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public class
subjectfact 
public classcan be accessed from outside its package    source: Object Oriented Software Engineering by Lethbridge and Laganière, 2001-10-19 11:37:46.0
is a subtopic of Classes2001-10-19 11:37:46.0
is a kind of classsource: Object Oriented Software Engineering by Lethbridge and Laganière, 2001-10-19 11:37:47.0
class 2001-10-19 11:36:19.0
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adds 0 or more variables to the variables it inherits from its superclass2001-10-19 11:36:19.0
adds 0 or more methods to the methods it inherits from its superclass2001-10-19 11:36:19.0
can access any public class in other packages2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can be imported from a package2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can extend only one superclass    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can have a main method2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can have instances2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can have more than one constructor each of which has different sets of arguments    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can have the same name as another class if the two classes are not in the same package and their packages are never imported into the same file    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can implement more than one interface    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can override methods that are inherited from the class's superclass2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
can protect its members from access by other classes or objects using an access modifier2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
cannot inherit method implementations from an interface2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
contains all of the code that relates to its objects including    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
contains data associated with each object2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
declares a list of variables, called instance variables, corresponding to data that will be present in each instance    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
defines 2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
defines a class type whose instances are the values of the class type2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has 2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has 0 or more subclasses2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has 1 superclass except Object class which has no superclass2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has behaviour that is specified by its instance methods2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has more specialized behaviour than a class farther up in the class hierarchy2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has public interface which contains its public instance variables and instance methods2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has benefit 2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has example
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}
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has part class name2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has part code2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has part constructor    2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
has syntax
class classname
{ // declarations of variables
// declarations of constructors
// declarations of other methods with public ones first
}   
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inherits 0 or more methods from its superclass2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
inherits 0 or more variables from its superclass2001-10-19 11:36:20.0
inherits behaviour from its superclass2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
is abstract if it has one or more abstract methods2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
is the unit of data abstraction in an object-oriented program    2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
is a descendant of Object class2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
is specified by 1 class definition2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
may have access modifier 2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
provides implementation for all its instance methods unless the class is abstract2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
represents several similar objects2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should be a member of 1 named package rather than the default package2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should be named after a thing its instances represent in the real world2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should be placed in its own source file    2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should have a comment at the top describing the purpose of the class, how it should be used, its authors and its history of modification2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should have a unique name since somebody in the future might want to import the packages containing both classes and hence create a name clash    2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should not be named after the internals of a computer system such as 'Record', 'Table', 'Data', 'Structure', or 'Information'    2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
should order elements as follows:
  1. class variables
  2. instance variables
  3. constructors
  4. the most important public methods
  5. methods that are simply used to access variables
  6. private methods
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to instantiate you create an instance of it2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
uses an implements clause to declare that it contains methods for each of the operations specified by the interface    2001-10-19 11:36:21.0
access unithas access mode2001-10-19 11:35:59.0
syntactic unithas syntax rule
bold = mandatory
italic = non-terminal
normal font = optional
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