Please explain these 2 lines of code to me..

[murphaph]

I'm working my way through the Sun Java Tutorials and I have come a cropper with what should be a simple section, initialisation of fields;

There is an alternative to static blocks—you can write a private static method:
class Whatever {
public static varType myVar = initializeClassVariable() ;
private static varType initializeClassVariable( ) {
// initialization code goes here
}
}

Is this two versions of the same thing? Or are both lines required to implement this? I'd appreciate a simple explanation of what's happening in the above 2 lines of code, cheers everyone.

[JosAH]

You are initialising a static variable named 'myVar' with the return value of a method named 'initializeClassVariable' which is defined on the next line.

kind regards,

Jos

[murphaph]

Thanks JosAH, I am kicking myself for not seeing that. Thanks again. Sometimes the simplest things......

[quad64bit]

This might just be because you pasted your code on the web -- but indentation and whitespace really helps spot errors and see structure. I can't tell you how many times indentation has saved me from a stupid mistake - since when code is formatted, errors actually *look* wrong.

public static varType myVar = initializeClassVariable();

private static varType initializeClassVariable( ) {
     // initialization code goes here
}

[murphaph]

Another quick one hopefully, what is going on in the line marked below? Cheers again folks.

public class RectanglePlus implements Relatable {
  public int width = 0;
  public int height = 0;
  public Point origin;

  // four constructors
  public RectanglePlus() {
    origin = new Point(0, 0);
  }
  public RectanglePlus(Point p) {
    origin = p;
  }
  public RectanglePlus(int w, int h) {
    origin = new Point(0, 0);
    width = w;
    height = h;
  }
  public RectanglePlus(Point p, int w, int h) {
    origin = p;
    width = w;
    height = h;
  }

  // a method for moving the rectangle
  public void move(int x, int y) {
    origin.x = x;
    origin.y = y;
  }

  // a method for computing the area of the rectangle
  public int getArea() {
    return width * height;
  }

  // a method to implement Relatable
  public int isLargerThan(Relatable other) {
    RectanglePlus otherRect = (RectanglePlus)other;  //<---Please explain this line, thanks!
    if (this.getArea() < otherRect.getArea())
      return -1;
    else if (this.getArea() > otherRect.getArea())
      return 1;
    else
      return 0;
  }
}

[StormyWaters]

You are casting the object of type Relatable to an object of type RectanglePlus.

Basically you are saying this Relatable is actually a RectanglePlus object so you can use the RectanglePlus methods.

[murphaph]

Does this other object have to conform to anything? I mean, I presume I can't cast a string as a rectangle etc. What determines what can be cast to something else? The java tutorials are good, but they sort of slip this in with no explanation. Cheers for the help.

[JosAH]

Does this other object have to conform to anything? I mean, I presume I can't cast a string as a rectangle etc. What determines what can be cast to something else? The java tutorials are good, but they sort of slip this in with no explanation. Cheers for the help.

The object has to be an instantiation of the RectanglePlus class or a subclass thereof. Casts don't change objects, they just check if the target class (where you're casting to) lies on the same path of the hierarchy starting with the Object class and the class you are casting from.

kind regards,

Jos

[murphaph]

Thanks guys, the help is genuinely appreciated!

[murphaph]

int indexOf(int ch, int fromIndex)
int lastIndexOf(int ch, int fromIndex)

and the description of the above from the java tutorials is:

Returns the index of the first (last) occurrence of the specified character, searching forward (backward) from the specified index.

My bold. I understand why the index is passed in as an int, but why is the specified character not of type char?

Cheers for your patience.

Edit: Is this a simple missprint?

[Cbani]

To search for the first occurrence of a character, use int indexOf(int ch)
To search for the last occurrence of a character, use int lastIndexOf(int ch)

indexOf(int ch, int fromIndex) Returns the index within this string of the first occurrence of the specified character, starting the search at the specified index.

ch - a character.
fromIndex - the index to start the search from.


So, if i hav a string lets say

String str = "CBANICBANI"

and if i do a str.indexOf(3, A);

would return you 7...