Primitive Types

Java offers a number of primitive types

eg.) int, short, long
double, float
char
A variable which is declared as a primitive type
stores any value assigned to it.
A variable which is declared as a class type
can store the reference to an object of that type.

chars
The char type can store one character value
'A', '\n', '\u00E9
char represented by a 16 bit unsigned integer
* A total of 216 different Unicode chars can be represented
int value;
char letter;
value = 5;
letter = 5;
value = letter; //stores a 53
letter = value; //error . Information can be lost
// when converting 32 bits to 16

A String is NOT a primitive type..

String is a class provided by the Java API
(A object of this type stores a ordered group of
chars)
Strings ARE OBJECTS!!
Look at Java API specs.

The String class provides constructors

String word;
word = new String(hello); //constructing a
//String object from a String literal
Seems redundant .
String is the ONLY class that lets you create a
String object by assigning a value.
word = hello;

String constructors are useful, however

String word, word2;
word = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter info:);
The showInputDIalog method calls one of the String
constructors to create a String object. This String
object
is then returned to the caller.
word2 = new String(word);
You would call a constructor to make a copy of an
existing String.

int length()
length() method returns the number of chars in a
String object
System.out.println(size + hello.length()) ;
The length of a String is not always obvious
String in = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter);
int size = in.length();

String characters are indexed

The first character in a String is at index 0.

Note: last char is at index:

length()-1

char charAt(int)
charAt method returns character from a string
the String object is unchanged by this call
String in = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,first char is + in.charAt(0) );
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,last char is +
in.charAt(in.length()-1 ) );

String substring(int,int)
This method returns a new String object, which contains a portion of
the characters of the invoking object
Parameters supply start and past the end position
String in, apiece;
in = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter);
//user types hello world
apiece = in.substring(1,8);
// String in is unchanged
// String apiece contains characters ello wo

A String is an IMMUTABLE object

Note that we changed the String object that in was referring to by
creating a new object and assigning the new object to in .

It is not possible to change the data (chars) stored in a

String object. If you wish to do this, you must create a
new String object.

This is because the String class has no mutator methods

(methods which change its instance data). A class
without mutator methods is called IMMUTABLE.

int indexOf(char)
indexOf method returns the position of the first
occurrence of parameter (-1 if parameter does not occur)
String in = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter);
int blk = in.indexOf( ); //where is first blank?
If user had entered hello world, blk now contains 5
in = in.substring(blk+1, in.length() );
//in is now referencing an object without the first word

String substring(int)
Many String methods are OVERLOADED
This call has an implied 2nd parameter which is the length of the
String
String in = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(Enter);
int blk = in.indexOf( ); //where is first blank?
If user had entered hello world, blk now contains 5
in = in.substring(blk+1 );
//in is now referencing an object without the first word

+ is the String concatenation operator

+ is an overloaded operator in Java
String fname = "Harry";
String lname = "Hacker";
String name = fname + lname;
name is "HarryHacker"

If one operand of + is a string, the other is converted to a string:

String a = "Agent";
String name = a + 7;
name is "Agent7"
You commonly use this for output:
System.out.println(The value is + 7 );

Converting between Strings and Numbers

Convert to number:
int n = Integer.parseInt(str);
double x = Double.parseDouble(x);

Convert to string:
String str = Integer.toString(n);

More efficient, less readable

str = "" + n;

System.out.println( + n ); //explicit conversion needed here

Practice
Convert String word to pig latin (assume word stores 1 word)

Ask user for a a sentence

If the word COW is contained in the sentence, replace the first
occurrence of it with MOOSE

Replace ALL occurrances of COW with MOOSE