Method Calling Instance Methods Vs. Class Methods

Method Calling
–

Instance Methods Vs. Class Methods

For Instance!

In object
-
oriented programming (Java is an object
-
oriented programming language), an
instance

is a reference
-
type
variable. For example, in the line of code below, the variable
name

is an
instance

of a String.

String name = “Blah McBlahington”;

An instance is a particular String object that has specific content (“Blah McBlahington” above) whereas a String, in
general, is just some collection of symbols. The String
class

describes what it m
eans to be a String (some collection of
symbols, enclosed in quotation marks) but an
instance

of String will have some specific arrangement of symbols (like the
name

variable above). We could say that
name

is an instance of class String. When we say “for i
nstance” in everyday
conversation, we mean that we have an example of some generic idea; in programming, an instance is a specific variable
of a generic class

(a class is a generic description of the idea)
.

More Class!

A class describes a type of object. F
or example, we could try to define a table (a real
-
world table that you might eat
dinner on). Our description might include things like “flat surface” and “four legs”. The description is not actually a table
,
though. We would not want to eat dinner on our
description. An actual table, like the one in my dining room, is an
instance
; the description is a
class
. How about another example? My house has blueprints that described how to build
my house. The blueprints describe, in detail, what materials to use as
well as the dimensions of the walls, floors, ceilings,
etc. From the blueprints, you can build many houses. However, you couldn’t live in the blueprints or seek shelter from a
rainy day under the description of the house’s roof. The blueprints represent a
class
; my house is an
instance

of that
class.

Instance Methods

Instance methods are methods that you call on an instance…you call them on a variable.

You have seen several
examples of this with String methods. Here is an example:

String color = “purplue”;

int count = color.length();



String sub = color.substring( 3 );

In the code above, the length() method is called on the
color

variable…
color

is an
instance

of the String
class
. You call the
method on the
instance

to find out the length of that particular
String. Since all Strings can have different lengths, you
must ask the particular
instance variable

for its length. In the code above, the length of
color

is 7, but if we had assigned
“red” to
color

then the length would be 3.


Instance methods need the da
ta of the particular, specific instance in order to function.

It wouldn’t make sense to ask
for the length of a generic String; the generic notion of a “collection of symbols” can’t have a specific length. However, a
specific String variable will have a sp
ecific collection of symbols; that specific instance of a String will have a length.

Class Methods

A class method does not need to be called on an
instance variable
; it can be called upon the class itself. We have seen
this with the JOptionPane methods
showMessageDialog

and
showInputDialog
.

Here is an example of using JOptionPane
to show a message to a user:

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog( null, “You are totally reading this!” );

Notice that we don’t have an
instance

of a JOptionPane; we do not have a JOp
tionPane variable. Instead, we call the
method on the
class

(or the reference type).


Compare th
is

to our String methods; we don’t call the length method on String itself, but on a variable of
type String.


The Math Class


The Math class has many useful methods in it. These methods mirror a lot of common mathematical functions. Here is
the
method

header

for the
sqrt

method, which is really the
square root
function.

double sqrt( double
x

)

A
method header

fits the followin
g pattern:

returnType methodName( Type1 parameter1, Type2 parameter2, … )

The parts are described here:

returnType


The type of information that is returned. Some methods do not return any information; you will see
void

here if
the method does not re
turn information.

methodName

The name of the method. This typically describes the function of the method, but the name can be arbitrary.

ParameterList

( Type1 parameter1, Type2 parameter2, … )

The parameter list is completely optional. Some methods do no
t require any information, but those that do will
have parameters in their method header. The parameter list tells you 1) how many parameters and 2) what
type(s) of parameters. If a method requires parameters, you must send the correct number and type of
p
arameters and you must list them in the order stated in the method header.

So,
now that you know how to read a method header, let’s look at the
sqrt

method again:

double sqrt( double
x

)

This method is named
sqrt

and requires a single decimal parameter
(you can also send an int). The method returns a
double (the approximate square root of the parameter). This is a
class method

so we do
not

need an
instance

of Math to
call the method; we can call it on the Math class itself. For example:

double rootTwo

= Math.sqrt( 2.0 );



//you can send a literal double to the method

double rootOfRootTwo = Math.sqrt( rootTwo );

//or you can send a double variable to the method

Every method in the Math class is a
class metho
d
so you will always use Math.methodName(
) for these methods. Here is
a list of other methods in the Math class.

int



abs( int x )




returns the absolute value of the int parameter

double

abs( double x )




returns the absolute value of the double parameter

double

pow( double base, double

exp )


returns the power of base raised to exp [Math.pow( 2, 3) is 2 cubed]

double

sqrt( double x )




returns the square root of the double parameter

double

min( double a, double b )


returns the smaller of the two parameters

int

min( int a, int b )



an int version of the method above

double

max( double a, double b )


returns the larger of the two paramters

int

max( int a, int b )



an int version of the method above

double

ceil( double x )




returns the next integer that is greater than or equal t
o the parameter

double

floor( double x )




returns the greatest integer that is less than or equal to the parameter

long

round( double x )



returns the double parameter as a rounded integer…
as a long!

double

random()




takes no parameters, returns a random number







between 0.0 and 1.0 (could equal 0.0, must be less than 1.0)

NOTE: the
round
() method
returns

a long…you will need to cast that to an int if you want to use this method. See below.

Again, these methods are all
class methods

so you call them on the Math class itself
;
you will never declare a Math
variable
. Here are some examples that use the following variables:

int
numb

= 5
,
foo

= 3
;


double
dbl

=
-
5.7
,
trbl

= 4.2
;


int
rounded

= (in
t) Math.round(
dbl

) ;


//
Note the cast to an int
…required…
rounded

is now
-
6.0

double
cubeIt

= Math.pow(
numb
,
foo
);


//
cubeIt

is now 5
3

or 125…as a double, so 125.0

int
small
er

= Math.min(
numb
,
foo

);


//
smaller
is now 3, the smaller of the two

double
big

= Math.max(
dbl
,
trbl

);


//
big

is now 4.2, the larger of the two

double
flour

= Math.floor(
dbl

);



//
flour

is now
-
6.0, the largest integer less than
-
5.7

int
tower

= (int) Math.floor(
dbl

);


//
tower

is now
-
6…an int because of the
cast

int
rand

=
(int) ( Math.random() * 6 ) + 1;

//
rand

is now a random number between 1 and 6

int
d20

= (int) ( Math.random() *
20

) + 1;

//
d20

is now a random number between 1 and 20


Note
:

0
<


Math.random()


< 1

so if you multiply

all three parts

by 6, you get



0
<


Math.random() * 6

< 6

casting this (cutting off the decimal) gives from 0 to 5



0
<

(int)( Math.random() * 6 )

<

5

note could = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5…so now add 1 to get 1
–

6



1
<

(int)(Math.random()*6
) + 1


<

6

multiply by a different number
and you get a diff. range

There are other methods in the Math class; read Lesson 6 of Blue Pelican Java to find out how to use the natural log
function, trig functions, inverse trig functions, etc.