JAVA DEFINITIONS

JAVA: Java is a platform independent (or) System independent (or) Architectural neutral language.
Object: Objects are the basic run time entities of Object-Oriented System. Object may represent a
person, a place, a bank account, a table etc… (OR) An instantiation of class.
Class: Class is a collection of similar objects (and members (variables and methods)). It is blue print
of object. These classes are used to map the objects of real world problems. (OR) A collection of
variable and methods that an object can have, or a template for building objects.
Sub Class: A class that inherits methods and variables from another class.
Super Class: A generalization of another class.
Abstract class: A class that cannot be instantiated directly.
Encapsulation: The wrapping up of data and methods into a single unit (called class) is known as
encapsulation.
Inheritance: Inheritance is process of acquiring properties of one class of another class.
Single inheritance: Mechanism of deriving a new class from one base class.
Multi-level inheritance: Mechanism of deriving a new class from another derived class.
Hierarchical inheritance: Deriving more than one sub class from single base class.
Hybrid inheritance: It is a combination of any inheritances.
Polymorphism: Polymorphism means the ability to take more than one form. For example
an operation may exhibit different behaviour in different instances.
Dynamic Binding: Dynamic binding means that the code associate with a given procedure calls
is known until the time of the call at runtime.
Tokens: Smallest individual units in a program are known as tokens.
Scope and Life time of variables:
Scope is a range of the variable that is recognized by compiler.
Life time is how long the variable returns the values. Lifetime is restricted to scope.
Compatible Data type:
It means one data type value can be stored in other data type.
byte short int long float double
Lower----------------------------------------------------Higher
Boolean is incompatible data type.
Array: A list of values of the same type. All values in an array have a common name.
Type Casting: Converting one data type to another data type is called type casting or casting.
Boolean is a incompatible data type. There are two types of type casting.
1. Widening (Implicit casting)
 2. Narrowing (Explicit casting)
Widening: Converting lower data type to higher data type is known as widening. It is
automatically done java.
Narrowing: Converting higher data type to lower data type is known as narrowing. It is not done
by java automatically. It is done by using cast variable.
String class: A java string is an instantiated object of the String class. A java string is not character
array and it is not terminated by NULL.
String methods: The String class defines a number of methods that allow us to accomplish a
variety of string manipulation tasks.
StringBuffer class: It is a peer class of String. While String creates string of fixed length,
“StringBuffer” creates string of flexible length that can be modified in terms of length and content.
Constructor: A method that is used to create an instantiation of a class. Constructor name is same
as class name. Constructor is not return any data.
Constructor Overloading: Calling constructor with different signature is known as constructor
overloading.
Method: A routine that belongs to a class.
Method Overload: Defining two or more methods in a single class with same name and with
difference in signature is called method overloading.
Method Overriding: To replace a method inherited from a super class.
Abstract method: A method that has no implementation.
Constant: A value that never change throughout the life of a program.
Instance: A concrete represent of a class or object. A class can have many instances.
Instance variable: A variable allocated once per instance of a class. It is created in the object on
heap memory.
Call by reference: When an argument is passed into a method by passing address of the value.
Call by value: When an argument is passed into a method by passing a copy of the value.
Final: A modifier that prevents subclass definition, makes variable constant, and prevents a
subclass from overriding a method.
Interface: A collection of variables and methods that other classes may implement. A class that
implements an interface provides implementations for all the methods in the interface.
Static Variable: A class variables is available whose single copy in memory it shared by all
objects. Class variables are stored on method area. It is also called as class variables.
Static method: A static method is a method that does not act up on instance variables of a class.
Static method: A static block is a block of statements declared as static. Jvm gives high priority to
static blocks.
Wrapper class: A wrapper class encloses around a data type and gives it an objects appearance.
Whenever the data type is required an object this can be used.
Auto boxing: Auto boxing is an automatic conversion that the java compiler makes between the
primitive data type and their corresponding object of wrapper classes.
Auto unboxing: Auto unboxing is an automatic conversion that the java compiler makes between
object of class and the corresponding the primitive data type.
Actual parameter list: The arguments specified in a particular method call
Garbage collection: The automatic detection and freeing of memory that is no longer in use. The
Java(TM) runtime system performs garbage collection so that programmers never explicitly free
objects.
Identifier: The name of an item in a program written in the Java(TM) programming language.
Import : Import keyword used at the beginning of a source file that can specify classes or entire
packages to be referred to later without including their package names in the reference.
instance method: Any method that is invoked with respect to an instance of a class.
New: A Java(TM) programming language keyword used to create an instance of a class.
Null: null keyword used to specify an undefined value for reference variables.
Private: private keyword used in a method or variable declaration. It signifies that the method or
variable can only be accessed by other elements of its class.
Protected: protected keyword used in a method or variable declaration. It signifies that the method
or variable can only be accessed by elements residing in its class, subclasses, or classes in the same
package.
Public: public keyword used in a method or variable declaration. It signifies that the method or
variable can be accessed by elements residing in other classes.
Static: static keyword used to define a variable as a class variable. Classes maintain one copy of class
variables regardless of how many instances exist of that class. "static" can also be used to define a
method as a class method. Class methods are invoked by the class instead of a specific instance, and
can only operate on class variables.
Super : super keyword used to access members of a class inherited by the class in which it appears.
This: "this" can be used to access class variables and methods.
Void: void keyword used in method declarations to specify that the method does not return any
value. "void" can also be used as a non-functional statement. Wrapper : An object that
encapsulates and delegates to another object to alter its interface or behavior in someway.