Lecture 1: Introduction to Java

Md. Morshed Ali

Lecturer, Dept. of CSE
Uttara University
morshed.ali@uttarauniversity.edu.bd
 What is Java?
• Java is a popular programming language, created in 1995.
• It is owned by Oracle, and more than 3 billion devices run
Java.
• It is used for:
• Mobile applications (specially Android apps)
• Desktop applications
• Web applications
• Web servers and application servers
• Games
• Database connection
• And much, much more!
 Why Use Java?
• Java works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry
Pi, etc.)
• It is one of the most popular programming language in the world
• It has a large demand in the current job market
• It is easy to learn and simple to use
• It is open-source and free
• It is secure, fast and powerful
• It has a huge community support (tens of millions of developers)
• Java is an object oriented language which gives a clear structure to
programs and allows code to be reused, lowering development costs
• As Java is close to C++ and C#, it makes it easy for programmers to
switch to Java or vice versa
 Features of Java
• Java is platform independent: the same program can
run on any correctly implemented Java system
• Java is object-oriented:
– Structured in terms of classes, which group data with
operations on that data
– Can construct new classes by extending existing ones
• Java designed as
– A core language plus
– A rich collection of commonly available packages
• Java can be embedded in Web pages
 Classes & Objects
• The class is the unit of programming
• A Java program is a collection of classes
– Each class definition (usually) in its own .java file
– The file name must match the class name
• A class describes objects (instances)
– Describes their common characteristics: is a blueprint
– Thus all the instances have these same characteristics
• These characteristics are:
– Data fields for each object
– Methods (operations) that do work on the objects
 Grouping Classes: The Java API
• API = Application Programming Interface
• Java = small core + extensive collection of packages
• A package consists of some related Java classes:
– Swing: a GUI (graphical user interface) package
– AWT: Application Window Toolkit (more GUI)
– util: utility data structures (important to CS 187!)
• The import statement tells the compiler to make
available classes and methods of another package
• A main method indicates where to begin executing a
class (if it is designed to be run as a program)
A Little Example of import and main
import javax.swing.*;
// all classes from javax.swing
public class HelloWorld { // starts a
class
public static void main (String[] args) {
// starts a main method
// in: array of String; out: none (void)
}
}
• public = can be seen from any package
• static = not “part of” an object
 Print Text
• Use the println() method to output values or
print text in Java
• Example:
System.out.println("Hello World!");
System.out.println("I am learning Java.");
System.out.println("It is awesome!");
 Print Numbers
• However, unlike text, we don't put numbers
inside double quotes:
System.out.println(3);
System.out.println(358);
System.out.println(50000);
• Output:
3
358
50000
 Java Comments
• Comments can be used to explain Java code,
and to make it more readable. It can also be
used to prevent execution when testing
alternative code.
• Single-line Comments
• Single-line comments start with two forward
slashes (//).
• Any text between // and the end of the line is
ignored by Java (will not be executed).
 Single-line Comments
• This example uses a single-line comment
before a line of code:
// This is a comment
System.out.println("Hello World");
 Java Multi-line Comments

• Multi-line comments start with /* and ends

with */.
• Any text between /* and */ will be ignored by
Java.
• This example uses a multi-line comment (a
comment block) to explain the code:
/* The code below will print the words Hello World
to the screen, and it is amazing */
System.out.println("Hello World");
Typical Java Development Environment
 Java programs normally go through five
phases.
 Edit – create/edit the source code
 Compile – compile the source code
 Load – load the compiled code
 Verify – check against security restrictions
 Execute – execute the compiled code

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 Phase 1: Creating a Program
 Any text editor or Java IDE (Integrated
Development Environment) can be used to
develop Java programs.
 Java source-code file names must end with
the .java extension.
 Some popular Java IDEs are NetBeans, jEdit,
Eclipse, JBuilder, JCreator etc.

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Phase 2: Compiling a Java Program into Bytecodes
 javac Welcome.java
 Compiles the source file “Welcome.java” (and other files if
necessary), transforms the Java source code into bytecodes and
places the bytecodes in a file named “Welcome.class”.
 It searches the file “Welcome.java” in the current directory and in
the directories listed in the PATH environment variable.
 Bytecodes
 They are not machine language binary code.
 They are independent of any particular microprocessor or
hardware platform.
 They are platform-independent instructions.
 Another entity or interpreter is required to convert the
bytecodes into machine codes that the underlying microprocessor
understands.
 This is the job of the JVM (Java Virtual Machine)

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 JVM (Java Virtual Machine)
 It is a part of the JDK and the foundation of the Java
platform.
 It can be installed separately or with JDK.

 A virtual machine (VM) is a software application that

simulates a computer, but hides the underlying
operating system and hardware from the programs that
interact with the VM.
 One of the main contributors for the slowness of Java
programs compared to compiled machine language
programs (i.e. C, C++, Pascal etc.).

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 JVM (Java Virtual Machine) (contd.)
 It is the JVM that makes Java a portable language.
 The same bytecodes can be executed on any platform
containing a compatible JVM.
 JVM is available for Windows, Unix, Linux and Solaris.
 The JVM is invoked by the “java” command.
 java Welcome
 It searches the class “Welcome” in the current directory and in the
directories listed in the CLASSPATH environment variable and
executes the “main” method of class “Welcome”.
 It issues an error if it cannot find the class “Welcome” or if class
“Welcome” does not contain a method called “main” with proper
signature (more on this will be discussed later)

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Phase 3: Loading a Program into Memory
 One of the components of the JVM is the class
loader.
 The class loader takes the .class files containing
the programs bytecodes and transfers them to
primary memory (RAM).
 The class loader also loads any of the .class files
provided by Java that our program uses.
 The .class files can be loaded from a disk on our
system or over a network (another PC in our
LAN, or the Internet).

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 Phase 4: Bytecode Verification
 Another component of the JVM is the bytecode
verifier.
 Its job is to ensure that bytecodes are valid and
do not violate Java’s security restrictions.
 This feature helps to prevent Java programs
arriving over the network from damaging our
system.
 Another contributor for making Java programs
slow.

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 Phase 5: Execution
 Now the actual execution of the program begins.

 Bytecodes are converted to machine language suitable for

the underlying OS and hardware.

 Recent JVM performs just-in-time (JIT) compilation to

make program execution faster.

 So, we can say that Java programs actually go through two

compilation phases –
 Source code -> bytecodes
 Bytecodes -> machine language

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Identifiers, Keyword, Statements

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 Identifiers
 Identifiers are names for variables, classes, methods etc.

 Good ones are compact, but indicate what they stand for
 radius, width, height, length

 Java is case sensitive (so as identifier).

 Rules:
 May contain upper case, lower case letters, numbers, underscore, dollar sign.
 Must not begin with a number.

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 Keywords
 Some words are reserved, and can’t be used as
identifiers

// Authors: J. P. Cohoon and J. W. Davidson

// Purpose: display a quotation in a console window

public class DisplayForecast {

// method main(): application entry point

public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.print("I think there is a world market for");
System.out.println(" maybe five computers.");
System.out.println(" Thomas Watson, IBM, 1943.");
}
}

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 Capitalization

 Case matters!

 public ≠ Public ≠ PUBLIC

 This is different that FORTRAN and BASIC
 This is the same as C/C++

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 Statements

 A statement in Java is (usually) a single line

 Example: System.out.println (“Hello world!”);

 All statements must end with a semi-colon

(like C)

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 Data types

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 Data Types
 Java is a “strong typed language”
 Each variable has a declared type.

float x; //x is a variable

x = 13.2;

 There are two kinds of data-types in Java:

 Primitive types.
 Classes (will be discussed later).

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 Java Primitive Types

 There are 8 primitive types in Java.

 Integer types:

byte An 8-bit signed integer.

short A 16-bit signed integer.

int A 32-bit signed integer.

long A 64-bit signed integer.

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 Java Primitive Types (Cont.)

 Floating point types:

Float A 32-bit IEEE floating point.

double A 64-bit IEEE floating point.

 Other types:
boolean Either true or false.

char A 16-bit Unicode character.

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 Primitive variable types

 Java has 8 (or so) primitive types:

 float real numbers
 double
 boolean two values: true and false
 char a single character
 byte
 short integer numbers
 int
 long
 Also the “void” type

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 Thank you

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