Introduction to Programming
Computer Programming I Instructor: Greg Shaw
COP 2210
Constructing Objects
The new Operator, Objects, Object Variables,
and Object References
I. Constructing (“Creating”) Objects
• To construct or create a new object, we use the new operator
• Syntax: new class-name( parameter(s) )
class-name is the name of a class from the Java library or of a programmer-defined class
parameter(s) - aka: “construction parameters” - are the values used to initialize the instance variables of the object (i.e., to set the “state” of the object)
• Example: new Rectangle(10,20,30,20)
• Execution: the new operator calls a special method called a constructor - which creates a new object, using the parameters passed to initialize its instance variables - and returns a reference to the new object
• The object reference returned by new is usually stored in an object variable, e.g.
Rectangle box = new Rectangle(10,20,30,20) ;
Note that this statement does three things:
1. Declares a Rectangle object-variable called box
2. Calls the Rectangle class constructor to create a new Rectangle object (with x=10, y=20, width=30, and height=20)
3. Assigns the object reference returned to the variable box
• As with primitive-type variables (int and double) the variable declaration and the assignment may be done separately
Rectangle box ;
box = new Rectangle(10,20,30,20) ;
II. Objects vs. Object References
• Consider again a statement such as
Rectangle box = new Rectangle(10,20,30,20) ;
What is stored in object-variable box is not the object itself, but a reference to it
← A reference to an object is the actual address of the object in memory
• Since the contents of an object variable is a reference to the object and not the object itself, we say that an object-variable “refers to” an object, or “points to” an object.
• Object variables are also known as pointers
• This is in contrast to primitive-type variables, which store the actual values and not their addresses, e.g.,
int luckyNumber = 37 ;
luckyNumber contains the value 37 and not the address of some memory location containing a 37
← See illustrations on the board in class
← In practice, many programmers refer to the object-variable as “the object.” There is no harm in this, but it is crucial to our understanding of how OOP works that we realize that the object-variable is not the object. It is a variable that stores a reference to the object (i.e., the address of the object). It is a pointer to the object, through which we control the object.
III. The null Reference
• In Java, all object variables are automatically initialized to null
• null – which is a Java keyword - is a special value meaning “not pointing to any object”
• So the object variable declaration
Rectangle shoebox ; // automatically initialized to null
is the same as
Rectangle shoebox = null ; // explicit initialization
← Any attempt to “dereference” a null pointer (i.e., call a method for an object variable that is not pointing to an object) will throw a NullPointerException
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