Object Construction

• We know that we use constructors to make objects out of classes.  In other words, constructors are when we ink our stamp and stamp a piece of paper with it.  We use constructors to initialize values.
• Further, we know that we can only call constructors with the new keyword.  We cannot access them via objectName.objectName().
• If we do not specify a constructor, Java will provide the default (no argument) constructor for us.
• But keep in mind, if you do have a constructor with arguments, Java does not provide the default constructor.  So if you want both, you must specify both!
• However, we can make multiple constructors via overloading.
• With overloading, we have multiple constructors that accept different parameters.  Thus, they have different signatures.
• Take a look at the Integer object.  Note that we can create a new Integer object with either a String or an int.
• If you do not initialize a field, Java will set it to its default.
• ints are 0, booleans are false, and objects are null.
• But, don't rely on this.  It is poor programming (and will count for points off on the assignment!)


 Using Multiple Files

Created by:  Brandan Jones January 4, 2002