object and reference

[aizen92]

Hello,

While solving some exercises, i stumbled upon 2 methods of different classes that return an object of type Item, but in the description one of them said "return the Item object" and the other one was "return a reference to the Item object" whats the difference between the two?

Thanks in advance

[Zack]

In Java, they're the same thing; it's expanding into things like C++ where references and pointers and objects are all different. Can you show the methods?

[aizen92]

the questions were above in my post and the methods i wrote are here, its an exercise without correction to it, and i wanted to know

this method is when asking for return an Item object:

public Item get (int index)
{
    return itemList.get(index);
}

and this is for returning an Item reference:

public Item getItem ()
{
    return this.item;
}

[lovelesh]

Both mean the same thing

[aizen92]

so the methods i wrote are correct, right?

[DarrylBurke]

In Java, only references and primitives are passed and returned. Objects are not.

db

[aizen92]

In Java, only references and primitives are passed and returned. Objects are not.

db

Ohh, so whenever they write like return an object it always returns a reference to this object ... ?

[lovelesh]

so the methods i wrote are correct, right?

Don't know business wise, but technically they are correct.

[lovelesh]

Ohh, so whenever they write like return an object it always returns a reference to this object ... ?

Yes, that's right.

[aizen92]

ahaa, I see
well thnx guys for the help
I appreciate it

[DarrylBurke]

These two pages on another forum's website explain it well.
JavaRanch Campfire - Cup Size: a Story About Variables
JavaRanch Campfire - Pass By Value, Please

db

[aizen92]

thnx db for the links, ill be reading them now