Object Oriented Software Engineering   View all facts   Glossary   Help

subject > programming language construct > data item > object > Java object

Java object
subject			fact

Java object	can be converted into a string using the toString method
	can be created by declaring and initializing it such that it is created whenever execution enters a particular block, or, in the case of an instance variable, when an instance is created or by declaring it and initializing it later using the new operator
	can be serialized if it is an instance of a class that implements the interface java.io.Serializable, and if the data in its instance variables is also serializable
	has example of creation String accountHolder = "Tim";
	has example of creation Account anAccount; ... anAccount = new Account(holderName, initialBalance);
	is a subtopic of The Basics of Java
	is a kind of object
object	can be referred to without reference to the data (instance variables) contained in it
	can be referred to by several different variables at the same time
	can represent any entity to which you can associate properties and behaviour
	has live activation while the object is performing computations in a sequence diagram
	has behaviour
	has state
	has synonym instance: instance is used when you are talking about the role with respect to the class and object is used when talking in a more general way
	is distinct from every other object even if they contain the same data
	is in a state until an event occurs that causes it to change state
	is structured
	is drawn as a rectangle containing a colon and the underlined name of the class (optional if it is clear from the context), which may be preceded by an optional instance name in a UML instance diagram

Kinds of Java object :

• Java instance of exception class (3 facts)
• Java instance of wrapper class (6 facts)
• uninitialized object (3 facts)

Next object: occurrence    Up: object    Previous object: instance of user interface class