1. OBJECT INTERACTION CITS1001

2. Overview Coupling and Cohesion Internal/external method calls null objects Chaining method calls Class constants Class variables 2

3. A digital clock 3

4. Abstraction and modularization Abstraction is the ability to ignore details of the parts of a problem, to focus attention on its higher levels Modularization is the process of dividing a whole into well-defined parts, which can be built and examined separately, and which interact in well-defined ways 4

5. Modularizing the clock display One 4-digit display? Or two 2-digit displays? 5

6. Implementation - NumberDisplay public class NumberDisplay { private int limit; private int value; Constructor and methods omitted. } 6

7. Implementation - ClockDisplay public class ClockDisplay { private NumberDisplay hours; private NumberDisplay minutes; Constructor and methods omitted. } 7

8. Classes define types private NumberDisplay hours; A class name can be used as the type for a variable Variables that have a class as their type can store objects belonging to that class 8

9. Class diagram ClockDisplay depends on NumberDisplay ClockDisplay makes use of NumberDisplay 9

10. Class diagram Classes exist at compile time The class diagram shows the classes of an application and the relationships between them It gives information about the source code and presents the static view of a program 10

11. Object diagram Dynamic view at runtime (when the system is running) 11

12. Object diagram Objects exist at run-time The object diagram shows the objects and their relationships at one moment in time during the execution of an application It gives information about objects at runtime and presents the dynamic view of a program 12

13. Objects creating objects public class ClockDisplay { private NumberDisplay hours; private NumberDisplay minutes; private String displayString; public ClockDisplay() { hours = new NumberDisplay(24); minutes = new NumberDisplay(60); … } 13

14. Objects creating objects public NumberDisplay(int rollOverLimit); in class NumberDisplay: formal parameter hours = new NumberDisplay(24); in class ClockDisplay: actual parameter 14

15. ClockDisplay object diagram 15

16. Method calling public void timeTick() { minutes.increment(); if(minutes.getValue() == 0) { // it just rolled over! hours.increment(); } updateDisplay(); } Exercise: modify this method to include a day of week NumberDisplay (e.g. 0 = Mon up to 6 = Sun). What test cases should we use? 16

17. External method call External method calls minutes.increment(); object.methodName (parameter-list) 17

18. Internal method call Internal method calls updateDisplay(); No variable name is required Or we can use this as a reference to the invoking object 18

19. Internal method /** * Update the internal string that * represents the display */ private void updateDisplay() { displayString = hours.getDisplayValue() + ":" + minutes.getDisplayValue(); } 19

20. Method calls A method call on another object of the same type would be an external call ‘Internal’ means ‘this object’ ‘External’ means ‘any other object’, regardless of its class 20

21. null The Java reserved word null is used to mean “no object” When an object variable is not currently referring to a particular object A field that has not explicitly been initialised will contain the value null by default You can test for and assign null private NumberDisplay hours; if(hours != null) {... } hours = null; 21

22. Anonymous objects Objects are often created and handed on immediately Lot furtherLot = new Lot(…); lots.add(furtherLot); We don’t really need furtherLot : lots.add(new Lot(…)); 22

23. Chaining method calls Methods sometimes return objects, and sometimes we want to immediately call a method of the returned object Bid bid = lot.getHighestBid(); Person bidder = bid.getBidder(); String name = bidder.getName(); We can use the anonymous object concept and chain these method calls lot.getHighestBid().getBidder().getName() 23

24. Chaining method calls Each method in the chain is called on the object returned from the previous method call in the chain. String name = lot.getHighestBid().getBidder().getName(); Returns a Bid object from the Lot Returns a Person object from the Bid Returns a String object from the Person 24

25. Class variables Sometimes a value is a constant across all possible objects belonging to a class e.g. the gravitational constant e.g. the boiling point of water A class variable is shared between all instances of the class It belongs to the class, independently of any instances Designated by the static keyword Public static variables are accessed via the class name, e.g. Thermometer.boilingPoint 25

26. Class variables 26

27. Constants A variable, once set, can have its value fixed Designated by the final keyword final int max = list.size(); Final fields must be set in their declaration or in the constructor Combing static and final is common 27

28. Class constants static : class variable final : constant private static final int gravity = 3; Public visibility is less of an issue with final fields Upper-case names often used for class constants public static final int BOILING_POINT = 100; public static final int WINDOW_WIDTH = 400; Best Practice: define constants instead of scattering “magic numbers” through your code Makes code easier to read Avoids update errors when changes are made 28