In order to bring a class into existence in Java program, it should be declared. A class is declared using keyword class. The generic syntax for class declaration in Java is:
Class <class_name>
{
Statements defining class come here
}
The angle-brackets < > mean these names are to be provided by the programmer and [ ] brackets mean, this part is optional. The class name must be provided while declaring a class. This is used to refer to the class whenever an instance (the object) of the class is created. The class name must be a legal identifier in Java. While naming classes, generally nouns are used and the first letter is given in uppercase e.g., City or Date etc. the curly brackets { } mark the beginning of a class and/or a method. The curly brackets are also used to specify block statements.
A class is a blueprint or prototype that you can use to create many objects. The implementation of a class is comprised of two components: the class declaration and the class body.
classDeclaration {
// classBody
}
Class <class_name>
{
Statements defining class come here
}
The angle-brackets < > mean these names are to be provided by the programmer and [ ] brackets mean, this part is optional. The class name must be provided while declaring a class. This is used to refer to the class whenever an instance (the object) of the class is created. The class name must be a legal identifier in Java. While naming classes, generally nouns are used and the first letter is given in uppercase e.g., City or Date etc. the curly brackets { } mark the beginning of a class and/or a method. The curly brackets are also used to specify block statements.
A class is a blueprint or prototype that you can use to create many objects. The implementation of a class is comprised of two components: the class declaration and the class body.
classDeclaration {
// classBody
}
When a class is declared, no memory space is allotted to it. This is because a class is simply a blueprint or logical placeholder containing objects and method. Memory space is allocated when objects of a class type are created.
The Class Declaration
The class declaration component declares the name of the class along with other attributes such as whether the class is public or not.
The Class Body
The class body follows the class declaration and is embedded with in curly braces ‘{‘ and ‘}’. The class body contains declaration for all instance variable and class variable (known collectively as member variable) for the class. In addition, the class body contains declarations and implementations for all instance methods and class methods (known collectively as methods) for the class. The following template shows the form of a class definition that is most commonly used; however, it is legal to intermix the method definitions and the instance variable declaration.
Public class class_Name {
Instance_Variable_Declaration_1
Instance_Variable_Declaration_2
. . . . . .
Instance_Variable_Declaration_Last
Method_Definition_1
Method_Definition_2
. . . . .
Method_Definition_Last
}
Instance_Variable_Declaration_1
Instance_Variable_Declaration_2
. . . . . .
Instance_Variable_Declaration_Last
Method_Definition_1
Method_Definition_2
. . . . .
Method_Definition_Last
}