February 2 - 6, 2009

 2/4: Go over review sheet for Exam 1  2/6: Exam 1 & Lab 1 due  2/9: Go over Exam 1  2/11: Makeup exam for Exam 1

 Java programs are made up of Java source code files that contain Java source code, are compiled by the compiler and then run using the run-time environment.  These Java source code files all have a filename and an extension.  The filename corresponds to the name of the class defined in the file.  The extension is.java

 Contain the definition of one class.  The class’ name determines the name of the file.  A class is a definition of a set of objects. You should think of a class like a blueprint, a rubber stamp, a mold.  This definition tells us exactly what a particular instance (object) should be like and how it should behave.

public class Name { } Name is the name that the programmer gives to the class.

 The definition on the previous slide is a valid class definition.  However the class that was defined is not very interesting. It doesn’t do anything.  We need to put some stuff inside the { } to help define what objects of this class should do.

 The first thing we will learn about putting inside the { } (called the class’ body) are methods.  We have been calling methods to have objects we created do something for us.  Now we will be writing the definition of what those methods should do.

public returnType nameOfMethod() { } returnType is the type of information that is returned from this method nameOfMethod is the name that the programmer picks for this method () is called a parameter list when we write the definition of a method