Language elements
Overview
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Statements and expressions
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Variables and primitive data types
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Constants
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Comments
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Literals
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Arithmetic
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Comparisons
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Logical operators
Statements and expressions
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A statement is a command that causes something to happen.
Example:
int weight = 225;
System.out.println(“My weight is ” + weight);
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An expression is a statement that produces a value. The value produced by the statement is
called a return value.
Example:
int sum = add(x, y);
Variables
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Used to store information (data) while the program is running.
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Types of variables:
– Class variables - used to defne the attributes for an entire class of objects and apply to all
instances of it.
– Instance variables - used to defned the object's attributes.
– Local variables - used inside method defnitions or even smaller blocks of statements within a
method.
Declaring variables
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Variable declaration:
– int loanLength;
– String message;
– boolean gameOver;
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Assigning initial values:
– int zipCode = 1000;
– String city = “Skopje”;
Naming variables
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The name must start with a letter, an underscore character ("_"), or a dollar sign ("$"). In practice, prefer
to use letters only.
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Names are case sensitive.
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CamelCase notation:
– The frst letter of the variable name is lowercase.
– Each successive world in the variable name begins with a capital letter.
– All other letters are lowercase.
– Examples:
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Button loadFile;
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int localAreaCode;
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boolean quitGame;
Variable types
A variable in Java can be declared as one of these three types:
– One of the primitive data types
– The name of a class or interface
– An array
Primitive data types
Eight primitive data types are part of the Java language:
– Four to store integers:
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byte (8 bits) - 128 to 127
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short (16 bits) - 32,768 to 32,767
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int (32 bits) - 2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
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long (64 bits) - 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
– Two foating-point numbers:
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foat - 1.4E-45 to 3.4E+38
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double - 4.9E-324 to 1.7E+308
– The char type is used for individual characters such as letters, numbers, punctuation, and other symbols.
– The boolean type can hold either a true or a false value.
Class types
A variable can be of Java's built-in classes, a third-party class or a class explicitly defned in
the project.
Examples:
– String lastName = “Hopper”;
– Color hair;
– VolcanoRobot vr;
Assigning values to variables
Assigning a value is done using the assignment operator which is the equal sign ("=")
Examples:
– idCode = 8675309;
– accountOverdrawn = false;
Constants
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A constant is a variable which is not allowed to change its value as the program runs.
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In Java, constants are defned using the fnal keyword.
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Examples:
– final float PI = 3.141592;
– final boolean DEBUG = false;
– final int PENALTY = 25;
Comments
Used to improve the readability of the program.
– Single line comments - denoted by two slash characters "//“.
Example:
int creditHours = 3; // set up credit hours for course
– Multiple line comments - everything that's in between "/*" and "*/“.
Example:
/* This program occasionally deletes all files on
your hard drive and renders it completely unusable
when you press the Save button. */
Comments
– Javadoc comments - everything that's in between "/**" and "*/". Considered to be ofcial
documentation for the code an can be extracted by tools to create the source code
documentation.
Example:
/**
* Returns <tt>true</tt> if this list contains no elements.
*
* @return <tt>true</tt> if this list contains no elements.
*/
boolean isEmpty();
Literals
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Number literals: 10, -0x101, 0777, 0xFF
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Boolean literals: true, false
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Character literals: 'a', '#', '3'
– Special characters:
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\n - New line, \t – Tab, \b – Backspace, \r - Carriage return, \f – Formfeed, \\ -
Backslash, \’ - Single quotation mark, \” - Double quotation mark, \d – Octal, \xd –
Hexadecimal, \ud - Unicode character
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String literals: "Socrates asked, \"Hemlock is poison?\""
Arithmetic operations
Operator Meaning Example
+ Addition 3+4
- Subtraction 5-7
* Multiplication 5*5
/ Division 14 / 7
% Modulus 20 % 7
Example: Weather
Shorthand assignment operators
Expression Meaning
x += y x=x+y
x -= y x=x-y
x *= y x=x*y
x /= y x=x/y
Increment and decrement operators
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Incrementing and decrementing are used very often so Java provides special operators to make this less verbose.
Examples:
– int x = 7;
– x++; // The new value is 8.
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When using in an expression, it's important whether the increment or decrement operator is used in a prefx (e.g. +
+x) or a postfx (e.g. x++) notation.
Examples:
– int x, y, z; // x, y, and z are all declared.
– x = 42; // x is given the value of 42.
– y = x++; // y is given x’s value (42) before it is incremented and x is then incremented
to 43.
– z = ++x; // x is incremented to 44, and z is given x’s value.
Comparison operators
Operator Meaning Example
== Equal x == 3
!= Not equal x != 3
< Less than x<3
> Greater than x>3
<= Less than or equal to x <= 3
>= Greater than or equal to x >= 3
Logical operators
Operator Meaning Example
&& AND (score > 75000) && (playerLives < 10)
|| OR (score > 75000) || (playerLives == 0)
^ XOR (score > 75000) ^ (playerLives == 0)
! NOT !(age < 30)
String arithmetic
The "+" operator can be used outside of mathematics to concatenate (combine) two or more
strings.
Example:
String firstName = “Raymond”;
System.out.println(“Everybody loves “ + firstName);
prints
"Everybody loves Raymond"
Exercises
Exercise: InvestmentCalculator
Create a program that calculates how much a $14,000 investment would be worth if it
increased in value by 40% during the frst year, lost $1,500 in value the second year, and
increased 12% in the third year.
Exercise: QuotientAndRemainder
Write a program that displays two numbers and uses the "/" and "%" operators to display
the result and remainder after they are divided. Use the "\t" character escape code to
separate the result and remainder in your output.
