STARTING OUT WITH JAVATM

7th Edition

Chapter 3
Decision Structures

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Chapter Topics (1 of 2)

Chapter 3 discusses the following main topics:

– The if Statement
– The if-else Statement
– Nested if statements
– The if-else-if Statement
– Logical Operators
– Comparing String Objects

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Chapter Topics (2 of 2)

Chapter 3 discusses the following main topics:

– More about Variable Declaration and Scope
– The Conditional Operator
– The switch Statement
– Displaying Formatted Output with
System.out.printf and String.format

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The if Statement
• The if statement decides whether a section of
code executes or not.
• The if statement uses a boolean to decide
whether the next statement or block of
statements executes.

if (boolean expression is true)

execute next statement.

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Flowcharts (1 of 2)

• If statements can be modeled as a flow chart.

Yes
Is it cold

outside?
if (coldOutside)

wearCoat(); Wear a coat.

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Flowcharts (2 of 2)
• A block if statement may be modeled as:

if (coldOutside)

{ Is it cold
Yes

wearCoat(); outside?

wearHat(); Wear a coat.

wearGloves();
Wear a hat.
}
Note the use of curly Wear gloves.
braces to block several

statements together.

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Relational Operators
• In most cases, the boolean expression, used
by the if statement, uses relational operators.

Relational Operator Meaning

> is greater than
< is less than
>= is greater than or equal to
<= is less than or equal to
== is equal to
!= is not equal to

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Boolean Expressions

• A boolean expression is any variable or

calculation that results in a true or false
condition.
Expression Meaning
x > y Is x greater than y?
x < y Is x less than y?
x >= y Is x greater than or equal to y?
x <= y Is x less than or equal to y.
x == y Is x equal to y?
x != y Is x not equal to y?

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if Statements and Boolean Expressions
if (x > y)
System.out.println("X is greater than Y");

if(x == y)
System.out.println("X is equal to Y");

if(x != y)
{
System.out.println("X is not equal to Y");
x = y;
System.out.println("However, now it is.");
}
Example: AverageScore.java

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Programming Style and if Statements
(1 of 2)
• An if statement can span more than one line;
however, it is still one statement.

if (average > 95)

grade = ′A′;

is functionally equivalent to

if(average > 95) grade = ′A′;

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Programming Style and if Statements
(2 of 2)
• Rules of thumb:
– The conditionally executed statement should be on
the line after the if condition.
– The conditionally executed statement should be
indented one level from the if condition.
– If an if statement does not have the block curly
braces, it is ended by the first semicolon
encountered after the if condition.
if (expression) No semicolon here.

statement; Semicolon ends statement here.

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Block if Statements (1 of 2)
• Conditionally executed statements can be
grouped into a block by using curly braces {}
to enclose them.
• If curly braces are used to group conditionally
executed statements, the if statement is
ended by the closing curly brace.
if (expression)
{
statement1;
statement2;
} Curly brace ends the statement.

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Block if Statements (2 of 2)
• Remember that when the curly braces are not
used, then only the next statement after the if
condition will be executed conditionally.
if (expression)
statement1; Only this statement is conditionally executed.

statement2;
statement3;

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Flags

• A flag is a boolean variable that monitors some

condition in a program.
• When a condition is true, the flag is set to true.
• The flag can be tested to see if the condition has
changed.
if (average > 95)
highScore = true;

• Later, this condition can be tested:

if (highScore)
System.out.println("That′s a high score!");

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Comparing Characters
• Characters can be tested with relational operators.
• Characters are stored in memory using the Unicode
character format.
• Unicode is stored as a sixteen (16) bit number.
• Characters are ordinal, meaning they have an order in
the Unicode character set.
• Since characters are ordinal, they can be compared to
each other.
char c = ′A′;
if(c < ′Z′)
System.out.println("A is less than Z");
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if-else Statements

• The if-else statement adds the ability to

conditionally execute code when the if
condition is false.
if (expression)
statementOrBlockIfTrue;
else
statementOrBlockIfFalse;
• See example: Division.java

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if-else Statement Flowcharts

No
Yes
Is it cold

outside?

Wear shorts. Wear a coat.

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Nested if Statements (1 of 2)
• If an if statement appears inside another if
statement (single or block) it is called a nested if
statement.
• The nested if is executed only if the outer if
statement results in a true condition.
• See example: LoanQualifier.java

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Nested if Statement Flowcharts

No
Yes
Is it cold

outside?

Wear shorts.

Is it Yes
No
snowing?

Wear a jacket. Wear a parka.

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Nested if Statements (2 of 2)

if (coldOutside)

if (snowing)

wearParka();

else

wearJacket();

}
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if-else Matching
• Curly brace use is not required if there is only
one statement to be conditionally executed.
• However, sometimes curly braces can help
make the program more readable.
• Additionally, proper indentation makes it much
easier to match up else statements with their
corresponding if statement.

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Alignment and Nested if Statements

if (coldOutside)

This if and else if (snowing)

This if and else go together. {

go together.
wearParka();

else

wearJacket();

}
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if-else-if Statements (1 of 2)
if (expression_1)

{ If expression_1 is true these statements are executed, and the rest of the structure is

statement; ignored.

statement;

etc.
Otherwise, if expression_2 is true these statements are executed, and the rest of the structure is
}
ignored.
else if (expression_2)

statement;

statement;

etc.
These statements are executed if none of the
}

  expressions above are true.

Insert as many else if clauses as necessary

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if-else-if Statements (2 of 2)
• Nested if statements can become very
complex.
• The if-else-if statement makes certain
types of nested decision logic simpler to write.
• Care must be used since else statements
match up with the immediately preceding
unmatched if statement.
• See example: TestResults.java

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if-else-if Flowchart

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Logical Operators (1 of 2)
• Java provides two binary logical operators (&&
and ||) that are used to combine boolean
expressions.
• Java also provides one unary (!) logical
operator to reverse the truth of a boolean
expression.

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Logical Operators (2 of 2)

Operator Meaning Effect

Connects two boolean expressions into one. Both
&& AND expressions must be true for the overall expression to
be true.
Connects two boolean expressions into one. One or
both expressions must be true for the overall
|| OR
expression to be true. It is only necessary for one to be
true, and it does not matter which one.
The ! operator reverses the truth of a boolean
expression. If it is applied to an expression that is
! NOT
true, the operator returns false. If it is applied to an
expression that is false, the operator returns true.

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The && Operator
• The logical AND operator (&&) takes two operands that
must both be boolean expressions.
• The resulting combined expression is true if (and only
if) both operands are true.
• See example: LogicalAnd.java

Expression 1 Expression 2 Expression1 && Expression2

true false false
false true false
false false false
true true true

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The || Operator
• The logical OR operator (||) takes two operands that
must both be boolean expressions.
• The resulting combined expression is false if (and only
if) both operands are false.
• Example: LogicalOr.java

Expression 1 Expression 2 Expression1 || Expression2

true false true
false true true
false false false
true true true

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The ! Operator
• The ! operator performs a logical NOT operation.
• If an expression is true, !expression will be false.

if (!(temperature > 100))

System.out.println("Below the maximum
temperature.");
• If temperature > 100 evaluates to false, then the
output statement will be run.

Expression 1 !Expression1
true false
false true

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Short Circuiting

• Logical AND and logical OR operations perform

short-circuit evaluation of expressions.
• Logical AND will evaluate to false as soon as it
sees that one of its operands is a false
expression.
• Logical OR will evaluate to true as soon as it
sees that one of its operands is a true
expression.

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Order of Precedence (1 of 2)

• The ! operator has a higher order of

precedence than the && and || operators.
• The && and || operators have a lower
precedence than relational operators like
< and >.
• Parenthesis can be used to force the
precedence to be changed.

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Order of Precedence (2 of 2)
Order of
Operators Description
Precedence
1 (unary negation) ! Unary negation, logical NOT
2 * / % Multiplication, Division, Modulus
3 + - Addition, Subtraction

< > <= >= Less-than, Greater-than, Less-than or

4
equal to, Greater-than or equal to
5 == != Is equal to, Is not equal to
6 && Logical AND
7 || Logical NOT
= += -= Assignment and combined assignment
8 *= /= %= operators.

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Comparing String Objects
• In most cases, you cannot use the relational
operators to compare two String objects.
• Reference variables contain the address of the
object they represent.
• Unless the references point to the same object,
the relational operators will not return true.
• See example: StringCompare.java
• See example: StringCompareTo.java

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Ignoring Case in String Comparisons
• In the String class the equals and
compareTo methods are case sensitive.
• In order to compare two String objects that
might have different case, use:
– equalsIgnoreCase, or
– compareToIgnoreCase
• See example: SecretWord.java

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Variable Scope
• In Java, a local variable does not have to be
declared at the beginning of the method.
• The scope of a local variable begins at the point
it is declared and terminates at the end of the
method.
• When a program enters a section of code
where a variable has scope, that variable has
come into scope, which means the variable is
visible to the program.
• See example: VariableScope.java
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The Conditional Operator (1 of 4)

• The conditional operator is a ternary (three

operand) operator.
• You can use the conditional operator to write a
simple statement that works like an if-else
statement.

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The Conditional Operator (2 of 4)

• The format of the operators is:

BooleanExpression ? Value1 : Value2

• This forms a conditional expression.

• If BooleanExpression is true, the value of
the conditional expression is Value1.
• If BooleanExpression is false, the value of
the conditional expression is Value2.

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The Conditional Operator (3 of 4)

• Example:
z = x > y ? 10 : 5;
• This line is functionally equivalent to:
if(x > y)
z = 10;
else
z = 5;

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The Conditional Operator (4 of 4)

• Many times the conditional operator is used to

supply a value.
number = x > y ? 10 : 5;
• This is functionally equivalent to:
if(x > y)
number = 10;
else
number = 5;
• See example: ConsultantCharges.java

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The switch Statement (1 of 4)
• The if-else statement allows you to make
true / false branches.
• The switch statement allows you to use an
ordinal value to determine how a program will
branch.
• The switch statement can evaluate an integer
type or character type variable and make
decisions based on the value.

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The switch Statement (2 of 4)
• The switch statement takes the form:
switch (SwitchExpression)
{
case CaseExpression:
// place one or more statements here
break;
case CaseExpression:
// place one or more statements here
break;

// case statements may be repeated

//as many times as necessary
default:
// place one or more statements here
}
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The switch Statement (3 of 4)
switch (SwitchExpression)
{
…
}

• The switch statement will evaluate the

SwitchExpression, which can be a byte, short, int,
long, or char. If you are using Java 7, the
SwitchExpression can also be a string.

• If there is an associated case statement that matches

that value, program execution will be transferred to that
case statement.

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The switch Statement (4 of 4)
• Each case statement will have a
corresponding CaseExpression that must be
unique.
case CaseExpression:
// place one or more statements here
break;
• If the SwitchExpression matches the
CaseExpression, the Java statements between
the colon and the break statement will be
executed.
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The case Statement
• The break statement ends the case statement.
• The break statement is optional.
• If a case does not contain a break, then program
execution continues into the next case.
– See example: NoBreaks.java
– See example: PetFood.java
• The default section is optional and will be executed if
no CaseExpression matches the SwitchExpression.
• See example: SwitchDemo.java

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The System.out.printf Method (1 of 15)
• You can use the System.out.printf
method to perform formatted console output.
• The general format of the method is:

System.out.printf(FormatString,
ArgList);

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The System.out.printf Method (2 of 15)

System.out.printf(FormatString, ArgList);

FormatString is a string that ArgList is optional. It is a list of additional

contains text and/or special arguments that will be formatted according to

formatting specifiers. the format specifiers listed in the format string.

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The System.out.printf Method (3 of 15)
• A simple example:

System.out.printf("Hello World\n");

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The System.out.printf Method (4 of 15)
• Another example:

int hours = 40;

System.out.printf("I worked %d hours.\n", hours);

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The System.out.printf Method (5 of 15)

int hours = 40;

System.out.printf("I worked %d hours.\n", hours);

The %d format specifier indicates that a decimal integer The contents of the hours variable will be printed in the

will be printed. location of the %d format specifier.

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The System.out.printf Method (6 of 15)
• Another example:
int dogs = 2, cats = 4;

System.out.printf("We have %d dogs and %d

cats.\n", dogs, cats);

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The System.out.printf Method (7 of 15)
• Another example:
double grossPay = 874.12;

System.out.printf("Your pay is %f.\n", grossPay);

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The System.out.printf Method (8 of 15)
• Another example:

double grossPay = 874.12;

System.out.printf("Your pay is %f.\n", grossPay);

The %f format specifier indicates that a floating-point The contents of the grossPay variable will be printed in

value will be printed. the location of the %f format specifier.

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The System.out.printf Method (9 of 15)
• Another example:
double grossPay = 874.12;

System.out.printf("Your pay is %.2f.\n",

grossPay);

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The System.out.printf Method
(10 of 15)
• Another example:
double grossPay = 874.12;

System.out.printf("Your pay is %.2f.\n", grossPay);

The %.2f format specifier indicates that a floating-point value will be printed,

rounded to two decimal places.

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 The System.out.printf Method
(11 of 15)
• Another example:
double grossPay = 5874.127;

System.out.printf("Your pay is %,.2f.\n", grossPay);

The %,.2f format specifier indicates that a

floating-point value will be printed with comma

separators, rounded to two decimal places.

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The System.out.printf Method
(12 of 15)
• Another example:
String name = "Ringo";

System.out.printf("Your name is %s.\n", name);

The %s format specifier indicates that a string will be

printed.

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The System.out.printf Method
(13 of 15)
• Specifying a field width:
int number = 9;

System.out.printf("The value is %6d\n", number);

The %6d format specifier

indicates the integer will appear

in a field that is 6 spaces wide.

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The System.out.printf Method
(14 of 15)
• Another example:
double number = 9.76891;

System.out.printf("The value is %6.2f\n", number);

The %6.2f format specifier indicates the number

will appear in a field that is 6 spaces wide, and be

rounded to 2 decimal places.

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The System.out.printf Method (15 of 15)

• See examples:
– Columns.java
– CurrencyFormat.java

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The String.format Method (1 of 3)

• The String.format method works exactly

like the System.out.printf method, except
that it does not display the formatted string on
the screen.
• Instead, it returns a reference to the formatted
string.
• You can assign the reference to a variable, and
then use it later.

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The String.format Method (2 of 3)
• The general format of the method is:

String.format(FormatString,ArgumentList);

FormatString is a string that ArgumentList is optional. It is a list of

contains text and/or special additional arguments that will be formatted

formatting specifiers. according to the format specifiers listed in the

format string.

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The String.format Method (3 of 3)
• See examples:
– CurrencyFormat2.java
– CurrencyFormat3.java

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Copyright

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