already seen the limits Java imposes on the size of integers. For
numbers, a byte contains 8 bits (representing integers from -128 to 127), a short
contain 16 bits (representing integers from -32768 to 32767), an int contains 32 bits
(representing integers from -2147483648 to 2147483647), and a long contains 64 bits
(representing integers from -263 to 263 1).
Suppose you need numbers larger than that. The national debt for a large country may
exceed even the limit for a long. Certainly the gross national product for many
companies will exceed even the limit for a long.
Public key encryption using the RSA algorithm involves factoring large numbers. In
early 2007, researchers reporting factoring a 307-digit number into its two prime-factors,
one an 80-digit number, the other a 227-digit number. It took several supercomputers
about 11 months to accomplish this feat.

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So how do we represent even larger numbers? The BigInteger class comes to the
rescue. The online Java documentation says BigInteger provides analogues to all of
Java's primitive integer operators, and all relevant methods from java.lang.Math.
Additionally, BigInteger provides operations for modular arithmetic, GCD
calculation, primality testing, prime generation, bit manipulation, and a few other
miscellaneous operations.
To understand that statement, we should look at java.lang.Math first.

The java.lang.Math package

The online Java documentation says The class Math contains methods for performing
basic numeric operations such as the elementary exponential, logarithm, square root, and
trigonometric functions.
Method is the term we use in Java, while function is the term we use in mathematics.
We havent needed many of these mathematical functions in our calculations so far. But
Java is used in the world of science and engineering, so many people do need these
mathematical functions.
The absolute value method (abs) strips the signs from numbers, converting negative
numbers to positive ones.
Logarithm and exponential functions are available. So are trigonometric and inverse
trigonometric functions. Of course, you may convert degrees (a circle represents 360
degrees) to radians (a circle may also be measured as 2 radians), and vice versa.
Maximum and minimum functions are available.
A square root function is available.
All of these functions are available for floats and doubles, and, in many cases, ints
and longs. Shorts and bytes are generally not welcome.
The Math class also provides values for the mathematical constant e (Math.E) and
(Math.PI).
Finally, it provides a way to generate pseudo-random numbers, ones which meet tests of
randomness but are actually created non-randomly. For details of how this is done, please
consult any statistics textbook.

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BigInteger, continued
The GCD calculation referred to above is the greatest common divisor calculation, a nice
recursive method which we examine in more detail in the next chapter.
When you look through the methods available in the BigInteger class you see all the
variety.
When I checked (2007-11-29, via http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/), the USA national
debt it was $9,132,167,824,005.26. You would need a BigDecimal to represent this
exactly, but we can round it to the BigInteger value of $9,132,167,824,005. To test
BigInteger, I created an applet. In it I placed the following statements.
import java.math.BigInteger
private BigInteger usDebt =
newBigInteger("9132167824005");
g.setColor(Color.red);
g.drawString("US debt " + usDebt.toString(), 20, 40);

The Canadian national debt (as reported via a Java applet at

http://www.ndir.com/SI/education/debt.shtml on the same date) was $737,304,178,131.
While this is a large number, it is not quite comparable to the American figure as the
Canadian number includes federal, provincial, and municipal debt, while the American
number includes only the federal debt.
Between writing this chapter and editing it a year later, the American debt rose by
approximately $500,000,000,000 while the Canadian dropped by approximately
$70,000,000,000.
The ratio of these two debts is 10, approximately the ratio of the two populations, which
thankfully are not large enough to require BigIntegers.
Note that the constructor for a BigInteger expected the number to be passed to it as a
String. If you wish to create a BigInteger from a value already stored in an int or
a long, you will find there is no constructor which accepts an int or a long. Instead,
you must use the valueOf method.
int n = 40;
BigInteger b = BigInteger.valueOf(n);

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valueOf is a static method within the BigInteger class, the same way abs is a
static method within the Math class. In both cases, that means we use the name of the
class, followed by a period and the method. This is an example of the Factory pattern.
The BigDecimal class, on the other hand, has the constructors you would expect. For
example, it has a constructor which accepts a double as its argument.

Rational numbers
There are two types of numbers which java.lang.Math does not support. First well
look at the rational numbers. Then well look at complex numbers.
What is a rational number?
It is any number which can be expressed as the ratio of two integers. is a rational
number, as is 36/48. In fact, those two rational numbers are the same. The numerator (36)
may be written as 12 * 3. The denominator (48) may be represented as 12 * 4. After you
remove the common factor (12) from the numerator and denominator, you are left with
.
Note that there are some numbers which are not rational numbers. These are called
irrational numbers. Perhaps the simplest irrational number is the square root of 2.
Some rules we will adopt for our rational numbers.
Common factors will be removed from the numerator and the denominator.
A zero denominator is not allowed.
A negative rational number will have its numerator negative and denominator
positive.
A rational number with both numerator and denominator negative will be
replaced by one with both denominator and numerator positive.
Zero is represented as 0/1.
So lets create a rational number class. Yes, I know that you can find many examples of a
RationalNumber class on the Internet. This is a standard programming example in
many introductory programming courses.
Following my usual practice, we begin with a constructor and the toString method.
/**
* class RationalNumber.
*
* @author rick gee
* @version may 2006

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*/
public class RationalNumber
{
// instance variables
private int n; // the numerator
private int d; // the denominator
/**
* Constructor for objects of class RationalNumber
*/
public RationalNumber(int n, int d)
throws NumberFormatException
{
int num;
int denom;
if (d == 0)
throw new NumberFormatException(
"RationalNumber: denominator may not be zero");
num = n;
denom = d;
if (denom < 0) {
// handles both -5/-4 and 5/-7
num = - num;
denom = - denom;
}
if (num == 0)
denom = 1;
else {
int divisor;
divisor = gcd(Math.abs(num), Math.abs(denom));
num = num / divisor;
denom = denom / divisor;
}
// initialise instance variables
this.n = num;
this.d = denom;
}
/**
* @return a String representation of a rational number
*/

345

public String toString() {

return n + "/" + d;
}
/**
* compute the greatest common divisor of the two
* positive parameters. Uses Euclid's algorithm.
*/
private int gcd (int num1, int num2)
{
while (num1 != num2) {
if (num1 > num2)
num1 = num1 - num2;
else
num2 = num2 - num1;
}
return num1;
}
}
Well look at the gcd method in more detail later. For now, trust me that it works.
To test this class, either write unit tests or create several objects on the object bench and
examine them.

Adding rational numbers

How do you add together two rational numbers?
The mathematical definition is
a c a*d + b*c
+ =
b d
b*d
which translates into

/**
* add(r)
* add two rational numbers
* @return this + r
*/
public RationalNumber add(RationalNumber r) {
RationalNumber result = new RationalNumber(
this.n * r.getDenominator() +
this.d * r.getNumerator(),

346

this.d * r.getDenominator());
return result;
}
Notice that we need two getter methods, one for the numerator and one for the
denominator.
Notice also that by using the constructor, this method does not need to concern itself with
removing common factors at the end, nor does it need to concern itself with negative
signs.

Subtracting, multiplying, and dividing rational numbers

We leave it as an exercise for the reader to implement subtraction
a c a*d b*c
=
b d
b*d
multiplication
a c a*c
* =
b d b*d
and division
a c a*d
=
b d b*c
What should happen when you attempt to divide by the rational number 0/1?

Inverting a rational number

Implement a method to invert (or calculate the reciprocal of) a RationalNumber. That
is, if you have a rational number a/b, the reciprocal is b/a.
What should happen if you try to invert 0/1?

Converting a rational number to a double

Implement a method to convert a RationalNumber to its equivalent double value.

347

What if ints are not big enough?

In the RationalNumber class, we have assumed the numerator and denominator are
both ints. If necessary, we could always change them to longs, without disturbing the
code of anyone who uses this class. Being able to make changes like this without
disturbing code which uses our code is a result of a design principle called information
hiding. It is also due to the use of the design pattern Loose Coupling.
What changes would you need to make to the RationalNumber class to use
BigIntegers, while at the same time inconveniencing users of this class as little as
possible?

Complex numbers
Another type of numbers that java.lang.Math does not handle is complex numbers.
Recall that a complex number has two parts, the real part and the imaginary part. For
example, 6 + 4i is a complex number, as are -5 + 5i, 0 + 0i, and 2 7i. Complex numbers
are usually displayed as a String containing the real part, the sign of the imaginary
part, the absolute value of the imaginary part, and the letter i. The letter i represents the
square root of -1, a number which does not exist, hence is called an imaginary number.
But in some mathematics an imaginary number can be very useful.
Complex numbers sometimes are represented as (6, 4), (-5, 5), (0, 0), and (2, -7). Thus we
have two choices for the implementation of the toString method.

Arithmetic operations and complex numbers

Various operations are defined on complex numbers.
(a + bi) + (c + di) = (a + c) + (b + d)i
(a + bi) - (c + di) = (a - c) + (b - d)i
(a + bi) * (c + di) = (a * c b * d) + (b * c + a * d)i
Division is a little more complicated. The real part of (a + bi) / (c + di) = (a * c + b * d) /
(c2 + d2) and the imaginary part is (b * c a * d) / (c2 + d2)

348

Implementing ComplexNumber
Make it so. Note that while my first examples show integer values for both the real and
imaginary parts, they should actually be doubles.

Summary
Java is useful for many types of applications. One of its strengths is the ease with which
you may add libraries, thus extending the areas in which it is applicable.
We have seen this by creating RationalNumber and ComplexNumber classes.

349

Exercises
1.

Complete the RationalNumber class. Change the datatype for its instance
variable to long. Describe the effects. Change the datatype to BigInteger.
Describe the effects.

2.

Complete the ComplexNumber class.

3.

Complex numbers may be represented by x and y as we have done, but they may
also be represented as an angle and a radius. The angle may be calculated as the
inverse tangent of y over x, and the radius is the square root of x squared plus y
squared. Supplement the ComplexNumber class to include accessors for the angle
and the radius.
You can not write a ComplexNumber class that has two constructors, one which
accepts x and y and one which accepts the angle and the radius. Why not?

4.

Just as complex numbers are the extension of real numbers from 1-space into 2space, quaternions are their extension into 4-space. Learn something about
quaternions and implement a Quaternion class.

5.

Just as complex numbers are the extension of real numbers from 1-space into 2space and quaternions are their extension into 4-space, octonions are their extension
into 8-space. Learn something about octonions and implement an Octonion class.

350

Chapter 20 - Mathematical methods

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Define algorithm
Write methods to implement mathematical algorithms
Define iteration.
Define recursion
Write iterative methods
Write recursive methods
Write methods that use formulas.
Use dynamic programming

Introduction
Sometimes a class can be a collection of useful constants or methods. Imagine a class that
contained the various constants used in physics and chemistry; the speed of light,
Plancks constant, Avogadros number, etc.
Imagine a class that contained information on all the chemical elements.
But Id like to look at a collection of simple algorithms and the methods which
implement those algorithms. Lets create a class called Algorithms. (Yes, I know that
once upon a time I said the name of a class should be a singular noun.)
What is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a set of rules that you can follow to solve a problem. An algorithm will
solve the problem in a finite number of steps and it will solve the problem in a finite
amount of time. Frequently there are several algorithms which solve the same problem.
Analysis of Algorithms is the study of algorithms (understanding which are better and
when) and the development of new algorithms.

Greatest common divisor (gcd)

While creating the RationalNumber class, we needed a method to find the greatest
common divisor of two numbers. The code we used is repeated below (but I have
changed the name of the method. Youll see why in a moment.)
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/**
* compute the greatest common divisor of the two
* positive parameters. Uses Euclid's algorithm.
*/
private int gcdIterative (int num1, int num2)
{
while (num1 != num2) {
if (num1 > num2)
num1 = num1 - num2;
else
num2 = num2 - num1;
}
return num1;
}
This algorithm is the Euclidean (or Euclids) algorithm. Euclid was a Greek
mathematician and the algotithm dates back to around 300 BCE and is described in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_algorithm
This method implements an iterative solution to the problem. An iterative solution is one
in which you perform one step after another, under the control of a loop of some kind, in
this case a while loop.

A recursive greatest common divisor method

However, there is also a recursive solution as well.
In a recursive solution, a method develops the solution by making a smaller case of the
problem and calling itself again to solve the smaller case. This continues until a simple
case is reached in which you know the solution. All recursive methods have these two
parts:

One or more stopping case(s) for which we know the answer, and
A statement that calculates an answer by calling the method with a smaller
argument.

Here is a recursive solution to the gcd problem.

public static int gcdRecursive(int num1, int num2) {
if (num2 == 0)
return num1;
return gcdRecursive(num2, num1 % num2);
}

352

The modulus operator (%) calculates the remainder when you divide the first integer
argument by the second. For example, 11 % 2 is 1, since 2 goes into 11 five times, with a
remainder of 1.

Sample greatest common divisor calculations

Perhaps we should work out an example to see how these two methods work.
Wikipedia uses 1071 and 1029 as the two numbers for which we wish to find the greatest
common divisor.
For the iterative solution,

We start with num1 = 1071 and num2 = 1029. The numbers are not the same,
num1 is the larger, and so num1 becomes the difference, 42, while num2 remains
1029.
num1 and num2 are not the same, but now num2 is the larger, so it becomes 1029
42 or 987 while num1 remains 42.
num1 and num2 are not the same, and num2 is the larger, so it becomes 987 42
or 945 while num1 remains 42.
This continues, removing 42 from num2 each time, until it becomes 63.
num1 and num2 are not the same, and num2 is larger, so num2 becomes 63 42
or 21 while num1 remains 42.
Now num1 is larger than num2, so becomes 42 21 or 21.
Now both num1 and num2 are 21 so the algorithm terminates and the greatest
common divisor is 21. 1071 = 3 * 17 * 21 and 1029 = 7 * 7 * 21.

For the recursive solution,

We start with num1 = 1071 and num2 = 1029.

The second number is not zero, and 1071 % 1029 is the remainder when we
divide 1071 by 1029, or 42. Before we can return an answer, we need to calculate
gcdRecursive(1029, 42).
The second number is not zero, and 1029 % 42 is 21. Before we can return an
answer, we need to calculate gcdRecursive(42, 21).
The second number is not zero, and 42 % 21 is zero. Before we can return an
answer, we need to calculate gcdRecursive(21, 0);
The second number is zero, so we return the first number, 21.
Now all the waiting, unterminated, methods can return 21.

Both forms of the algorithm produce the same answer (Thats good!) but the second
requires more memory. The first may require more time. Once you have the algorithm
explained in a recursive form, it seems like magic the way the method works.

353

Declaring a method static says that this method is a method belonging to the class. It
is not a method which belongs to instances of the class. It is a singleton. In combination
with declaring the method public, other classes may call the method using the
Algorithms.gcdRecursive(int, int).
Note that the iterative method was a private method. If we are going to use it in
outside our class, it will need to become a public static method also.
The worst performance for the gcd function occurs when the numbers are consecutive
Fibonacci numbers, which are described below.

Fibonacci numbers
If you read or saw The da Vinci Code, you have seen Fibonacci numbers. (They were the
first line of numbers written on the floor of the Louvre, functioning as the answer to the
secret question if you forget your account number.)
This series of numbers occurs in many places in the world, both natural and
mathematical. Wikipedia has some interesting examples at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number, dating back to 200 BCE. The series
derives its name from Leonardo of Pisa. His father was nicknamed Bonaccio (good
natured or simple). Leonardo was posthumously given the nickname Fibonacci
(derived from the Latin words filius Bonacci, meaning son of Bonaccio).
The values in the series are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc., where the first number
(F0) is zero, the second (F1) is one, and every subsequent Fibonacci number is the sum of
the previous two. That is, in functional notation:
F(0) = 0;
F(1) = 1;
F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2) when n > 1
Sometimes, the series starts at 1, 1, 2. This is because Fibonacci was dealing with
questions about the breeding behaviour of pairs of rabbits and it is difficult to breed more
rabbits if you have no pairs. Of course, if you have one pair, you will soon have many.
Fibonacci wanted to know how many pairs you would have.

Iterative Fibonacci method

Here is an iterative method to find the nth Fibonacci number.
public static int iFib(int n) {
int f0 = 0;
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int f1 = 1;
int t;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
t = f0 + f1;
f0= f1;
f1 = t;
}
return f0;
}
We know that there is a limit to the size of ints so there is a limit to which Fibonacci
numbers we can calculate. iFib(46) looks okay, but iFib(47) is negative. How can
two positive numbers added together become negative?
It has to do with the way numbers are stored as bits. One of the bits is the sign bit. When
the calculations in the other bits result into a carry into the sign bit, it may change from a
positive number to a negative one. Thats what happens here. The result is obviously
wrong.

Recursive Fibonacci method

Here is a recursive method to find the nth Fibonacci number.
/**
* recursive Fibonacci
* @return the nth Fibonacci number
*/
public static int rFib(int n) {
if (n == 0)
return 0;
if (n == 1)
return 1;
return rFib(n-1) + rFib(n-2);
}
Recall that recursive method work by trying to solve successively smaller problems using
the same method, and there are one or more smallest problems for which we know the
answer. The definition of Fibonacci numbers provides a blueprint for a recursive
implementation.
If you run this method, youll find that it works, but it gets very slow for larger values of
n. I never did see what it would calculate for rFib(46); I was too frustrated waiting for
it to finish.

355

If we are going to use these Fibonacci methods for large values of n, we will need to go
to BigIntegers, and we will have to do something about the speed of the recursive
method. Well see how to do that later.
The Wikipedia article mentioned at the beginning of this section also has some
interesting generalizations of the Fibonacci series. One that I find particularly interesting
was explored by Divakar Viswanath. The random Fibonacci sequences are defined by:
T(0) = 1;
T(1) = 1;
T(n) = T(n-1) T(n-2)
The plus or minus signs are equally likely and are chosen independently, perhaps using a
coin-toss. His article (available at http://www.ams.org/mcom/2000-69-231/S0025-571899-01145-X/home.html) points out that it is not clear what will happen to the numbers in
this series, but he proves that they have an interesting behaviour.
Note that the Fibonacci numbers we discussed have an interesting, but different,
behaviour themselves. When you calculate F(n+1) / F(n) for a number of values of n, you
will find that this ratio comes closer and closer to the golden ratio (, pronounce feye
or fee) or approximately 1.618034.
In addition, it is possible to calculate F(n) via a formula. F(n) is the largest integer less
than (n/5) + 0.5.

The factorial function

How many ways are there of arranging 10 people in a line?
The answer is 10 * 9 * 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 or 3628800. This is an example of the
factorial function, written as n!.
The iterative definition of factorial is:
Zero factorial is defined, for convenience, as 1.
For any other positive value n, n factorial is defined as the product of all integers
from 1 up to and including n.
The recursive definition of factorial is:
Zero factorial is defined, for convenience, as 1.
For any other positive value n, n factorial is defined as n times n - 1 factorial.
The first of these definitions leads to this implementation of the iterative factorial
function.

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/**
* iFactorial
* @return n factorial
*/
public static int iFactorial (int n) {
if (n == 0)
return 1;
int result = 1;
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
result = result * i;
return result;
}
The second definition leads to this implementation of the recursive factorial function.
/**
* rFactorial
* @return n factorial
*/
public static int rFactorial(int n) {
if (n == 0)
return 1;
return n * rFactorial(n-1);
}
Both of these calculate 16! successfully and then overflow when you attempt to calculate
17!.

The choose function

How many ways can you choose five volunteers from a group of 15 people? Assume that
the order of the volunteers doesnt matter.
15
The answer is 15 choose five, written mathematically as . This unusual expression is
5
evaluated as 15! / (10! * 5!).

A Formula!
In Java, this method is very simple to write. It is neither iterative nor recursive. It is
simply a formula, but a formula that uses one of the factorial methods.
/**
* the number of ways to choose n items from m

357

* @return m choose n
*/
public static int choose(int m, int n) {
return iFactorial(m) /
(iFactorial(n) * iFactorial(m - n));
}
Unfortunately it does not give correct answers in many cases, due to the overflow
problems we have noticed earlier. How could we modify it to work properly?
I suppose we could use BigInteger, or we could use a more intelligent algorithm.

Recursive choose method

n
One such more intelligent algorithm is a recursive one. Notice that is also defined as
k
1 if k = 0
1 if n = k
n n 1 n 1
+
otherwise
=
k k 1 k
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose for a discussion on this form of the algorithm,
which gives rise to this recursive method.
/**
* recursive - the number of ways to choose k items from n
* @return n choose k
*/
public static int rChoose(int n, int k) {
if (n == 0)
return 1;
if (k == n)
return 1;
return rChoose(n - 1, k - 1) + rChoose(n - 1, k);
}
This method gives valid answers in many of the cases for which the previous version did
not. Addition is less likely to overflow than multiplication since the numbers involved are
smaller.

358

The Ackermann function

This is a truly fascinating function. It has its origin in the design of operating systems and
was designed specifically to produce problems while running programs.
Warning - Do not try to calculate the Ackermann function for large values of m and n.
A(4,1) is too large, unless you have some time to wait.
The function is fully-described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_function Look
at the table on that page to see why you should not calculate this function for large values
of m and n. First, it has been done. Secondly, the numbers become very large very
quickly.

Definition of the Ackermann function

The Ackermann function A(m, n) is defined for non-negative m and n as follows:

A(0, n) = n +1
A(m, 0) = A (m - 1, 1)
A(m, n) = A(m - 1, A(m, n - 1))

Recursive implementation of the Ackermann function

This leads to the obvious recursive implementation.
/**
* Ackermann function
* @return A(m, n)
*/
public static int A(int m, int n) {
if (m == 0)
return n + 1;
if (n == 0)
return A(m-1, 1);
return A(m-1, A(m, n-1));
}
But the table referred to above does offer some ideas on how to calculate this function
more efficiently. Sometimes there are closed forms for the function; that is, there is a
formula which gives you an answer immediately.
The definition of the Ackermann function tells us that A(0, n) is n + 1 for any nonnegative n.

359

The table gives use closed forms for A(1, n), A(2, n), and A(3, n) as well.
A(1, n) = n + 2
A(2, n) = 2 * n + 3
A(3, n) = 2(n+3) 3
This last equation would be implemented as Math.pow(2.0, (double(n + 3))
3.0
Note that the Math.pow method expects both the base (in this case 2.0) and the
exponent (in this case, n + 3) to be doubles. 2.0 is a double; n + 3 is not, so we must
cast it to a double. We could have the same effect by using 3.0 instead of 3.
For other values of m and n, there are no simple formulas, although there are a few values
calculated which we could use. That idea of calculating and saving values is the idea
behind dynamic programming.

Dynamic programming
Dynamic programming, a technique which remembers the results of previous
calculations, is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_programming, a
description which even mentions the Fibonacci numbers we have examined already.
Why does it mention them? Obviously because to calculate Fib(100) you need all the
Fibonacci numbers less than Fib(100). So if you follow up the calculation of Fib(100)
with a request for Fib(50), it would be much more efficient to simply look up the value in
a table rather than to recalculate it.
Dynamic programming involves calculating and keeping the table. This statement
conceals several questions. What type of data structure do we use for the table? When do
we create it? Do we want to save it and if so, how do we save it?

Storing the data - Fibonacci

We want a data structure that allows us to store two ints (n, and Fib(n)). We want a data
structure that will grow without any special effort on our part. We want a data structure
that is efficient in returning values.
One such data structure is the ArrayList, a data structure we have used earlier. We
will use n as the index and Fib(n) will be the value in the element. But we cant create an

360

ArrayList<int>. We can, however, create an ArrayList<Integer>. The class

Integer is a wrapper class for the primitive datatype int.
Heres the new version of the recursive Fibonacci method, rFib.
/**
* recursive Fibonacci
* @return the nth Fibonacci number
*/
public static int rFib(int n) {
int result;
if (fibData.size() == 0) {
// load values
fibData.add(0, new Integer(0));
fibData.add(1, new Integer(1));
}
// is the answer in the arrayList?
// if not, calculate it and put it there
try {
Integer x = fibData.get(n);
return x.intValue();
}
catch (Exception e) {
result = rFib(n-1) + rFib(n-2);
fibData.add(n, new Integer(result));
return result;
}
}
We have loaded the ArrayList with the smallest set of values, the values specified in
the definition of the function. Any time we calculate another value, we will add it to the
ArrayList.
To see that this actually works, first right-click the Algorithms class in the class
diagram, and choose new Algorithms(); this places an instance of the class on the
Object Bench.
Then right-click the Algorithms class in the class diagram again, and choose rFib to
calculate some Fibonacci number.
Finally, right-click the object on the Object Bench, and inspect it, particularly its
static fields. What is the size of the ArrayList and what are its contents? The
answer depends on which Fibonacci number you calculated and which numbers you have
calculated in the past.

361

The constructor I used above creates an ArrayList of 10 elements. When it needs

more elements, it grows, but the details of how it grows are not described in the
documentation. As a result of this growth, you will sometimes find a number of null
elements at the end of the ArrayList.
But what if we wish to serialize the data so that we can use it again next week or next
month?

Serializing the data - Fibonacci

We have seen how to serialize data before, when we serialized various classes in our
college model. How do we serialized the data in this class? We could serialize all the data
into one large file, or we could use a separate file for each method in the class. Ill adopt
the second. Within that file, Ill serialize the value n and then the value of Fib(n), both as
Integers. While this may seem overly complicated for a couple of integers, it will
work well as we deal with functions of more than one variable.
We need to have two import statements, one for the ArrayList and one for the io
class.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.io.*;
We declare the table of data values.
// private instance variables
private static ArrayList<Integer> fibData;
We initialize that table.
public Algorithms()
{
fibData = null;
}
When the class is no longer needed, a finalize method is invoked by the garbage
collector.
/**
* to serialize any stored data
*/
public void finalize() {
if (fibData != null) {
// fibdata exists, so remove any extra elements
// and then try to serialize it

362

fibData.trimToSize();
try {
FileOutputStream fos;
ObjectOutputStream oos;
fos = new FileOutputStream("fib.obj");
oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
for (int i = 0; i <fibData.size(); i++) {
oos.writeObject(new Integer(i));
oos.writeObject(fibData.get(i));
}
oos.flush();
oos.close();
} // end try
catch (IOException e) {
// can't write. maybe in an applet
} // end catch
}
}

Deserializing the data - Fibonacci

Then, when we use the Fibonacci method, it checks if there already is data in the table. If
not, it checks if the file the finalizer wrote exists. If so, we load the data from it into the
table. If not, we create the table ourselves by adding the two values we need.
/**
* recursive Fibonacci
* @return the nth Fibonacci number
*/
public static int rFib(int n) {
int result;
// if there is data in fib.obj
// load it into fibData if necessary
if (fibData == null) {
try {
// does the file exist and is it readable?
FileInputStream fis =
new FileInputStream("fib.obj");
ObjectInputStream ois =
new ObjectInputStream(fis);
// read as much data from the file as possible
boolean more = true;
fibData = new ArrayList<Integer>(2);

363

while (more) {
try{
Integer i = (Integer) ois.readObject();
Integer fibI =
(Integer) ois.readObject();
fibData.add(i,fibI);
}
// could be IOException or
// NumberFormatException
catch (Exception e) {
more = false;
}
}
ois.close();
} // end try
catch (IOException e) {
} // end catch
}
// if there was a problem with loading from the file,
// fibData may still be null
if (fibData == null) {
fibData = new ArrayList<Integer>(2);
fibData.add(0, new Integer(0));
fibData.add(1, new Integer(1));
}
// is the answer in the arrayList?
// if not, calculate it and put it there
try {
Integer x = fibData.get(n);
return x.intValue();
}
catch (Exception e) {
result = rFib(n-1) + rFib(n-2);
fibData.add(n, new Integer(result));
return result;
}
}

Storing the data Ackermann function

The Fibonacci method implements a function of one variable, so we can use that one
variable as the index for an ArrayList, and the value of the function is the element for
the ArrayList.
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But the Ackermann method implements a function of two variables, so we cant use an
ArrayList. Instead, we need a HashMap.
Recall that a HashMap provides a key (the two parameters to the function) and a value to
which the key maps (the value of the function.) The datatype Point, although designed
for graphics, will serve as our key. (Note that we could have used a HashMap with the
Fibonacci function; the key would be one integer and the value would be the other.)
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.awt.Point;
We declare the variable
private static HashMap<Point, Integer> ackData;
In the constructor, we add the line
ackData = null;
Whenever we calculate, a result, we add it to the table of remembered data.
if (m == 0) {
result = n + 1;
ackData.put(new Point(m, n), new Integer(result));
}
else {
if (n == 0) {
result = A(m-1, 1);
ackData.put(new Point(m, n),
new Integer(result));
}
else {
result = A(m-1, A(m, n-1));
ackData.put(new Point(m, n),
new Integer(result));
}
}

Serializing the data Ackermann function

We can use the serialization technique we used in the Fibonacci function to serialize the
Ackermann function. But instead of serializing two Integers, we serialize three, as the
Ackermann function is a function of two variables.

365

This code appears in the finalize method.

if (ackData != null) {
// ackData exists, so try to serialize it
try {
FileOutputStream fos;
ObjectOutputStream oos;
fos = new FileOutputStream("ack.obj");
oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
Set<Point> keys = ackData.keySet();
for (Point p: keys) {
oos.writeObject(p);
oos.writeObject(ackData.get(p));
}
oos.flush();
oos.close();
} // end try
catch (IOException e) {
// can't write. maybe in an applet
} // end catch
}

Deserializing the data Ackermann function

The deserialization code appears within the Ackermann function.
if (ackData == null) {
// load from file
try {
// does the file exist and is it readable?
FileInputStream fis =
new FileInputStream("ack.obj");
ObjectInputStream ois =
new ObjectInputStream(fis);
// read as much data from the file as possible
boolean more = true;
ackData = new HashMap<Point, Integer>(2);
while (more) {
try{
p = (Point) ois.readObject();
Integer x = (Integer) ois.readObject();
ackData.put(p, x);
}

366

catch (Exception e) {
more = false;
}
}
ois.close();
} // end try
catch (IOException e) {
} // end catch
}

Summary
We have seen how to write several mathematical functions, using iteration and recursion,
and using (for the Fibonacci and Ackermann functions) dynamic programming
techniques. The other methods in this class dont need, but could use, dynamic
programming.
The main problem some of these methods have is that the results become large very
quickly. We can address that with the BigInteger class, should we wish. Of course, it
is always possible to create a number so large that the memory of the computer is not
large enough to hold it. Thats the fun of working with numbers; there is always one
bigger.

367

Exercises
1.

Implement a class that contains some of the physical or chemical constants.

2.

Write a class that contains some of the chemical elements and their properties.

3.

Modify your Fibonacci function to use at least longs if not BigIntegers. Use
your Fibonacci functions to explore the ratio F(n+1) / F(n) as n increases.

4.

Explore Pascals triangle and the functions associated with it. One such function is
n n 1 n 1
the choose function, but a second formula is =
+
. Use these
k k 1 k
formulas to allow you to calculate the expansion of (x + y) raised to the power n.

5.

If you wish to divide m presents among n children, the number of ways to do it is to

m + n 1
calculate
. Write a method to explore this function. How does this
n 1

formula arise? Imagine m + n - 1 items lined up. Remove n 1 of them. The first
child gets all the items (if any) up to the first item removed. The second child gets
all the items (if any) up to the second item removed. And so on, until the last child
gets all the items (if any) after the last item removed.

6.

Recursion appears in many graphics situations. Explore the Sierpinski triangle.

Create a method which will draw the triangle.
Explore the Koch snowflake. Create a method which will draw the snowflake.

368

Chapter 21 - Threads, and other topics

Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

Define and use threads

Define and use inner classes
Define refactoring
Explain public static void main(String[] args)
Perform output using the System class, and input using the Scanner class

Introduction
We have looked at many aspects of creating solutions using Java, and all the code we
have seen works. But it is not all well-written Java. In particular, there are some issues
relating to threads which we should discuss.

Threads - definition
Wikiped (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_%28computer_science%29) defines a
thread as a way for a program to split itself into two or more simultaneously (or pseudosimultaneously) running tasks.
Have you ever been working in your word processor and made a spelling or grammar
mistake? A word appears underlined (in my case in red) to indicate a spelling mistake. A
phrase appears underlined (in my case in green) to indicate a grammar concern.
A spell-check thread is running at the same time as a grammar-check thread (or maybe
one thread is doing both checks. I dont know for sure.) and both are running at the same
time as the thread that allows me to type the document. Simultaneously, other processes
are running on my computer, but these processes are part of another program, which itself
may have threads (checking for appointments and incoming mail, for example.)
The Java interpreter uses a garbage collection thread to identify objects for which there
are no references. It then reuses the memory for new variables.
Youll see how threads and processes interact in an operating systems course. For now,
we need to consider how threads work in Java.

369

Threads and Swing

Threads are most relevant for our applets and data entry screens.
We wrote a number of applets, using Swing components. For these components, we
responded to events which occurred to these components. In the background, an eventdispatch thread is listening for events and the notifying the appropriate handlers. Events
are placed in a queue (first in, first-out) and the event-dispatch thread removes them as
appropriate. Thus, events may not be handled immediately if a previous event is being
handled slowly or if many events are happening at the same time.
We wrote data entry screens for MyDate and for Section. These have the potential to
fail at some point because we did not consider threads.
Here is the code to create a thread-safe applet or GUI. That is, it may be called from
different threads without unwanted interaction between the threads.
I have used the GUI for entering MyDate values. Pay particular attention to the lines
with shading.
/**
* show the Frame
*/
public static void showDataEntryFrame() {
Runnable runner = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// build the data entry box.
JFrame box = buildDataEntryFrame();
// Set the initial size of the frame
// and show it on the screen.
box.setSize(500, 300);
box.setLocation(100, 100);
box.setVisible(true);
//
//

while (box.isVisible()) {}
System.exit(0);
} // end run
}; // end Runnable
EventQueue.invokeLater(runner);
} // end showDataEntryFrame
Note that we have made only a few changes.
First, as indicated by the shading, we have added a few statements. These create a
Runnable object and then place that object on the event queue.

370

Then we have deleted a couple of statements. The deleted statements made sure the data
entry form remained on the screen. Now that the data entry form is on the event queue,
the queue itself will keep the screen displayed until it is ended.

Inner classes
This topic is often considered to be an advanced topic, but it is one we have been using
occasionally from near the beginning of this book.
An inner class is defined in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_class) as a
class defined entirely within another class.
There are several types of inner classes; the one we have used the most is the anonymous
class.
The Comparators we have used while creating collections (and specifying the order of
elements within the classes.) are anonymous classes.
The InputVerifiers we used for the MyDate and Section data input screens are
anonymous classes.
The first event handler we created in the GUI should have been a series of event handlers,
implemented as anonymous classes. Lets see how to do that. Note that we have seen this
trick, when we created the Section data entry screen.
Recall that we created a CollegeMenu class which implemented the
ActionListener interface. As a consequence, the class is required to implement an
ActionPerformed method.
For each item on the menu, we needed to indicate that the CollegeMenu class was
responsible for handling events associated with that menu item.
menuItem.addActionListener(this);
The actionPerformed method then is a series of if statements, identifying the
source of the item, and doing an appropriate action.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JMenuItem source = (JMenuItem)(e.getSource());
if (source.getText().equals("Exit")) {
System.exit(0);
}
if (source.getText().equals("About")) {

371

// display message box

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
"CollegeMenu - demo program for COSC 111/121",
"About", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
// do something for each menuItem
return;
};
As the number of items causing events increases, this actionPerformed method
becomes longer and longer, and more and more complicated. It becomes less and less
cohesive since it is making more and more decisions.
We should specify a separate listener for each item on the menu, and we do this with
anonymous classes. Here is the listener for the exit menu.
/**
*action listener for exit menu item
*/
ActionListener exitListener = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.exit(0);
}
};
Of course, we need to ensure the exit menu knows about this listener. When we create
that menu item, we need
menuItem.addActionListener(exitListener);
As we move listeners out of the original actionPerformed method, we need to add a
comment to it.
/**
* handle events for which there is no separate listener
*/
If you wish to have very complicated Java code, you can use inner classes and create the
actionListener as follows.
menuItem.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.exit(0);
}
}

372

But this is not something Id like to see. After all, what if there were several ways to
cause the same event to happen? Youd need to repeat this code several times; it would
be better to simply assign the same ActionListener.

Refactoring
Throughout this document, we have seen good code, but not always great code. We have
seen code that a programmer would write if he or she was unaware of some of the latest
advances in software engineering.
In particular, one thing that we have done is to create Comparators within the class
that needs them. We have been fortunate that they were only used in that one class.
However, as the College application expands, we may find that we need those
Comparators in other classes as well. Thus, we should move the Comparators to
another class, declare them static, and then use them as necessary.
Similarly we have the, possibly better, example of InputVerifiers. We have
developed them for year, month, day, and time. We started to develop one for rooms. We
will surely use these in other places. So we should move them to another class, declare
them static, and use them as necessary.
This idea of improving the structure of your design and its resulting program is the
foundation of refactoring.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refactoring) gives this definition. Refactoring
is the process of rewriting a computer program or other material to improve its structure
or readability, while explicitly preserving its meaning or behavior.
That definition would even include using constants like MAX_MEETINGS in place of
the number 5.
Can you find other places in the code we have seen which would benefit from some
refactoring?

public static void main(String[] args)

Now we can look at the statement with which most Java books begin.
We have used BlueJ to allow access to the methods of our classes and objects. But not
everyone uses BlueJ, and BlueJ has its limitations, too. How do you run programs when
you dont have BlueJ to help?

373

You create a main method in your class. That is, you create a method whose name is
main, and whose signature is the heading for this section.
Suppose you are testing. Depending on the testing you wish to do, there may be a main
method for each class you wish to test. Recall that we created unit tests for Student and
Professor. In each, we tested the constructors, the toString method, and the
getters and setters. If we didnt have BlueJ we would have needed a main method. In it
we would have constructed one or more objects and then invoked the methods we wished
to test.
Suppose you wish to create a GUI for an application. You will create a class which
generates and displays the GUI. That class will contain a main method.
Without an integrated development environment like BlueJ, you may be running from the
command line. Youll need to use the command javac SomeClass.java to compile
the class. To execute the main method of SomeClass, youll need to use the command
java SomeClass and the Java interpreter will look for a method named main.
Lets examine the parts of the header for this main method.
public static void main(String[] args)
public tells us that this method is available outside the class. It has to be so that others
can invoke it.
static tells us that there is only one copy of this method in this class.
void tells us that when the method completes its processing, it just completes; it doesnt
return any special value.
main tells us the name of the method. The Java interpreter expects to find a main
method. Yes, BlueJ created this for us in the background.
String[] args tells us that we can provide arguments to the main method, similar
to the way we provide arguments to applets.
If you are using the command line, the arguments are placed on the command line after
java SomeClass.
The arguments are provided as elements of the array of String called args , which is
accessible within the main method The first one is placed in args[0], the second in
args[1].

374

Output and input

We have seen System.out.println as a way to display output. How do we input
from the command line?
The Scanner class is used for input. Look it up in the Java online documentation for
more details.

Summary
This chapter completes our discussion of the Java language. Now you have a good basis
for going forward and using Java, and for learning more about Java, since this is only an
introduction to Java.

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Exercises
1.

Modify the data entry screen for the Section class so that it is thread-safe.

2.

Modify the data entry screen for the Section class so that it uses inner classes.

3.

Modify the data entry screen for the MyDate class so that it uses inner classes.

4.

Modify the menu so that it uses inner classes.

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In Conclusion
Now we have seen how the basic (and some not-so-basic) techniques of Java allow us to
implement our ideas. Go forth and expand your knowledge.
Here are some possible areas you may wish to explore to build upon the knowledge you
have gained here.

Professor class office number, phone number, degrees (where, subject, when).
Include subjects taught and when as a separate class.

Databases. How to normalize them and how to use them with Java programs.

A related example of inheritance. Sports players and their teams. See the appendix
for the labs I used while teaching a course using this textbook for the first time.

Customisation How do you adapt menus and data entry screens and reports to
other languages? How do you allow people to change the colours of your
interface? How do you allow them to change the way courses and rooms are
numbered?

Standard OO example. Different types of bank accounts. Uses inheritance and

static variables. (All bank accounts use same interest rate. Could also use
Singleton pattern to provide interest rate.)

377

378

References
Printed Reference materials
Fisher, Timothy Java phrasebook, Sams Publishing, 2007
Gamma, Erich, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Design Patterns: Elements
of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Addison-Wesley, 1995
Goodliffe, Pete, Code Craft, No Starch Press, 2007
Hu, Chenglie. Just Say A Class Defines a Data Type, Communications of the ACM,
volume 51, number 3, 19-21
Kernighan, Brian, and Dennis Ritchie, The C Programming Language 2nd ed. PrenticeHall 1988
Larman, Craig, Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented
Analysis and Design and Iterative Development, 3rd ed. Prentice Hall Ptr 2004
Marrero, Will, and Amber Settle, Testing First: Emphasizing Testing in Early
Programming Classes, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, volume 37, number 3, 4-8
Metsker, Steven John, Design Patterns Java Workbook, Addison-Wesley, 2002
Oram, Andy, and Greg Wilson, Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How
They Think, OReilly, 2007
Paterson, James H., John Haddow, Michael Nairn, A Design Patterns Extension for the
BlueJ IDE, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, volume 38 number 3, 280-4
Pecinovsk, Rudolf, Jarmila Pavlkov, Lubo Pavliek, Lets Modify the Objects-First
Approach into Design-Patterns-First, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, volume 38 number 3, 18892
Zukowski, John The Definitive Guide to Java Swing, 3rd ed. APress 2005

379

Online references
BlueJ the interactive Java environment. http://www.bluej.org
Elliott, James. RelativeLayout, a Constraint-Based Layout Manager.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/09/18/relativelayout.html (viewed 2006-0520)
Elliott, James. Inside RelativeLayout.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2002/11/27/layout2.html (viewed 2006-05-20)
Ganesh, S.G. Uncommon Java Bugs, http://java.sys-con.com/read/564291.htm (viewed
2008-05-27)
Horstmann, Cay. http://www.horstmann.com/violet Violet is intended for students,
teachers, and authors who need to produce simple UML diagrams quickly.
Java online documentation. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/index.html
Java tutorial. http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html
JUnit.org. http://www.junit.org
Kolawa, Adam, Gina Assaf, and Roberto Scaramuzzi. Rule 5: Make your clone() method
final http://www.ftponline.com/javapro/2004_04/online/rule5_04_07_04/
Liu, J.F. http://dev.eclipse.org/mhonarc/lists/gef-dev/msg00469.html
OHanley, John, http://www.javapractices.com
Paul, Thomas. Collections in Java, Part 2 The Set Interface
http://www.javaranch.com/newsletter/July2002/setinterface.html
Unicode.org http://www.unicode.org
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org

380

Appendix 1 Sample lab assignments

Introduction
The first time I taught a course (The course extended over two 13-week semesters.) based
on this book, I needed a series of lab assignments. In particular, I needed some
assignments which were similar to, but not identical too, the examples used in the
textbook.
My son used to play box lacrosse, a sport popular in Canada and parts of the United
States. The slogan on the T-shirts was Real athletes play sports; great athletes play
lacrosse. Details on lacrosse and links to teams and leagues will be given in lab
assignment 1. Modelling a lacrosse league presents many interesting problems in objectoriented analysis and design and lots of opportunities for student learning.
A lacrosse league provided the first few assignments. The subsequent assignments
followed the topics in the textbook. In this appendix, I provide the assignments I used,
supplemented with additional information I had to provide to the students as they were
not familiar with much of the material discussed. You may find the assignments useful.

381

Lab Assignment 0 - Getting to know you

Objectives:
The purpose of this lab assignment is to see and become comfortable with the computing
environment you will be using in this course. In particular, you need to become
comfortable with a programming environment named BlueJ.
Procedure:
Computer labs at the College are available during scheduled lab times and at other times,
when lab monitors are available. When is this lab available? The answers for our labs are
available online.
To use a computer lab, you also need to have an account. This account has your student
number as the username, and your date of birth as the password, in YYMMDD format.
Ensure that you can log in to your account.
What programs can you use once you have logged in? The College provides many
programs. Microsoft Office is available for your word processing, spreadsheet, and
database needs. Both Internet Explorer and Firefox are provided for your web browsing.
Maple is available for your calculus course.
You may print from these programs to a shared printer. At the moment, printing is free,
but it will not remain that way if you abuse the privilege. So, print only what you need to
print, and do not print multiple copies unless absolutely necessary.
Note that your print requests are put into a queue, a list of print requests. There may be
other jobs in the queue which arrive before yours, and there may be others with a higher
priority. As a result, your job may not start printing immediately. Do not submit a repeat
request until you are sure that your job has disappeared. One reason for disappearing jobs
is that your name is not visible on the job. Hint, hint!
The programs mentioned above may be used in many courses. Note that the two major
programs we will be using in this course (and the following course) are available for free
on the web. The parts of the Java language are available from java.sun.com. The BlueJ
environment is available at www.bluej.org/download/download.html; that page also
provides a link to download the Java software (you want the latest version). Make sure
that you download the J2SE 5.0 Documentation as well. (During the course, J2SE 6
became available.) I encourage you to install this software on your home computer. I
mention this as you may find it difficult to gain the access you need to the computer lab
and you will be using the software a lot.
So lets look at how we use BlueJ.

382

The icon and the BlueJ website, at www.bluej.org, show a bird called the Blue Jay,
Cyanocitta cristata, generally found in the eastern part of North America. On occasion, it
wanders as far west as British Columbia. In western Canada we have the Stellers Jay,
Cyanocitta steller. You can see that the two species are related from the common family
name Cyanocitta. The Stellers Jay is the official bird of British Columbia.
Why is the Blue Jay on the icon? I guess its a play on words. BlueJ is a programming
environment for programming in the language Java and J is an abbreviation for Java and,
Blue is
Anyways, click the icon. You will see something like the screen below.

BlueJ appears as a typical Windows application. The title bar contains the name of the
program plus buttons to minimise, maximise, and close the program.
A menu appears below the title bar.
Below the menu, on the left, are a number of disabled buttons. Once we begin to work
with a project, a collection of classes, these buttons will become enabled.

383

Below the menu, on the right is the class diagram. In this area, BlueJ displays a diagram
representing the classes we use in our project.
Below the column of buttons and the class diagram is another window or two.
Below that is a message area, currently saying Package saved.
You will get to know all of these intimately by the end of the course. For now, lets look
at the menu.
The first option is Project. We will be creating projects, collections of classes. In some
cases, a project will represent your work for a one-week period; in some cases a project
will represent your work over several weeks.
The Project menu allows you to create a new, empty project (New Project), to open an
existing project (Open Project), to open a project on which you have worked recently
(Open Recent Project), as well as to close and save projects. You can also print a
project, including the class diagram and/or the source code. The Project menu also
allows you to quit BlueJ (Quit).
The second option is Edit. This option allows you to create and remove classes, as well
as create new arrows on the class diagrams.
The third option is Tools. There are several categories on this menu. To run and test the
Java classes we write, we need to compile them, translating them into the bytecode the
Java interpreter processes. If a project has several classes, we may need to compile only
one or we may need to compile many. Perhaps we need to compile them all. There are
options for all these.
Documentation is very important when writing code and Java supports a very nice type of
documentation. This documentation is created from simple statements we insert in the
code; the Documentation option analyzes the documentation we have created and
formats it nicely.
Testing is also very important when writing code. The Testing option allows us to run
some or all of the tests we create.
Preferences allows us to set many preferences in the appearance and working of BlueJ.
For example, I have old eyes so I have modified the font size to 20. The View option
allows us to customise the appearance still further. The choices on this menu are things
which you may wish to change frequently. The Preferences menu includes things you
change less-frequently.
Now we consider the Help menu, beginning with its About BlueJ option.

384

We see that BlueJ is a product of teams at two universities, Deakin University

(www.deakin.edu.au/), in Melbourne and other parts of Australia, and the University of
Kent (www.kent.ac.uk/), in Canterbury and other parts of England. The BlueJ project
started at Monash University, in Australia and migrated to Deakin and Kent. Notice that
there are only a small number of people involved in the BlueJ project.
The About box shows the version of BlueJ you are using and the version of Java you are
using; newer versions of both are probably available.
It then shows a few other pieces of information, including the BlueJ website.
To dismiss the About box, click Ok or press

The next Help menu option is Check Version. Use this to decide if there is a newer
version of BlueJ than the one you are using. At Okanagan College, you do not have the
authority to install software, so the information from this choice is for information only.
At home, you can keep it up to date if you wish. It may be better to keep the same version
at home and school.
The next Help menu option is Installed Extensions. For more about extensions, check
http://www.bluej.org/extensions/extensions.html.
The next Help menu option is Copyright.

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The next Help menu option is BlueJ Web Site. This provides a direct link to
www.bluej.org, displaying the site in your default browser.
The next Help menu option is BlueJ Tutorial. This is a very complete tutorial on how
to use BlueJ. The main task of this lab assignment is to complete the tutorial.
The final Help menu option is Java Class Libraries. This is a very important link. It
leads us to http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/index.html, a site which describes
everything you would like to know about the Java language. We will be visiting this site
regularly. Note that you can download the documentation to your own computer and have
this menu option link to your local copy. This could be handy should you be using BlueJ
while you are not connected to the Internet.
Now that you have quickly seen the menu, its time to use BlueJ.
Rather than create my own tutorial, I will direct you to the BlueJ Tutorial option on the
Help menu. Read and follow the steps in that tutorial. Yes, the tutorial is for BlueJ 2.0.X
and we are using 2.1.X but I havent found any differences. Complete the first three
sections of the tutorial.
Hand-in:

A note to me stating that you have completed the first three sections of the
tutorial. Note that I will not be repeating material from the tutorial in subsequent
labs, so you should complete the rest of the tutorial when it is appropriate.

Make sure that the note is word-processed, neatly-formatted, perfectly-speled, and free of
grammar mistakes.
Due date:
Two weeks

386

Lab Assignment 1 - Players

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
Lacrosse is the official Canadian summer game (as ice hockey is the official Canadian
winter game.) A website which describes how this came to be is
http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/symbols_facts&lists/symbols.html
Lacrosse comes in two varieties; field lacrosse is more similar to the original sport played
by First Nations in Eastern Canada, and box lacrosse is a variant played in hockey arenas
during the summer, when there is no ice in place. In the next series of lab assignments,
you will use Java classes to model a box lacrosse league.
To see what modelling a box lacrosse league involves, you should investigate the
websites for the three professional box lacrosse leagues with Canadian teams.
The Western Lacrosse Association (www.theboxrocks.com), or WLA, has teams
in British Columbia which play their season during the summer.
Major Series Lacrosse, formerly the Ontario Lacrosse Association, or MSL,
(www.majorserieslacrosse.com) has teams in Ontario which also play their season
during the summer. The champions of the WLA and MSL play off for the Mann
Cup. The 2006 Mann Cup playoffs were scheduled for September 8 through 16.
The National Lacrosse League (www.nll.com) has teams in Canada and the
United States which play their season during the winter. Many players play both
summer and winter, and many players switch summer leagues from time to time.
Procedure:
Lacrosse players all have first and family names. So that they can be paid, they also
provide their Social Insurance Number.
Create and test a class called Player. Feel free to use any classes from the textbook if they
are useful.
When you looked at the league websites, you may have noticed two types of player
statistics, reflecting the two different types of players. Goalies have one type of statistics,
including the number of games played, the number of shots faced, and the number of
goals allowed. Look at the statistics for the New Westminster Salmonbellies to see the
type of statistics kept for goalies. The numbers shown for the Salmonbellies goalies are
the sum of a number of single-game statistics.

387

Scoring and penalty statistics are the second kind of player statistics. All players on a
lacrosse team, including goalies, can receive penalties, and score and assist on goals. As
for the goalies, the numbers shown on the websites represent the sum of separate
statistics.
Create and test a class called GoalieStatistic. A GoalieStatistic object contains details for
a single game. These details should include at least the date of the game, the number of
minutes played, the number of shots faced, and the number of goals allowed.
Create and test a class called PlayerStatistic. There are two different ways to do this. The
find is to record each event (goal, assist, penalty) separately. For example, goal at 12:45
of first period, assist at 1:53 of second period, two-minute penalty at 11:23 of second
period, five-minute penalty at 7:25 of third period. The second is to record the number of
events in each game. For example, one goal, one assist, seven minutes of penalties.
While the second is easier, the first is more flexible. In August 2006, Kerry Susheski
scored nine goals in a playoff game. One of the observations that came up from this was
the length of time between the first and the last goals. Thus, we can see that the WLA is
using the first way of recording these statistics.
You may find you have a better design, if you derive Goal, Assist, and Penalty classes
from PlayerStatistic.
You will need collections of GoalieStatistic objects and PlayerStatistic objects. Which is
the class which contains these collections?
Following the model in the textbook, you might suggest a League object. But we dont
have a league object yet. We will create one in the next assignment.
The alternative is for a Player object to contain a collection of PlayerStatistic objects, and
for a Goalie object to contain a collection of GoalieStatistic objects. This design may
possibly cause difficulties later, so we will not pursue it further except that we will need a
Goalie object. Since a goalie is a player, this is best accomplished by deriving a Goalie
class from the Player class.
Create and test a class called Goalie.
Hand-in:
Provide me with the Player, Goalie, GoalieStatistic, Goal, Assist, Penalty, and
PlayerStatistic classes. Also provide any other classes you have developed to support
these classes.
Due date:
TBA

388

Lab Assignment 2 - Teams and Leagues

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
As we mentioned in the previous lab assignment, there are three professional lacrosse
leagues with Canadian teams. In this assignment, we will create Team and League
classes. The type of information necessary for a Team class is shown at
http://majorserieslacrosse.com/teams/brampton.html, the profile for the Brampton
Excelsiors of the MSL.
The type of information necessary for a League class is shown on any of the three league
websites mentioned in the previous assignment.
Procedure:
Create and test a Team class.
A Team may change its name from time to time, and it may or may not participate in a
league in any particular year. For example, the North Shore Indians were a team in the
WLA. They moved to the Okanagan and changed their name to the Okanagan Thunder.
They moved back to the Lower Mainland and changed their name to the Langley
Thunder.
Each team needs to know the players it has on the team. When a player joins a team
he/she is assigned a jersey number. Goalies, being unusual people, often like the number
0. Occasionally a goalie will prefer 00. The two numbers 0 and 00 are different, despite
what mathematicians say. Jersey number is the key to use when setting up a
HashMap<String, Player> of players on a team.
Assume that players may be traded (to another team) or released (essentially, fired) or
placed on/removed from an injured-players list at any time.
Create and test a League class.
Note that a League contains a collection of Team objects. Thus a League object needs to
know the teams it contains in each year. I used a
HashMap<Integer,ArrayList<Team>> to store this collection. The Integer refers
to the year and the ArrayList is the list of teams. You may find it easier to just model
one season. In that case, you simply need to use an ArrayList<Team>.

389

Recall that the League also contains collections of PlayerStatistic objects and
GoalieStatistic objects. What are appropriate structures for these collections?
Each team needs to know its schedule against all the other teams in its league. I created a
ScheduleEntry class, and then stored a teams schedule in an
ArrayList<ScheduleEntry>. Consideration: Is it better for the League to know
the schedule for all games in the season, or is it better for the League to construct a
schedule by asking all the Teams for their own schedule? Patterns say that the League
should own the schedule, not the teams.
Ensure your Team and League classes support all the above information.
If you would like a challenge:
Each league has its own rules about the number of active (that is, not including those on
the injured-players list) goalies a team has. Each league has its own rules about the
number of active players (including goalies) a team has. Implement these rules as part of
League. You will need static variables. You may wish to use exceptions to detect a
violation of the rules.
We can use unit tests to populate teams (including their schedules, active players, and
injured players) and leagues. If this were a real application, we would require some form
of persistence to remember data from one run of the program to another. Implement
persistence. Include persistence for the goals, assists, and penalties.

Hand-in:
Provide me with the Team and League classes and their unit tests.
Due date:
TBA

390

Lab Assignment 3 - Reporting

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
Now that we have created Player, Goalie, PlayerStatistic, Assist, Goal, Penalty,
GoalieStatistic, Team, and League classes, we can use them to produce a few reports.
Which goalie has the best save percentage? Which goalie allows the fewest goals? Which
players win their team scoring championships? Which player wins the league scoring
championship? Which team wins the league championship?
To answer these questions we need to ask the right questions to the right objects.
Sometimes an object will have to ask other objects for help in answering the questions.
Procedure:
Which goalie has the best save percentage? In your GoalieStatistic class, you probably
have the number of shots the goalie has faced and the number of goals he/she has
allowed. The save percentage is (shots faced goals allowed) / shots faced.
Which goalie allows the fewest goals? The league knows the teams it contains and it can
ask each of those teams about its own goalies. The league can then combine those
answers and produce its own answers. Note that several goalies may be tied, on a team or
in a league.
Make it so.
That is, modify Team to include a method that will determine which of its goalies has the
best save percentage. Note that two or more goalies may have the same save percentage,
although this would be unusual.
Modify Team to include a method that will determine which of its goalies allows the
fewest goals. Note that two or more goalies may have the same number of goals allowed.
In fact, this could be quite common, as some teams alternate their goalies, with each
goalie playing half the season.
Modify League to include a method to use these new Team methods.
Which players win their team scoring championships? Which player wins the league
scoring championship? The league knows the teams it contains and it can ask each of

391

those teams about its own scoring. The league can then combine those answers and
produce its own answers. Note that several players may be tied, on a team or in a league.
Make it so.
That is, modify Player to include a method to calculate the number of points (two for a
goal, one for an assist) each player earns, modify Team to determine the players(s) with
the highest points total, and modify League to determine the player(s) with the highest
points total.
Which team wins the league championship? This is harder since the rules in the leagues
are slightly different.
In the WLA and MSL (both of which have only a few teams) the first- and fourth-place
teams play a best-of-seven series, the second- and third-place teams play a best-of-seven
series, and the winners of those two series play a best-of-seven series for the
championship. (See http://www.theboxrocks.com/l_play_offs.asp for the summer 2006
results in the WLA.)
In the NLL, there are two divisions, each approximately the size of the WLA or MSL. In
each, the first- and fourth-place teams play a single-elimination game and the second- and
third-place teams play a single-elimination game, with the winners playing a singleelimination game for the division championship. The division champions then play a
single-elimination game for the league championship. (See
http://www.nll.com/playoffs.shtml for the winter 2006 results.)
But we dont know the placing of the teams since we have not recorded the winners and
losers of the games played. Modify and test the Team class so that the results of games
are known. Then use WLA/MSL rules to determine which teams are in first-, second-,
third-, and fourth-places, assuming two points for a win, one for a tie, and zero for a loss.
If two teams are tied, consider only the games they have played against each other, again
with two points for a win, one for a tie, and zero for a loss. If the teams are still tied, use a
random number to simulate a coin toss.
Add playoff data to the League class so that the League can identify the champion teams
and produce a report showing the results of all playoff games.
Hand-in:
Provide me with the revised Team and League classes.
Due date:
TBA

392

Lab Assignment 4 - Data Entry Screens

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
How do we enter much of that data we have been manipulating? We can create test cases
using setters, but that is not suitable for real world use. Instead, we should create a data
entry screen.
Procedure:
Create a data entry screen to allow for entry of some of the data we have identified. That
data includes:
Player demographics (This will include name, address, date of birth , and Social
Insurance Number)
Player trade information (A player may be traded for several players. A player
may be part of a trade for several other players.) Imagine a Trade class which
contains two collections of Players objects, one for the Player(s) the teams gives
up, and the other for the Player(s) the team receives. Assume there are no future
considerations trades.
Player placed on or removed from injured list (This will include type of injury and
expected return date.)
Results of games (This will include who won and who lost, along with player and
goalie statistics. There should also be a comments field.)
Goalie statistics (These have been described in an earlier assignment.)
Scoring statistics (These have been described in an earlier assignment.)
Team name, contact info, etc.
Create one or more of the screens identified above, or create another screen which is
appropriate.

Hand-in:
Provide me with all the code necessary to create and test your data entry screen(s).
Due date:
TBA

393

Lab Assignment 5 - And now for something completely different

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
We have finished with the lacrosse league example. While following that example, we
have been developing an application which could have been developed in many
languages. Now we will examine an area where Java shines, embedding programs into
web pages. Well create some applets.
Procedure:
Chapter 7 of the textbook discusses applets and how to create them. In this assignment,
you will explore several applets.
For the first applet, create and run the HelloWorld applet as it is given in the textbook.
Create a web page to use the applet. Have the applet display the message in several
different languages. You could ask around for different translations, or you could look at
http://world.altavista.com/tr
For an extra challenge, have the applet display in only one language, but have that
language change (among a few different languages) as you run the applet again and
again. For a larger challenge, choose one or more of the languages from those such as
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, or Arabic, which require Unicode characters.
For the second applet, create a flag applet that displays either the French (

) or the

Italian (
) flags. The difference doesnt show up in black and white, but the bar on
the left of the French flag is blue, while the bar on the left of the Italian flag is green. The
centre bar on both is white and the bar on the right is red.

More challenging are the flags of the Seychelles (

Nepal (

) and

).

Then create the flag of the United Kingdom (

Niue (

), Macedonia (

), Australia (

) and use it to create the flags of

), and New Zealand (

).

394

This illustrates the important topic of reuse. Pay particular attention to the stars on the last
two flags.
Illustrations of these and other flags are at many places on the Internet, including
www.flags.net (loading quickly since there is a page for each letter of the alphabet) and
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/flagsoftheworld.html (loading more
slowly since all flags appear on one page).
Hand-in:
Your HelloWorld and Flag applets and the web pages to run them.
Due date:
TBA

395

Lab Assignment 6 - Mathematics I

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
The textbook speaks about the use of computers in numerical computation. In this
assignment you will complete the missing parts of chapter 9. In particular, you will
complete the RationalNumber and ComplexNumber classes.
Procedure:
The textbook implementation of RationalNumber omits the implementation of
subtraction, multiplication, and division. Implement each of these operations and test
them thoroughly. Ensure the methods are documented.
Implement and test an inverse operation for RationalNumbers. This will input a/b and
return b/a. Ensure the method is documented.
Implement and test a method to convert a RationalNumber to its decimal equivalent,
expressed as a double. Ensure the method is documented.
Modify your RationalNumber class so that it uses BigIntegers. Can you do this in a way
that is totally transparent to the users of your class?
Implement and test a ComplexNumber class. Ensure all your work is documented.

Hand-in:
The RationalNumber and ComplexNumber classes, plus software to test them.
Due date:
TBA

396

Lab Assignment 7 - Mathematics II

Objectives:
To design, create, and test classes using the BlueJ environment.
Background:
Use the mathematical functions in the textbook and those you created in the previous
assignment to answer the following questions.
Then develop mathematical methods for the Catalan numbers.
Procedure:
What is the ratio of Fib(n+1)/Fib(n) as n increases?
If you have m presents and n people, how many ways are there to divide the presents
amongst the people, perhaps with some people getting 0 presents? Hint: use the choose
function.
has an infinite decimal expansion. One approximation to is given by the following
formula.
/4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9 ...
How well does this approximation work? That is, how many terms in the series do you
need to have three digits after the decimal point correct? Five digits? 10 digits?
The constant e also has an infinite decimal expansion. One approximation to e is given by
the following formula.
e = 1/0! + 1/1! + 1/2! + 1/3! + 1/4! +
How well does this approximation work? That is, how many terms in the series do you
need to have three digits after the decimal point correct? Do you need five digits? Do you
need 10 digits?
The last sentence of chapter 10 implies there is no largest integer. Prove that statement is
true.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CatalanNumber.html introduces Catalan numbers and
gives several formulas used to calculate these numbers. Develop a Catalan class which

397

calculates these numbers using the formulas numbered (2) and (3). Note that (2n)!
increases very rapidly, so you may wish to rethink the data types in the factorial methods.
Hand-in:

Due date:
TBA

398

Subsequent lab assignments

Students will not be working within the BlueJ environment all the time. Thus it is
important they see other environments. We had two available for them.
The first is straight-forward UNIX environment where they use emacs as the editor, and
compile either from within it or from the command line.
The second environment uses Eclipse.
Since these labs are quire institution-dependent, I have not included them here.

399

400

Index

abs, 342, 344, 345

abstract, 67, 68, 69, 92, 98, 135, 145,
220, 322
Abstract, 67, 315
Abstract Window Toolkit, 253
AbstractButton, 293
accessibility, 303, 305
Ackermann, 359, 364, 365, 366, 367
ActionCommand, 257, 266, 267
ActionEvent, 266, 293, 295, 306, 371,
372
ActionListener, 266, 267, 293, 295, 306,
371, 372, 373
add, 8, 25, 26, 58, 77, 78, 83, 88, 89, 98,
104, 105, 114, 115, 120, 121, 122,
126, 135, 137, 138, 139, 141, 147,
151, 152, 153, 154, 164, 166, 178,
187, 189, 198, 216, 222, 226, 242,
251, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258,
259, 260, 264, 267, 275, 276, 279,
280, 281, 283, 287, 289, 290, 291,
295, 297, 303, 304, 305, 316, 325,
346, 349, 361, 364, 365, 372
addActionListener, 267, 294, 296, 306,
371, 372
addAll, 147, 150, 151
address, xvii, 1, 6, 7, 21, 22, 26, 37, 38,
77, 78, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88,
89, 95, 216, 217, 218, 233, 235, 236,
367, 393
Address, xvii, 78, 80, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87,
88, 98, 99, 100, 209, 215, 216, 218,
219, 232, 233, 235, 236, 274, 275
age, 91, 323
aggregation, 157, 179
algebra, 53, 54, 55, 62
algorithm, 13, 65, 118, 134, 192, 193,
341, 346, 351, 352, 353, 358
ALPHABETIC_ORDER, 144, 145, 146,
147, 150
anonymous class, 371, 372
Apple, 2, 123

applet, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314,

315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321,
322, 323, 324, 326, 327, 328, 330,
343, 363, 366, 370, 394
Applet, 314, 315, 317, 323, 324
appletviewer, 320
AppletViewer, 311, 320, 321, 322, 323
architecture, 331, 332
archive, 240, 242, 243, 323
array, 38, 137, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170,
171, 172, 173, 174, 191, 203, 237,
280, 281, 285, 286, 287, 288, 294,
314, 319, 320, 374
ArrayList, 111, 137, 166, 197, 198, 360,
361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 389, 390
assertEquals, 44, 45, 46, 86, 118, 217,
218, 223, 225, 236
assertion, 45, 120
assertNotNull, 46, 206, 208
assertNull, 46
assertSame, 46
assertTrue, 46, 61, 86, 102, 120, 145
assignment, 21, 22, 163, 181, 195, 226,
243, 381, 382, 386, 389, 393, 394,
396, 397
assist, xvii, 388, 392
association, 6, 21, 108, 155, 179, 182
asterisk, 159, 218
attribute, 13, 14, 15, 20, 24
AttributeConstraint, 253, 254, 257, 258,
259
AttributeType, 253, 254, 255, 257, 258,
259, 260, 265, 283, 284, 290, 291
autoboxing, 226, 271
autounboxing, 226, 227
Avogadro, 351
awt, 252, 263, 302, 312, 315, 365
AxisConstraint, 262, 264, 283, 284, 288,
289
BadHourException, 207, 208
BadMinuteException, 207, 208

401

bank account, 50, 64, 74, 131, 156, 182,

220, 229, 245, 275, 299, 308, 337, 377
base class, 68, 71, 86, 104, 135
behaviour, 5, 77, 105, 158, 214, 289,
321, 356
BigDecimal, 343, 344
BigInteger, 336, 341, 342, 343, 344,
350, 358, 367
birder, 131, 156, 182, 229, 245, 275,
276, 299, 308
birth, 99, 101, 140, 211, 382, 393
bit, 10, 11, 94, 143, 342, 355
BlueJ, xiii, xiv, xv, xvii, 2, 5, 10, 17, 18,
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41, 42, 48,
50, 56, 68, 78, 82, 87, 92, 95, 99, 103,
104, 112, 114, 121, 148, 180, 199,
213, 215, 218, 247, 251, 268, 301,
309, 310, 312, 314, 315, 316, 317,
318, 319, 322, 323, 326, 327, 373,
374, 379, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385,
386, 387, 389, 391, 393, 394, 396,
397, 399
Boole, 53, 54, 117, 124
boolean, 50, 53, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62, 65,
73, 116, 117, 121, 124, 125, 153, 160,
161, 171, 175, 176, 177, 189, 194,
207, 270, 271, 273, 291, 292, 293,
313, 315, 320, 363, 366
Boolean, 313
Border, 282
BorderFactory, 282, 336
BorderLayout, 250, 280
Box, 279, 280, 281
BoxLayout, 279
brace, 18, 24, 34, 104, 124, 144
braces, 18, 34, 58, 104, 119, 123, 163
break, 124, 125, 126, 128, 153, 176, 177,
191
BufferedOutputStream, 233, 236, 239
ButtonGroup, 287, 289
byte, 10, 11, 94, 341
Byte, 10
bytecode, 35, 384
Calendar, 92, 139, 140, 157, 166, 173
call stack, 202
cast, 187, 227, 270, 360

catch, 48, 85, 201, 202, 203, 208, 209,

210, 217, 218, 222, 223, 225, 233,
235, 236, 240, 270, 272, 273, 292,
293, 294, 361, 363, 364, 366, 367
char, 38, 60, 73, 81, 82, 175, 176, 190,
194, 286
Character, 65, 143, 194
charAt, 60, 64, 65, 73, 173, 175, 190,
193, 194
class, xiii, xvii, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12,
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24,
26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52,
56, 57, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69,
70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82,
83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95,
96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103,
104, 105, 112, 113, 115, 119, 122,
123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 131,
132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139,
140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 147,
148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155,
156, 157, 158, 160, 164, 165, 166,
167, 168, 173, 178, 180, 182, 184,
190, 191, 192, 194, 197, 203, 204,
205, 206, 207, 211, 214, 215, 216,
218, 219, 220, 223, 224, 226, 227,
229, 232, 233, 234, 235, 237, 239,
240, 241, 242, 245, 250, 251, 256,
257, 261, 263, 267, 271, 273, 275,
282, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 309,
310, 312, 315, 317, 320, 321, 323,
324, 327, 330, 333, 334, 335, 337,
341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 348,
350, 351, 354, 361, 362, 367, 368,
369, 371, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377,
384, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392,
393, 396, 397
Class, 5, 9, 18, 32, 40, 215, 312
class diagram, 5, 10, 31, 32, 36, 40, 46,
67, 69, 83, 92, 99, 100, 148, 261, 267,
310, 323, 361, 384
Class diagram, 9
ClassNotFoundException, 201, 218,
219, 221, 222, 225, 233

402

clone, 84, 85, 86, 87, 121, 122, 130, 138,

151, 201, 202, 209, 242, 243, 245,
250, 380
Cloneable, 85, 216, 334
CloneNotSupportedException, 85, 201,
202, 203, 204, 209
close, 7, 39, 42, 217, 218, 223, 225, 233,
235, 236, 240, 269, 363, 364, 366,
367, 383, 384
code, xiv, 5, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 27, 31,
33, 34, 39, 50, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 70,
71, 78, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87, 95, 98,
99, 118, 119, 125, 138, 149, 161, 170,
173, 174, 177, 180, 182, 189, 190,
199, 202, 203, 207, 208, 209, 219,
220, 232, 243, 248, 250, 255, 257,
259, 267, 289, 292, 299, 304, 310,
312, 313, 314, 321, 323, 324, 332,
334, 335, 348, 351, 366, 369, 370,
372, 373, 384, 393
Code Pad, 82
coffee, 9, 331
cohesion, 178
cohesive, 178, 372
collection, xiii, 11, 21, 63, 74, 92, 94,
107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113,
114, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122,
123, 124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131,
132, 133, 136, 137, 138, 141, 147,
148, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156,
157, 158, 160, 163, 164, 165, 166,
170, 178, 180, 181, 183, 185, 189,
195, 197, 219, 221, 222, 223, 225,
226, 227, 237, 242, 244, 248, 277,
285, 301, 351, 369, 383, 389
Collection, 107, 133, 157
Color, 314, 317, 321, 329, 343
command line, 374, 399
Comparable, 142, 333
Comparator, 142, 143, 144, 146, 149,
150, 152, 154, 160, 161, 162, 163,
179, 180
compare, 84, 85, 116, 124, 141, 142,
143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 153,
154, 161, 162, 171, 179, 185, 198
Compare, 143

compile, 33, 34, 35, 46, 58, 61, 71, 82,

83, 100, 103, 114, 119, 138, 191, 217,
261, 267, 304, 310, 374, 384, 399
Compile, 35, 82, 83, 144, 323
complex number, 341, 344, 348, 350
Complex number, 348
composition, 157, 179
condition, 49, 55, 57, 58, 59, 62, 103,
162, 170
constant, 95, 168, 258, 267, 342, 351,
397
constraint, 257, 258, 259, 260, 283, 288
Constraint, 380
constructor, 5, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27,
28, 33, 36, 42, 43, 44, 50, 51, 56, 61,
64, 68, 71, 78, 81, 86, 87, 88, 92, 93,
94, 96, 97, 99, 101, 114, 127, 134,
137, 140, 151, 164, 180, 204, 205,
206, 207, 208, 211, 232, 234, 235,
237, 302, 303, 337, 343, 344, 347,
362, 365
Constructor, 20, 96, 204, 345
container, 250, 251, 257, 264, 267, 279,
283, 297
content pane, 257, 258, 259, 260
controller, 337, 338
coupling, 173
course, xii, xiii, xiv, xv, xvii, 1, 6, 9, 13,
18, 21, 26, 45, 46, 50, 63, 78, 86, 91,
95, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 116, 121,
133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141,
142, 147, 148, 149, 155, 156, 157,
160, 167, 168, 169, 178, 179, 180,
182, 183, 184, 185, 188, 191, 197,
198, 209, 213, 227, 239, 244, 247,
250, 262, 271, 273, 275, 277, 278,
279, 280, 281, 292, 295, 302, 316,
318, 334, 337, 342, 354, 367, 369,
372, 377, 381, 382, 384
Course, 133, 134, 135, 137, 160, 178,
209, 274, 275, 280, 285, 302, 337
CPU, 2, 35
createVerticalBox, 279, 280
currentThread, 232, 233, 235, 236, 239
database, 3, 109, 204, 231, 244, 245,
280, 281, 292, 338, 377, 382

403

DataFormatException, 203, 205, 206,

208
Date, 91, 92, 93
Deakin, 385
debt, 341, 343
decimal, 11, 97, 134, 135, 187, 396, 397
DecimalFormat, 135, 140, 156, 166,
172, 175, 187
Department, 108, 125, 126, 127, 128,
129, 131
deprecated, 92
derived class, 71, 72, 73, 83, 99, 102,
104
deserialize, 215, 218, 220, 222, 224
destroy, 213, 314, 315, 317, 318
dialog, 268
dictionary, 110, 111
double, 25, 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 42, 71, 81,
104, 119, 133, 134, 135, 166, 186,
187, 189, 289, 329, 344, 347, 360, 396
Double, 71, 135, 166, 323
drawPolygon, 322, 327
drawString, 314, 317, 321, 343
dynamic programming, 351, 360, 367
Dynamic programming, 360
elegant, 110
element, 111, 113, 119, 120, 122, 124,
137, 141, 152, 153, 167, 169, 170,
172, 173, 175, 189, 203, 235, 285,
286, 287, 314, 319, 364
encryption, 220, 221, 341
equals, 20, 21, 22, 37, 57, 62, 70, 84, 85,
86, 102, 115, 116, 117, 124, 125, 126,
128, 141, 153, 160, 161, 176, 180,
186, 266, 306, 371
et, 178
Euclid, 346, 352
EventQueue, 370
exception, 25, 187, 201, 202, 203, 204,
205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 218,
271, 320
Exception, 201, 203, 207, 270, 272, 273,
292, 293, 294, 361, 364, 367
exception handler, 202
extends, 44, 71, 72, 83, 197, 205, 207,
237, 312, 315

factorial, 356, 357, 398

Factory, 336, 339, 344
false, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62,
73, 116, 117, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125,
150, 153, 160, 162, 171, 176, 177,
190, 261, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273,
291, 292, 295, 298, 364, 367
False, 54
Fibonacci, 354, 355, 356, 360, 361, 362,
363, 364, 365, 367, 368
file, 29, 32, 35, 83, 112, 214, 215, 218,
225, 227, 228, 231, 232, 233, 234,
235, 236, 237, 239, 240, 242, 251,
304, 305, 323, 362, 363, 364, 366
File, 215, 249, 302, 303
FileInputStream, 215, 218, 225, 235,
236, 363, 366
FileNotFoundException, 201, 217, 218,
223, 225, 233, 236, 240
FileOutputStream, 215, 217, 223, 233,
236, 240, 363, 366
fillRect, 314, 317, 321, 327
final, 6, 25, 85, 86, 144, 146, 149, 154,
161, 168, 169, 179, 189, 209, 253,
254, 256, 259, 270, 271, 279, 281,
288, 291, 292, 332, 380, 386
finalize, 362, 366
finally, 207
float, 134
FlowLayout, 250, 266, 295
flush, 217, 223, 240, 363, 366
folder, 32, 92, 240, 323
font, xvii, 50, 259, 312, 321, 384
for, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46,
47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
60, 61, 63, 64, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78,
79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 88, 89, 91, 92,
93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102,
107, 110, 112, 116, 117, 118, 119,
126, 127, 128, 130, 135, 136, 138,
139, 141, 142, 143, 145, 147, 148,
149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155,
156, 160, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169,

404

170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176,

177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192,
193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 201,
202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208,
211, 213, 214, 215, 216, 220, 221,
222, 223, 224, 226, 231, 232, 233,
234, 235, 237, 238, 242, 243, 244,
248, 249, 250, 253, 254, 256, 257,
259, 260, 262, 264, 267, 269, 271,
272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 279,
281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287,
288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294,
295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 302, 304,
305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312,
313, 322, 323, 325, 326, 327, 328,
329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 335, 336,
337, 338, 339, 341, 342, 343, 344,
345, 347, 348, 349, 350, 352, 353,
354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360,
361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 367,
369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375,
376, 377, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383,
384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390,
391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 399
For, 36, 46, 55, 160, 163, 170, 201, 203,
207, 262, 285, 298, 325, 341, 346,
348, 353, 356, 360, 369, 370, 371
for-each, 107, 119, 122, 147, 154, 170,
182
formula, 356, 357, 359, 368, 397
frame, 56, 57, 248, 253, 255, 256, 257,
260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 267, 268,
269, 277, 278, 279, 280, 282, 289,
296, 297, 301, 303, 304, 312, 326,
328, 330, 370
Frame, 253, 255, 296, 370
Frame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH, 263
game, 3, 51, 132, 250, 387, 388, 392
garbage collection, 166, 195, 369
GB, 2
GCD, 342, 343
generic, 93, 113, 248
get, 2, 13, 23, 24, 45, 123, 131, 191, 195,
198, 202, 243, 328, 361, 363, 364,
366, 384

getAccessibleContext, 303, 304, 305

getActionCommand, 266, 293
getAppletInfo, 314, 315, 318
getClassLoader, 232, 233, 235, 236, 239
getContentPane, 253, 254, 255, 256,
258, 259
getModel, 293
getParameter, 320, 326, 327
getParameterInfo, 315, 318, 319, 327
getSource, 293, 306, 371
getter, 23, 24, 34, 44, 82, 86, 94, 101,
118, 347
gigahertz, 2
gnirts, 192
goal, 208, 388, 392
goalie, 388, 389, 391, 393
GoalieStatistic, 388, 391
Graphics, 231, 245, 313, 317, 327
greater than, 57, 59, 62, 70, 103, 162
greatest common divisor, 343, 346, 351,
352, 353
GregorianCalendar, 92, 105, 139, 273
GridBagLayout, 250, 275, 299
GridLayout, 250
GUI, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 256, 277,
301, 304, 309, 316, 337, 370, 371, 374
hardware, 1, 4, 48
Hardware, 1, 2
hash, 84, 113, 118
Hash, 113
hashCode, 84, 115, 117, 118
HashMap, 111, 117, 365, 366, 389
HashSet, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117,
123, 124, 125, 127, 146, 147, 151,
152, 160, 222, 225, 237
hasNext, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126
hexadecimal, 97, 143
HTML, 322, 323, 324
identity, 5, 7, 14, 158, 214
Identity, 158
if, xiv, xvi, 8, 13, 17, 43, 46, 48, 55, 56,
57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67,
69, 70, 72, 73, 78, 80, 87, 88, 91, 93,
96, 97, 98, 101, 102, 103, 116, 117,
124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 134, 140,
141, 143, 144, 149, 150, 153, 154,

405

160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 168, 171,

173, 175, 176, 177, 179, 182, 186,
188, 190, 193, 194, 198, 199, 202,
205, 207, 208, 211, 224, 227, 228,
231, 263, 266, 267, 270, 271, 272,
273, 285, 291, 292, 293, 297, 306,
320, 323, 326, 327, 345, 346, 347,
348, 352, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359,
360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366,
368, 370, 371, 373, 382, 385, 387, 388
If, 11, 17, 45, 55, 88, 98, 124, 202, 257,
261, 273, 286, 297, 298, 323, 338,
341, 354, 355, 356, 363, 372, 374
immutable, 84, 85, 166, 194, 195
import, 17, 112, 113, 123, 125, 135, 137,
143, 147, 150, 153, 180, 198, 205,
216, 217, 221, 232, 239, 252, 263,
273, 282, 302, 312, 315, 343, 362, 365
Import, 252
index, 17, 110, 111, 135, 137, 138, 166,
171, 203, 244, 285, 336, 364, 380, 386
Index, 401
infinite loop, 123
inheritance, 67, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 377
init, 312, 313, 315, 316, 326
inner class, 369, 371, 372, 376
Inner class, 371
InputVerifier, 269, 270, 271, 275, 291,
292, 297
insert, 32, 83, 99, 137, 153, 169, 175,
226, 384
Insert, 83, 99
inspect, 22, 95, 361
instance, 6, 7, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 43, 46,
47, 50, 64, 68, 69, 71, 73, 78, 79, 83,
86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98,
99, 100, 105, 108, 112, 115, 119, 122,
123, 125, 131, 138, 139, 140, 151,
157, 158, 169, 204, 214, 215, 216,
219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 227,
232, 233, 234, 235, 237, 238, 242,
243, 251, 256, 303, 312, 326, 327,
337, 345, 350, 361, 362
Instance, 19, 158
instanceof, 116, 117, 160, 227

int, 11, 20, 29, 50, 57, 61, 62, 65, 94, 97,
118, 133, 138, 139, 141, 144, 146,
149, 154, 158, 159, 161, 162, 167,
168, 169, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177,
179, 185, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193,
194, 195, 197, 198, 204, 205, 207,
208, 217, 222, 223, 225, 226, 240,
241, 270, 271, 272, 273, 286, 288,
289, 291, 292, 293, 294, 312, 326,
327, 328, 329, 341, 343, 345, 346,
352, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 361, 363
Int, 149, 154, 161, 162, 286
Integer, 65, 97, 161, 187, 222, 225, 226,
270, 271, 272, 290, 291, 293, 294,
327, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 389
interface, 111, 112, 115, 137, 142, 146,
216, 219, 243, 247, 248, 249, 250,
256, 263, 282, 306, 333, 334, 338,
371, 377, 380
Interface, 333, 334, 380
internationalisation, 182
interpret, 15, 70, 256
intValue, 226, 270, 271, 272, 291, 293,
294, 329, 361, 364
invokeLater, 370
IOException, 201, 204, 217, 218, 221,
222, 223, 224, 225, 235, 363, 364,
366, 367
isLetter, 65, 194
isSelected, 293
iterative, 192, 351, 352, 353, 354, 356,
357
iterator, 107, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126,
147, 148, 154, 182
Iterator, 123
JApplet, 248, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316,
318, 319
jar, 251, 323
Java, xii, xiii, xiv, xvii, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,
11, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26,
28, 31, 33, 35, 38, 50, 53, 56, 57, 62,
63, 65, 68, 71, 74, 77, 78, 80, 81, 84,
87, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 105, 109,
110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 119, 120,
123, 135, 162, 163, 167, 182, 186,
187, 191, 199, 201, 203, 204, 214,

406

215, 216, 226, 228, 231, 233, 237,

243, 244, 245, 248, 249, 250, 251,
256, 297, 301, 302, 307, 309, 315,
317, 321, 323, 325, 330, 332, 333,
335, 336, 339, 341, 342, 343, 349,
357, 369, 372, 373, 374, 375, 377,
379, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386,
387, 394
java.awt.event, 252, 302
java.bean, 232, 233, 239, 240, 242
java.io, 215, 216, 217, 218, 221, 362
java.lang.Math, 63, 64, 342, 344, 348
java.security, 221, 229
java.text, 135
java.util, 92, 112, 113, 123, 125, 135,
137, 143, 147, 150, 153, 198, 205,
273, 362, 365
JavaBean, 15, 232, 237
javac, 21, 374
javadoc, 17, 46, 56, 57, 112, 207
javax.swing, 248, 252, 282, 302, 312,
330
JButton, 248, 264, 267, 268, 295
JCheckBox, 248, 277, 288, 291
JComponent, 270, 271, 291, 292
JFormattedTextField, 297, 299
JFrame, 248, 250, 253, 255, 256, 257,
258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265,
269, 279, 296, 297, 302, 304, 370
JLabel, 248, 253, 254, 256, 257, 258,
259, 260, 262, 263, 280, 281, 283
JList, 277, 280, 281
JMenu, 248, 301, 302, 303
JMenuBar, 248, 301, 302, 303
JMenuItem, 248, 304, 306, 371
JOptionPane, 268, 270, 271, 272, 273,
291, 292, 295, 306, 372
JPanel, 248, 250, 257, 266, 277, 278,
279, 280, 281, 282, 289, 294, 295
JRadioButton, 248, 277, 288, 290
JScrollPanel, 281
JSeparator, 305
JTextComponent, 270, 271, 291, 292
JTextField, 248, 254, 259, 260, 262,
263, 266, 269, 280, 281, 288, 290, 298

JUnit, xii, xiii, xiv, 5, 40, 44, 46, 48,

120, 380
Kent, 385
key, 2, 32, 110, 243, 263, 341, 365, 389
keySet, 366
key-value, 243
Klingon, 11
lastIndexOf, 192
layout manager, 247, 248, 250, 251, 252,
253, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 264,
265, 266, 267, 275, 277, 279, 283,
295, 297, 299, 301
Layout manager, 250
league, xiv, 381, 387, 389, 390, 391,
392, 394
length, 38, 56, 57, 58, 59, 69, 70, 80,
158, 167, 168, 169, 171, 172, 174,
177, 191, 193, 194, 270, 271, 291,
292, 312, 326, 328, 388
Length, 56, 58, 59, 70, 172
less than, 59, 63, 140, 142, 143, 145,
161, 162, 188, 356, 360
List, 111, 131, 136, 137, 160, 285
listener, 306, 335, 336, 372
ListSelectionModel, 281
logic, 13, 55, 56, 143, 170, 193, 223,
273, 280
logical name, 257, 259, 264, 266, 267,
289, 290
long, 11, 17, 20, 25, 64, 78, 82, 94, 95,
96, 101, 103, 108, 114, 139, 169, 177,
181, 211, 329, 335, 341, 343, 350
Long, 95, 96, 98
loop, 107, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 170,
174, 176, 177, 261, 352
Loop, 123
lowercase, 19, 95, 103, 115, 134, 143,
146, 179
map, 64, 107, 110, 243, 332
Map.Entry, 243
Mark, 180, 182, 183, 185, 186, 188, 189,
197, 198, 219, 223, 229, 274, 275,
285, 334
marker, 216, 334
Math, 63, 64, 328, 329, 341, 342, 344,
345, 348, 360

407

Math.abs, 345
Math.pow, 360
mathematics, xv, 22, 342, 348
MB, 2
Meeting, 109, 115, 138, 157, 158, 160,
161, 163, 164, 165, 170, 171, 175,
176, 178, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206,
207, 208, 219, 223, 224, 226, 229,
237, 238, 239, 241, 242, 243, 245,
274, 275, 298
megahertz, 2
menu, 2, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 46, 50,
56, 71, 82, 114, 121, 148, 249, 298,
301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307,
308, 311, 336, 371, 372, 376, 383,
384, 385, 386
menubar, 303
metaphor, 110
method, 5, 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26,
28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 43, 44, 45,
46, 47, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60,
61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 69, 71, 72, 73, 78,
82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94,
95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104,
105, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121,
122, 123, 124, 125, 127, 128, 130,
134, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143,
144, 146, 147, 149, 151, 152, 153,
154, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165,
166, 167, 171, 173, 174, 176, 177,
178, 180, 182, 184, 185, 186, 187,
189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195,
196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203,
206, 207, 209, 210, 216, 218, 219,
220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226,
232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240,
241, 242, 243, 245, 253, 255, 256,
260, 261, 262, 267, 271, 272, 273,
279, 282, 288, 296, 297, 298, 302,
303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 312, 313,
314, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 322,
326, 327, 328, 329, 334, 336, 337,
338, 342, 343, 344, 346, 347, 348,
351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 357,
358, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365,

366, 368, 371, 372, 374, 380, 391,

392, 396
mnemonic, 263, 265, 305
modal, 268
model, xiii, 5, 8, 26, 28, 29, 48, 63, 69,
74, 75, 107, 108, 109, 111, 122, 131,
132, 134, 138, 155, 156, 157, 188,
197, 200, 213, 286, 334, 338, 362,
387, 389
Model, 337, 338
Monash, 385
multimap, 110
mutable, 167
MVC, 337, 338
MyDate, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100,
101, 102, 103, 105, 129, 215, 219,
220, 229, 251, 253, 256, 261, 267,
296, 370, 371, 376
nest, 62
null, 56, 86, 87, 88, 99, 127, 129, 141,
152, 203, 209, 219, 262, 268, 287,
306, 318, 326, 327, 362, 363, 364,
365, 366, 372
NumberFormat, 135
NUMERIC_ORDER, 149, 150, 154
object, xiv, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15,
19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44,
47, 50, 56, 61, 63, 67, 71, 72, 82, 83,
84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 95, 96, 98, 99,
103, 107, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115,
116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122,
124, 125, 127, 128, 133, 135, 138,
139, 141, 142, 148, 151, 152, 153,
155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 164, 170,
171, 172, 175, 176, 178, 179, 180,
181, 185, 187, 198, 201, 202, 203,
205, 209, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217,
218, 219, 220, 222, 224, 225, 226,
227, 232, 233, 234, 235, 239, 240,
241, 242, 243, 266, 285, 301, 306,
313, 317, 334, 335, 336, 337, 346,
361, 370, 381, 388, 389, 391
Object, 31, 37, 39, 83, 84, 85, 86, 96,
113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 148, 160,
161, 209, 213, 216, 219, 220, 221,

408

223, 224, 226, 227, 228, 231, 237,

238, 331, 332, 361, 379
Object Bench, 148, 213, 361
ObjectInputStream, 215, 218, 220, 221,
222, 225, 226, 243, 363, 366
ObjectOutputStream, 215, 217, 218,
220, 221, 223, 224, 243, 363, 366
octal, 97
Okanagan, 6, 11, 91, 100
open, 22, 29, 35, 63, 71, 82, 218, 240,
303, 312, 316, 384
Open, 33, 42, 85, 251, 302, 305, 309
pack, 255, 296
package, 92, 113, 120, 135, 215, 217,
218, 221, 229, 232, 248, 323, 341, 342
Package, 92
Paint, 313
palindrome, 193, 194
paradigm, 3, 4, 7
parameter, 20, 22, 24, 45, 50, 64, 65, 83,
115, 116, 154, 155, 192, 206, 232,
234, 235, 237, 243, 261, 314, 315,
317, 319, 320, 326, 327, 328, 330
parentheses, 25, 34, 53, 56, 103, 104,
105, 159
parenthesis, 25, 34, 104
pattern, 127, 128, 135, 140, 141, 178,
187, 191, 202, 218, 331, 332, 333,
334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 344,
348, 377
Pattern, 332
penalty, 388
persistence, xv, 181, 213, 214, 231, 243,
244, 390
Persistence, 213, 231
person, xvii, 1, 6, 13, 14, 64, 77, 81, 84,
91, 102, 111, 116, 117, 142, 210, 211,
249, 251, 262, 263, 288, 298
Person, xvii, 67, 68, 71, 77, 78, 83, 85,
86, 87, 91, 92, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102,
116, 117, 118, 142, 144, 149, 150,
154, 215, 219, 220, 227
Planck, 351
player, 1, 387, 388, 389, 391, 392, 393
Point, 365, 366
postcondition, 144

precondition, 144
print, 140, 191, 382, 384
Print, 305
println, 82, 120, 129, 150, 191, 217, 218,
222, 223, 225, 233, 235, 236, 240,
266, 267, 268, 269, 375
private, 16, 18, 19, 23, 26, 38, 43, 44,
71, 78, 79, 96, 101, 114, 125, 127,
137, 138, 139, 151, 158, 164, 168,
169, 207, 221, 222, 224, 225, 239,
302, 303, 312, 326, 343, 345, 346,
352, 354, 362, 365
professor, xiii, xvii, 7, 8, 12, 14, 22, 69,
91, 99, 100, 101, 102, 107, 109, 110,
111, 112, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120,
121, 122, 124, 125, 128, 131, 141,
142, 147, 148, 149, 156, 181, 275,
302, 334
Professor, xvii, 7, 8, 12, 14, 48, 67, 68,
71, 77, 86, 88, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102,
107, 144, 181, 203, 227, 274, 275,
302, 374, 377
protected, 45, 71, 83, 206, 237
public, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27, 35,
36, 43, 44, 45, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62,
69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 79, 80, 85, 86, 96,
98, 99, 101, 102, 116, 117, 118, 119,
120, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127,
128, 129, 135, 137, 141, 144, 145,
146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153,
154, 160, 161, 164, 166, 168, 169,
174, 179, 185, 193, 194, 195, 197,
202, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209,
216, 218, 223, 225, 232, 235, 236,
237, 239, 242, 253, 255, 266, 270,
271, 273, 279, 291, 292, 293, 295,
296, 303, 304, 306, 312, 313, 314,
315, 345, 346, 352, 354, 355, 357,
358, 359, 361, 362, 363, 369, 370,
371, 372, 373, 374
public static void main, 369, 373, 374
purple, 321
question mark, 34, 162
queue, 313, 370, 371, 382
RAM, 2, 213
rational number, 341, 344, 345, 346, 347

409

readObject, 218, 220, 221, 222, 224,

225, 226, 228, 232, 235, 236, 242,
243, 364, 366
recursion, 193, 351, 367
recursive, 193, 343, 351, 352, 353, 355,
356, 357, 358, 359, 361, 363
refactoring, 138, 369, 373
Refactoring, 373
reference, 38, 69, 83, 85, 122, 194, 195,
203
Reference, 379
regression, 39, 40, 199
regular expression, 191
RelativeLayout, 251, 252, 253, 256, 262,
264, 266, 279, 280, 282, 283, 289,
295, 323, 380
replace, 34, 105, 120, 146, 164, 171,
172, 173, 175, 176, 177, 218, 268, 312
Replace, 164, 173, 269
retirement, 101, 102, 118, 220
Retirement, 100, 102
return, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 56, 57,
58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 69, 70, 72, 73,
80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 96, 97, 98, 99, 116,
117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 124, 126,
127, 128, 136, 141, 142, 144, 146,
147, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155,
159, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 167,
168, 169, 172, 177, 178, 179, 183,
185, 186, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196,
198, 207, 209, 235, 239, 253, 255,
260, 270, 271, 272, 273, 291, 292,
296, 297, 298, 304, 306, 314, 315,
318, 319, 345, 346, 347, 352, 353,
355, 357, 358, 359, 361, 363, 364,
372, 374, 393, 396
ROM, 2
RootPaneContainer, 256
RSA, 341
Runnable, 370
Scalable Vector Graphics, 231, 245
Scanner, 369, 375
section, xiii, xvii, 6, 9, 15, 17, 57, 70, 74,
84, 93, 95, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112,
133, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140,
141, 145, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156,

157, 158, 160, 164, 165, 178, 179,

183, 201, 205, 213, 224, 227, 240,
264, 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281,
284, 285, 302, 305, 339, 356, 374
Section, xvii, 136, 137, 138, 139, 152,
153, 155, 158, 160, 163, 165, 178,
179, 181, 277, 279, 281, 284, 285,
298, 302, 305, 370, 371
security, 86, 221, 229, 312
Serializable, 216, 218, 219, 333, 334
serialize, 214, 215, 216, 218, 219, 220,
224, 229, 324, 362, 365, 366
set, 3, 15, 23, 24, 35, 50, 63, 88, 101,
107, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, 118,
119, 121, 122, 130, 136, 140, 146,
147, 151, 152, 153, 170, 202, 235,
248, 262, 294, 312, 314, 319, 321,
337, 351, 361, 380, 384
Set, 118, 164, 366, 370, 380
setAccessibleDescription, 303, 304, 305
setBorder, 282, 294
setBounds, 255, 261, 296
setCharAt, 173, 176, 177
setColor, 314, 317, 321, 329, 343
setContextClassLoader, 232, 233, 235,
236, 239
setDisplayedMnemonic, 263
setExtendedState, 263
setInputVerifier, 271, 274, 292, 293
setLabelFor, 263
setLayout, 253, 256, 282, 295
setMnemonic, 265, 295, 303
setPersistenceDelegate, 239
setSelected, 293
setSize, 304, 370
setter, 5, 15, 23, 24, 34, 44, 64, 82, 86,
94, 101, 118, 233, 235
setText, 294
setVerifyInputWhenFocusTarget, 298
setVisible, 255, 261, 269, 295, 296, 304,
370
showMessageDialog, 268, 269, 270,
271, 272, 273, 291, 292, 295, 306, 372
sighting, 105, 276, 299
signature, 374
singleton, 354

410

Singleton, 202, 337, 377

skeleton, 18, 33, 94, 112, 180, 185, 221,
321
Smalltalk, 7, 333, 337
software, xiv, 1, 4, 13, 48, 331, 332, 373,
382, 385, 396
Software, 2, 331
split, 13, 191, 369
Spring, 187
start, xiii, 3, 8, 13, 26, 57, 88, 93, 139,
140, 155, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162,
166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172, 174,
175, 176, 178, 192, 197, 206, 263,
283, 285, 287, 288, 290, 298, 312,
313, 315, 316, 320, 326, 338, 353, 382
Start, 32, 283
state, 5, 7, 14, 27, 43, 77, 146, 152, 158,
202, 214, 220, 228, 335
statement, 7, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 44,
53, 55, 57, 58, 62, 67, 70, 71, 77, 82,
83, 85, 86, 89, 95, 103, 104, 107, 112,
119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 125, 133,
135, 140, 143, 144, 147, 148, 153,
154, 158, 159, 162, 163, 168, 177,
178, 180, 182, 187, 191, 194, 195,
205, 216, 226, 233, 236, 237, 243,
252, 256, 262, 263, 268, 269, 272,
273, 285, 286, 298, 328, 342, 352,
360, 373, 397
static, 127, 144, 146, 149, 154, 161, 168,
169, 179, 193, 194, 220, 253, 255,
258, 273, 279, 296, 304, 344, 352,
354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 361, 362,
363, 365, 369, 370, 373, 374, 377, 390
stop, 33, 286, 313, 314, 315, 316, 318
Stop, 77
stream, 214, 215, 217, 218, 219, 221
String, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25, 26, 27, 38, 45, 50, 56, 57, 58,
59, 60, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 72, 77, 78,
79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 95, 96, 98,
119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 133,
135, 138, 140, 141, 143, 146, 147,
148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154,
157, 158, 161, 166, 167, 173, 174,
175, 177, 178, 179, 182, 183, 185,

188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194,

195, 196, 197, 198, 204, 205, 207,
208, 216, 225, 235, 236, 242, 243,
257, 270, 271, 280, 286, 290, 291,
292, 294, 314, 315, 318, 319, 320,
326, 343, 345, 346, 348, 369, 373,
374, 389
StringBuffer, 157, 167, 169, 170, 171,
174, 175, 177, 182
StringBuilder, 167, 182
student, xvii, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17,
19, 20, 23, 38, 44, 45, 47, 49, 60, 61,
63, 69, 72, 73, 74, 89, 93, 99, 108,
109, 110, 111, 112, 117, 136, 138,
151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 179,
180, 181, 183, 184, 186, 188, 189,
196, 197, 240, 275, 302, 305, 337,
381, 382
Student, xvii, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18,
20, 24, 25, 31, 32, 35, 36, 40, 43, 44,
45, 47, 56, 57, 58, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73,
77, 83, 86, 88, 98, 99, 100, 101, 144,
180, 181, 184, 274, 275, 285, 286,
302, 305, 337, 374
style, 7, 17, 18, 20, 22, 34, 50, 58, 68,
81, 94, 103, 104, 115, 119, 177, 178,
221, 227, 248
Style, 177
subscript, 50, 285
substring, 65, 176, 177, 190, 191, 192,
193, 195, 196
super, 70, 71, 72, 85, 101, 102, 197, 207,
209
superscript, 50
SVG, 231, 232, 245
Swing, 248, 252, 275, 277, 282, 301,
302, 315, 370, 379
System, 82, 120, 129, 150, 191, 217,
218, 222, 223, 225, 233, 235, 236,
240, 255, 261, 266, 267, 268, 296,
306, 369, 370, 371, 372, 375
System.err, 82, 217, 218, 222, 223, 225,
233, 236, 240, 266, 267, 268
System.exit, 255, 261, 296, 306, 370,
371, 372

411

System.out, 82, 120, 129, 150, 191, 223,

235, 236, 375
team, xiv, xv, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392,
393
Terminal, 82, 121, 129, 150, 218, 268
thread, 369, 370, 376
Thread, 233, 235, 369
TIME_ORDER, 161, 162, 164, 226, 237
toString, 5, 15, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 34, 36,
37, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59,
69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 81, 82, 86,
87, 88, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102,
104, 105, 119, 124, 126, 134, 135,
140, 147, 148, 150, 166, 180, 185,
186, 188, 217, 218, 222, 223, 225,
233, 235, 236, 240, 290, 294, 318,
343, 344, 346, 348, 374
transaction, 51, 275, 299
transcript, 12, 180, 183, 184, 185, 189,
190, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199
Transcript, 185
transient, 220, 222
TreeSet, 111, 133, 146, 147, 149, 150,
152, 153, 160, 163, 164, 165, 185,
226, 237
trigonometry, 328
true, 22, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60,
62, 73, 103, 116, 117, 121, 122, 123,
124, 144, 150, 153, 154, 160, 161,
162, 171, 175, 176, 177, 178, 189,
207, 255, 261, 270, 273, 292, 293,
296, 297, 304, 363, 366, 370, 397
True, 54
try, 85, 201, 208, 209, 217, 218, 222,
223, 225, 232, 235, 236, 239, 270,
271, 272, 273, 291, 293, 347, 359,
361, 362, 363, 364, 366, 367
Try, 96
typeface, 7, 50, 259
UML, 9, 10, 12, 14, 31, 42, 379, 380
Unicode, 11, 51, 94, 142, 143, 380, 394
unit test, xii, xiv, 31, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44,
46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 60, 61, 72, 73, 82,
83, 86, 88, 89, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100,
102, 120, 121, 129, 134, 136, 140,
145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 155, 178,

180, 199, 205, 208, 216, 217, 218,

219, 223, 224, 232, 236, 239,
243, 247, 346, 374, 390
Unit test, 39, 40, 46, 99, 213
uppercase, 95, 143, 146, 169, 179
uses, xiii, 2, 3, 7, 11, 13, 20, 21, 35, 42,
44, 60, 62, 71, 83, 99, 100, 110, 115,
120, 123, 127, 132, 159, 160, 165,
172, 173, 177, 179, 194, 210, 218,
232, 247, 279, 302, 306, 348, 353,
357, 369, 373, 376, 396, 399
Uses, 346, 352, 377
value, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 36, 38,
43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 57, 61, 63, 64, 65,
70, 81, 83, 84, 86, 95, 97, 104, 110,
113, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122,
124, 163, 166, 167, 168, 170, 174,
178, 179, 182, 183, 185, 191, 204,
205, 207, 214, 218, 243, 268, 271,
272, 273, 289, 318, 321, 326, 327,
328, 342, 343, 347, 348, 356, 360,
361, 362, 364, 365, 374
valueOf, 65, 336, 343, 344
variable, xvii, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25,
33, 34, 43, 46, 64, 67, 68, 69, 73, 81,
83, 86, 88, 93, 94, 95, 98, 99, 100,
103, 104, 112, 113, 114, 115, 119,
120, 123, 127, 131, 138, 144, 163,
174, 178, 187, 189, 191, 220, 226,
233, 235, 286, 289, 303, 306, 327,
350, 362, 364, 365
view, 320, 337, 338
View, 82
virtual machine, 35
Virtual machine, 35
visible, 17, 56, 255, 258, 260, 261, 269,
297, 382
void, 17, 23, 27, 43, 44, 45, 60, 61, 101,
102, 118, 120, 124, 125, 126, 129,
137, 145, 150, 151, 152, 164, 206,
208, 216, 218, 221, 222, 223, 224,
225, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237,
239, 240, 241, 242, 255, 266, 293,
295, 296, 304, 306, 312, 313, 314,
326, 362, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 374

412

while, xv, xvii, 2, 14, 20, 31, 40, 50, 61,

65, 80, 81, 85, 107, 116, 122, 123,
124, 125, 126, 168, 177, 193, 196,
197, 227, 232, 255, 261, 270, 287,
296, 329, 330, 334, 335, 336, 338,
342, 343, 346, 348, 349, 352, 353,
359, 364, 366, 370, 371, 373, 377,
386, 394
While, 99, 247, 322, 351
widget, 248, 250, 253, 257, 258, 259,
260, 262, 263, 264, 266, 267, 271,
273, 283, 292, 297

Wikipedia, 3, 39, 148, 188, 194, 231,

248, 332, 353, 354, 356, 371, 373, 380
wildcard, 218
wrapper, 95, 271, 361
writeObject, 217, 218, 220, 221, 222,
223, 224, 228, 232, 233, 236, 239,
240, 243, 363, 366
XML, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 237, 239,
240, 242, 243, 244, 245, 324, 338
XMLDecoder, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236,
237, 240, 242, 243
XMLEncoder, 232, 233, 235, 236, 237,
239, 242, 336

413