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In this part of the tutorial, you will learn about Java methods.

In object oriented programming, we work with objects. Objects are the basic building blocks of a program. Objects consists of data and methods. Methods change the state of the objects created. They are the dynamic part of the objects; the data is the static part.

A method is a code block containing a series of statements. Methods must be declared within a class. It is a good programming practice that methods do only one specific task. Methods bring modularity to programs. Proper use of methods bring the following advantages:

• Reducing duplication of code
• Decomposing complex problems into simpler pieces
• Improving clarity of the code
• Reuse of code
• Information hiding

Basic characteristics of methods are:

• Access level
• Return value type
• Method name
• Method parameters
• Parentheses
• Block of statements

Access level of methods is controlled with access modifiers. They set the visibility of methods. They determine who can call the method. Methods may return a value to the caller. In case our method returns a value, we declare its data type. If not, we use the void keyword to indicate that our method does not return any value. Method parameters are surrounded by parentheses and separated by commas. Empty parentheses indicate that the method requires no parameters. The method block is surrounded with {} characters. The block contains one or more statements that are executed when the method is invoked. It is legal to have an empty method block.

A method signature is a unique identification of a method for the Java compiler. The signature consists of a method name, and the type and kind (value, reference, or output) of each of its formal parameters. Method signature does not include the return type.

Any legal character can be used in the name of a method. By convention, method names begin with a lowercase letter. The method names are verbs or verbs followed by adjectives or nouns. Each subsequent word starts with an uppercase character. The following are typical names of methods in Java:

• execute
• findId
• setName
• getName
• checkIfValid
• testValidity

Simple example

We start with a simple example.

package com.zetcode;

class Base {
  
  public void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Base class");
  }
}

public class ShowInfoMethod {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    Base bs = new Base();
    bs.showInfo();  
  }
}

We have a showInfo() method that prints the name of its class.

class Base {
  
  public void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Base class");
  }
}

Each method must be defined inside a class. It must have a name. In our case the name is showInfo . The keywords that precede the name of the method are access specifier and the return type. Parentheses follow the name of the method. They may contain parameters of the method. Our method does not take any parameters.

public static void main(String[] args) {
...    
}

This is the main() method. It is the entry point to each console or GUI Java application. The method takes a string array of arguments.

Base bs = new Base();
bs.showInfo(); 

We create an instance of the Base class. We call the showInfo() method upon the object. We say that the method is an instance method. Because it needs an instance to be called. The method is called by specifying the object instance, followed by the member access operator — the dot, followed by the method name.

Method parameters

A parameter is a value passed to the method. Methods can take one or more parameters. If methods work with data, we must pass the data to the methods. We do it by specifying them inside the parentheses. In the method definition, we must provide a name and type for each parameter.

package com.zetcode;

class AddValues {

  public int addTwoValues(int x, int y) {
    
    return x + y;
  }

  public int addThreeValues(int x, int y, int z) {
    
    return x + y + z;
  }
}

public class Addition {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    AddValues a = new AddValues();
    int x = a.addTwoValues(12, 13);
    int y = a.addThreeValues(12, 13, 14);

    System.out.println(x);
    System.out.println(y);
  }
}

In the above example, we have an AddValues class which has two methods. One of them takes two parameters, the other one takes three parameters.

public int addTwoValues(int x, int y) {
  
  return x + y;
}

The addTwoValues() method takes two parameters. These parameters have int type. The method also returns an integer to the caller. We use the return keyword to return a value from the method.

public int addThreeValues(int x, int y, int z) {
  
  return x + y + z;
}

The addThreeValues() is similar to the previous method. It takes three parameters.

int x = a.addTwoValues(12, 13);

We call the addTwoValues() method of the AddValues object. It takes two values. These values are passed to the method. The method returns a value which is assigned to the x variable.

Variable number of arguments

Since Java 5, a method can take variable number of arguments. For this we use the ellipsis.

package com.zetcode;

public class SumOfValues {

  public static int sum(int...vals) {
    
    int sum = 0;
    
    for (int val : vals) {
      sum += val;
    }
    
    return sum;
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    int s1 = sum(1, 2, 3);
    int s2 = sum(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
    int s3 = sum(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7);
    
    System.out.println(s1);
    System.out.println(s2);
    System.out.println(s3);
  }
}

We create a sum() method which can take variable number of arguments. The method will calculate the sum of integers passed to the method.

int s1 = sum(1, 2, 3);
int s2 = sum(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);
int s3 = sum(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7);

We call the sum() method three time. In each case, we pass different number of parameters to the method.

public static int sum(int...vals) {
...
}

The sum() method can take variable number of integer values. All values are added to an array.

int sum = 0;

for (int val : vals) {
  sum += val;
}

return sum;

We compute the sum of the values and return the calculated sum.

$ java com.zetcode.SumOfValues 
6
15
28

This is the output of the com.zetcode.SumOfValues example.

Passing arguments by value

In Java, arguments are always passed by value to methods. When we pass primitive types, the copies of the values are sent to the methods. In case of objects, copies of the references are handed to the methods.

Java does not support passing arguments by reference, like C# or C++ languages.

package com.zetcode;

class Cat {}
class Dog {}

public class PassByValue {
  
  private static void tryChangeInteger(int x) {
    
    x = 15;    
  }
  
  private static void tryChangeObject(Object o) {
    
    Dog d = new Dog();
    o = d;
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    int n = 10;
    tryChangeInteger(n);
    System.out.println(n);        
    
    Cat c = new Cat();
    tryChangeObject(c);
    System.out.println(c.getClass());      
  }
}

The example shows that it is not possible to change the values of primitive types and the references to objects inside methods.

private static void tryChangeInteger(int x) {
  
  x = 15;    
}

The value of the passed variable is copied to the local variable x . Assigning a new value to the x variable does not affect the outside variable.

private static void tryChangeObject(Object o) {
  
  Dog d = new Dog();
  o = d;
}

The same applies for objects. We are passing copies of references to methods. The o is a local variable that refers to the Dog object. The object defined outside the tryChangeObject() is not affected.

int n = 10;
tryChangeInteger(n);
System.out.println(n);        

We define the n variable and pass it to the tryChangeInteger() method. Later we print it to check if it was modified.

Cat c = new Cat();
tryChangeObject(c);
System.out.println(c.getClass());   

We define a Cat object and pass it to the tryChangeObject() method.

$ java com.zetcode.PassByValue 
10
class com.zetcode.Cat

From the output we can see that neither the primitive value nor the object were modified.

Method overloading

Method overloading allows the creation of several methods with the same name which differ in the type of the input.

What is method overloading good for? The Qt4 library gives a nice example for the usage. The QPainter class has three methods to draw a rectangle. Their name is drawRect() and their parameters differ. One takes a reference to a floating point rectangle object, another takes a reference to an integer rectangle object, and the last one takes four parameters: x , y , width , and height . If the C++ language, which is the language in which Qt is developed, didn't have method overloading, the creators of the library would have to name the methods like drawRectRectF() , drawRectRect() , drawRectXYWH() . The solution with method overloading is more elegant.

package com.zetcode;

class Sum {

  public int getSum() {
    
    return 0;
  }

  public int getSum(int x) {
    
    return x;
  }

  public int getSum(int x, int y) {
    
    return x + y;
  }
}

public class Overloading {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    Sum s = new Sum();
    System.out.println(s.getSum());
    System.out.println(s.getSum(5));
    System.out.println(s.getSum(5, 10));    
  }
}

We have three methods called setSum() . They differ in input parameters.

public int getSum(int x) {
  
  return x;
}

This one takes one parameter.

System.out.println(s.getSum());
System.out.println(s.getSum(5));
System.out.println(s.getSum(5, 10));

We call all three methods. All methods have the same name. The compiler knows which method to call on the grounds of the method input.

$ java com.zetcode.Overloading 
0
5
15

And this is what we get when we run the example.

Recursion

Recursion, in mathematics and computer science, is a way of defining methods in which the method being defined is applied within its own definition. In other words, a recursive method calls itself to do its job. Recursion is a widely used approach to solve many programming tasks. Every problem solved using a recursion can be worked out with the iteration too.

A typical example is the calculation of a factorial.

package com.zetcode;

public class Recursion {

  static int factorial(int n) {
    
    if (n == 0) {
      
      return 1;      
    } else {

      return n * factorial(n - 1);
    }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    System.out.println(factorial(6));
    System.out.println(factorial(15));    
  }
}

In this code example, we calculate the factorial of two numbers.

return n * factorial(n - 1);

Inside the body of the factorial method, we call the factorial method with a modified argument. The function calls itself. This is the essence of the recursion algorithm.

$ java com.zetcode.Recursion 
720
2004310016

These are the results.

Method scope

A variable declared inside a method has a method scope. The scope of a name is the region of program text within which it is possible to refer to the entity declared by the name without the qualification of the name. A variable which is declared inside a method has a method scope. It is also called a local scope. The variable is valid only in this particular method.

package com.zetcode;

class Test {

  int x = 1;

  public void exec1() {
    
    System.out.println(this.x);
    System.out.println(x);
  }
  
  public void exec2() {
    
    int z = 5;
    
    System.out.println(x);
    System.out.println(z);
  }  
}

public class MethodScope {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    Test ts = new Test();
    ts.exec1();
    ts.exec2();
  }
}

In the preceding example, we have the x variable defined outside the instance methods. The variable has a class scope. It is valid everywhere inside the definition of the Test class, e.g. between its curly brackets.

public void exec1() {
  
  System.out.println(this.x);
  System.out.println(x);
}

The x variable, also called the x field, is an instance variable. And so it is accessible through the this keyword. It is also valid inside the exec1() method and can be referred by its bare name. Both statements refer to the same variable.

public void exec2() {
  
  int z = 5;
  
  System.out.println(x);
  System.out.println(z);
}  

The x variable can be accessed also in the exec2() method. The z variable is defined in the exec2() method. It has a method scope. It is valid only in this method.

$ java com.zetcode.MethodScope 
1
1
1
5

This is the output of the com.zetcode.MethodScope program.

A variable defined inside a method has a local/method scope. If a local variable has the same name as an instance variable, it shadows the instance variable. The instance variable is still accessible inside the method by using the this keyword.

package com.zetcode;

class Test {

  int x = 1;

  public void exec() {
    
    int x = 3;

    System.out.println(this.x);
    System.out.println(x);
  }
}

public class Shadowing {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    Test t = new Test();
    t.exec();
  }
}

We declare an instance variable x . We declare another x variable inside the exec() method. Both variables have the same name, but they are not in conflict because they reside in different scopes.

System.out.println(this.x);
System.out.println(x);

The variables are accessed differently. The x variable defined inside the method, also called the local variable, is simply accessed by its name. The instance variable can be referred by using the this keyword.

$ java com.zetcode.Shadowing 
1
3

This is the output of the com.zetcode.Shadowing example.

Static methods

Static methods are called without an instance of the object. To call a static method, we use the name of the class and the dot operator. Static methods can only work with static variables. Static methods are often used to represent data or calculations that do not change in response to object state. An example is a math library which contains static methods for various calculations. We use the static keyword to declare a static method or a static variable. When no static modifier is present, the method is said to be an instance method. We cannot use the this keyword in static methods. It can be used in instance methods only.

package com.zetcode;

class Basic {

  static int id = 2321;

  public static void showInfo() {

    System.out.println("This is Basic class");
    System.out.format("The Id is: %d%n", id);
  }
}

public class StaticMethod {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    Basic.showInfo();
  }
}

In our code example, we define a static ShowInfo() method.

static int id = 2321;

A static method can only work with static variables. Static variables are not available to instance methods.

public static void showInfo() {

  System.out.println("This is Basic class");
  System.out.format("The Id is: %d%n", id);
}

This is our static ShowInfo() method. It works with a static Id member.

Basic.showInfo();

To invoke a static method, we do not need an object instance. We call the method by using the name of the class and the dot operator.

$ java com.zetcode.StaticMethod 
This is Basic class
The Id is: 2321

This is the output of the example.

Hiding methods

In case of static methods, a method in the derived class with the same signature as in the base class hides the one in the base class. The method to be called is determined at compile time. This process is referred to as early or static binding.

package com.zetcode;

class Base {
  
  public static void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Base class");
  }
}

class Derived extends Base {
  
  public static void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Derived class");
  }
}

public class Hiding {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
  
    Base.showInfo();
    Derived.showInfo();
  }
}

We have two classes. The Derived and the Base class. The Derived class inherits from the Base class. Both have a method called showInfo() .

class Derived extends Base {
  
  public static void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Derived class");
  }
}

The static class method showInfo() of the Derived class hides the showInfo() method of the Base class.

Base.showInfo();
Derived.showInfo();

We call the showInfo() method for both classes. Each class calls its own method.

$ java com.zetcode.Hiding 
This is Base class
This is Derived class

This is the output of the com.zetcode.Hiding example.

Overriding methods

Overriding happens when we create an instance method of a derived class with the same signature and return type as an instance method in the base class. The method to be executed is determined at runtime. The determining of the method to be executed at runtime is called late or dynamic binding.

We might want to use the @Override annotation that instructs the compiler that we intend to override a method in the superclass. It helps prevent some programming errors.

package com.zetcode;

class Base {

  public void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Base class");
  }
}

class Derived extends Base {

  @Override
  public void showInfo() {
    
    System.out.println("This is Derived class");
  }
}

public class Overriding {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    Base[] objs = { new Base(), new Derived(), new Base(),
      new Base(), new Base(), new Derived() };

    for (Base obj : objs) {
      
      obj.showInfo();
    }
  }
}

We create an array of the Base and Derived objects. We go through the array and invoke the showInfo() method upon all of them.

@Override
public void showInfo() {
  
  System.out.println("This is Derived class");
}

Here we are overriding the showInfo() method of the Base class.

Base[] objs = { new Base(), new Derived(), new Base(),
  new Base(), new Base(), new Derived() };

Here we create an array of Base and Derived objects. Note that we used the Base type in our array declaration. The Derived class can be converted to the Base class, because it inherits from it. The opposite is not true. The only way to have defferent objects in one array is to use a type which is shared by all objects.

for (Base obj : objs) {
  
  obj.showInfo();
}

We traverse the array and call showInfo() on all objects in the array. The method to be called is determined at runtime.

$ java com.zetcode.Overriding 
This is Base class
This is Derived class
This is Base class
This is Base class
This is Base class
This is Derived class

This is the output.

Final methods

A final method cannot be overriden or hidden by derived classes. This is used to prevent unexpected behavior from a subclass altering a method that may be crucial to the function or consistency of the class.

package com.zetcode;

class Base {
  
  public void f1() {
    
    System.out.println("f1 of the Base");
  }
  
  public final void f2() {
    
    System.out.println("f2 of the Base");
  }  
}

class Derived extends Base {
  
  @Override
  public void f1() {
    
    System.out.println("f1 of the Derived");
  }
  
//  @Override
//  public void f2() {
//    
//    System.out.println("f2 of the Derived");
//  }   
}


public class FinalMethods {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    Base b = new Base();
    b.f1();
    b.f2();
    
    Derived d = new Derived();
    d.f1();
    d.f2();       
  }
}

In this example we have a final method f2() in the Base class. This method cannot be overriden.

public final void f2() {
  
  System.out.println("f2 of the Base");
} 

The f2() method is declared to be final . No overloading is possible.

@Override
public void f1() {
  
  System.out.println("f1 of the Derived");
}

In the Derived class, we can override the f1() method of the Base class. We also use the @Override annotation to inform the compiler that we are overriding a method.

//  @Override
//  public void f2() {
//    
//    System.out.println("f2 of the Derived");
//  } 

These lines are commented, because otherwise the code example would not compile. The compiler would give the following error: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.VerifyError: class com.zetcode.Derived overrides final method f2.

d.f2(); 

Since it is not possible to override a final method, the above line will call the f2() method of the Base class.

$ java com.zetcode.FinalMethods 
f1 of the Base
f2 of the Base
f1 of the Derived
f2 of the Base

This is the output.

In this part of the Java tutorial, we have covered methods.