Generics - Part 2

One of the hardest sections is Generics that was introduced by Sun in Java 5.0, this section will try to summarize the most relevant topics as well as real examples to help you memorize when/where and why use a specific collection for a given scenario.

Let's start with the key interfaces and classes.

Intefaces

Classes

Noticed that almost all the interfaces and classes directly or not extend java.util.Collection, only Map and interfaces and classes under it don't extend java.util.Collection. Take a look at the structure of Collection below:

Watch out - Collections is a utility class which provides static methods and Collection is an interface.

Overview of each member of collections.

¦ Lists - Lists of things (classes that implement List).
¦ Sets  - Unique things (classes that implement Set).
¦ Maps  - Things with a unique ID (classes that implement Map).
¦Queues - Things arranged by the order in which they are to be processed.

Sorted,Unsorted,Ordered and Unordered that's a tricky part of collections

Ordered --> When a collection is ordered, it means you can iterate through the
collection in a specific (not-random) order, find below some examples of ordered and unordered collection

	package br.com.ocjp.generics;
	import java.util.ArrayList;
	import java.util.Hashtable;
	import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
	import java.util.Map;
	public class AppOrdered {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	String s = "apple";
	String s2 = "mango";
	String s3 = "orange";
	String s4 = "strawberry";
	LinkedHashSet<String> link = new LinkedHashSet<String>();
	link.add(s2);
	link.add(s);
	link.add(s4);
	link.add(s3);
	System.out.println("======== LinkedHashSet =============");
	for (String string : link) {
	System.out.println(string);
	}
	ArrayList<String> array = new ArrayList<String>();
	array.add(s2);
	array.add(s);
	array.add(s4);
	array.add(s3);
	System.out.println("======== ArrayList =============");
	for (String string : array) {
	System.out.println(string);
	}
	Hashtable<Integer, String> hash = new Hashtable<Integer, String>();
	hash.put(1,s);
	hash.put(2,s2);
	hash.put(3,s4);
	hash.put(4,s3);
	System.out.println("======== Hashtable =============");
	for ( Map.Entry<Integer, String> entry : hash.entrySet()) {
	System.out.println(entry.getValue());
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see the class LinkedHashSet keeps the order based on insertion where the last inserted is the last element in a collection, ArrayList keeps the order by using index position and finally Hashtable does not keep the order of its elements.

Sorted --> A sorted collection means that the order in the collection is determined
according to some rule or rules, to determine this rule we need to implement Comparator or Comparable, more about it is comming up.

Let's see an overview of the interfaces and those concrete implementations.

List Interface:
A List cares about the index, it's a ordered collection.

ArrayList:
It's a ordered collection by index but not sorted, it's a good idea choose this collection when you need fast iteration, however is not suitable if your intention is insertion and deletion.

Vector: 
Basically the same as an ArrayList, but its methods are synchronized.

LinkedList: 
It's a ordered collection by index, also it has methods that allow insertion and deletion from the beginning or end.
You'll be in a good shape using this collection to massive insertion and deletion but be careful when you need iteration.
Finally since Java 5.0 it implements java.util.Queue so it has the basic methods peek(), poll(), and offer().

Set Interface:
A Set cares about uniqueness, it doesn't allow duplicates, to do this the method equals() ensures it.

HashSet:
A HashSet is an unsorted, unordered Set, ensure that you did a good implementation for hashCode() method because it's determines a performance of this collection, use it when you don't want duplicates and you don't care about order when you iterate through it.

LinkedHashSet: 
Different from HashSet this collection is ordered, so use it when you care about order when you iterate through it, an order is determined by insertion of elements.

TreeSet:
It's a sorted collection, the elements will be in ascending order based on natural order also you can construct a TreeSet using a Comparator/Comparable.

Map Interface:
A Map cares about unique identifiers. It's structure is based on key/value(Objects of course).
Equals() method determines if the keys are the same or different.

HashMap:
A HashMap is an unsorted, unordered Set, ensure that you did a good implementation for hashCode() method because it's determines a performance of this collection
HashMap allows one null key and multiple null values in a collection.

HashTable:
It's like a Vector where its methods are synchronized, different from HashMap it does not allow null values as well as null key.

LinkedHashMap:
Similar to LinkedHashSet this collection is ordered, so use it when you care about order when you iterate through it, an order is determined by insertion of elements, you can get faster interation but don't expect good performance for insertion and deletion.

TreeMap:
It's a sorted collection, the elements will be in ascending order based on natural order also you can construct a TreeMap using a Comparator/Comparable.

Queue Interface:
Basically used as a FIFO(first in - first out), it supports all the methods related to collections, in addition there are methods for adding, removing and review the queue.

PriorityQueue:
A PriorityQueue's elements are ordered either by natural ordering

See below the table with useful information.

Generics - Part 1

Before diving into Generics we have to get a better understanding of some Object's methods like hashCode() and equals().

Overriding equals()

The main purpose of this method is compare if the objects are meaningfully equivalent, if you don't override this method you cannot use the object as a key in a hashtable, it's because when you don't override a equals() method it uses the operator == to do a comparison.

Let's override a equals() method.

	package br.com.ocjp.generics;
	public class Employee {
	private String name;
	private int age;
	public String getName() {
	return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
	this.name = name;
	}
	public int getAge() {
	return age;
	}
	public void setAge(int age) {
	this.age = age;
	}
	public boolean equals(Object o) {
	if ( (o instanceof Employee) && ( ((Employee)o).getName().equals(this.getName()) &&
	((Employee)o).getAge() == this.getAge() ) ) {
	return true;
	} else {
	return false;
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

	package br.com.ocjp.generics;
	public class AppEquals {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Employee e = new Employee();
	e.setName("David");
	e.setAge(34);
	Employee e1 = new Employee();
	e1.setName("Anthony");
	e1.setAge(34);
	Employee e2 = new Employee();
	e2.setName("David");
	e2.setAge(34);
	System.out.println(e.equals(e1));
	System.out.println(e.equals(e2));
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Overriding hashCode()

Hascode is used by some Collections, it provides a way to store the objects in a collection as well as it helps to locale the objets within the collections.  If two objects are equal, their hashcodes must be equal as well.

Implementing hashCode()

	package br.com.ocjp.generics;
	public class Employee {
	private String name;
	private int age;
	public String getName() {
	return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
	this.name = name;
	}
	public int getAge() {
	return age;
	}
	public void setAge(int age) {
	this.age = age;
	}
	@Override
	public int hashCode() {
	final int prime = 31;
	int result = 1;
	result = prime * result + age;
	result = prime * result + ((name == null) ? 0 : name.hashCode());
	return result;
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Let's review equals and hashCode methods

After this brief introduction needed to work with Collections you're able to dive into Collections which will be covered in the next section.

Parsing, Tokenizing and Formatting

Parsing

This section is intended to review all the approches to find, token and format stuff.
Let's see the first example:

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	import java.util.regex.Matcher;
	import java.util.regex.Pattern;
	public class RegexFirst {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Pattern p = Pattern.compile("aba");
	Matcher m = p.matcher("abababa"); // index starts from 0
	while ( m.find() ) {
	System.out.print(m.start() + " "); // Prints 0 4
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see the mehtod matcher from the class Matcher gets a source and the class Pattern uses the method compile to handle a pattern that you want to search.

!Important:

  a b a b a b a
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Why the little program showed above didn't print 0 2 4?
The reason is the regex engine does not consider the index 2 because it was consumed, and cannot be reused, but there are expections for this rule and will be shown sooner.

  a b a
  0 1 2

Using Metacharacters

\d A digit
\s A whitespace character
\w A word character (letters, digits, or "_" (underscore))
 . Any character

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	import java.util.regex.Matcher;
	import java.util.regex.Pattern;
	public class RegexMeta {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Pattern[] p = new Pattern[7];
	p[0] = Pattern.compile("\\d");
	p[1] = Pattern.compile("\\s");
	p[2] = Pattern.compile("\\w");
	p[3] = Pattern.compile(".");
	p[4] = Pattern.compile("[abc]");
	p[5] = Pattern.compile("[a-f]");
	p[6] = Pattern.compile("[a-fA-F]");
	Matcher[] matchers = new Matcher[7];
	for ( int i = 0; i < matchers.length ; i++ ) {
	matchers[i] = p[i].matcher("abcfd5 9erARqf C1#");
	// abcfd5 9erARqf C1#
	// 012345678901234567
	System.out.println("Matcher ==> " + i);
	while ( matchers[i].find() ) {
	System.out.print(matchers[i].start() + " ");
	}
	System.out.println("");
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Output
Matcher ==> 0
5 7 16
Matcher ==> 1
6 14
Matcher ==> 2
0 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16
Matcher ==> 3
0 1 2
Matcher ==> 4
0 1 2 3 4 8 13
Matcher ==> 5
0 1 2 3 4 8 10 13 15

Using Quantifiers

+ One or more occurrences
* Zero or more occurrences
? Zero or one occurrence

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	import java.util.regex.Matcher;
	import java.util.regex.Pattern;
	public class RegexQuantifiers {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Pattern[] p = new Pattern[3];
	p[0] = Pattern.compile("0[xX]([0-9a-fA-F])+");
	p[1] = Pattern.compile("proj1([^,])*");
	p[2] = Pattern.compile("\\d\\d\\d([-\\s])?\\d\\d\\d\\d"); // ? which means Zero or one occurrence
	Matcher[] matchers = new Matcher[3];
	for ( int i = 0; i < matchers.length ; i++ ) {
	if ( i == 0 ) {
	matchers[i] = p[i].matcher("12 0x 0x12 0Xf 0xg");
	} else if ( i == 1) {
	matchers[i] = p[i].matcher("proj3.txt,proj1sched.pdf,proj1,proj2,proj1.java");
	} else {
	matchers[i] = p[i].matcher("1234567,123-4567,123 4567");
	}
	System.out.println("Matcher ==> " + i);
	while ( matchers[i].find() ) {
	System.out.println(matchers[i].start() + " " + matchers[i].group());
	}
	System.out.println("");
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Greedy Quantifiers

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	import java.util.regex.Matcher;
	import java.util.regex.Pattern;
	public class RegexGreedy {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Pattern p = Pattern.compile(".*xx"); // Greedy *
	Matcher m = p.matcher("yyxxxyxx");
	while ( m.find() ) {
	System.out.println( m.start() + " " + m.group());
	}
	System.out.println("#########################");
	Pattern p1 = Pattern.compile(".*?xx"); // Reluctant quantifier
	Matcher m1 = p1.matcher("yyxxxyxx");
	while ( m1.find() ) {
	System.out.println( m1.start() + " " + m1.group());
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Tokenizing

Tokenizing is the process of taking big pieces of source data, breaking them into
little pieces, and storing the little pieces in variables

Tokenizing with Scanner

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	import java.util.Scanner;
	public class AppScanner {
	public static void main(String [] args) {
	boolean b2, b;
	int i;
	String s, hits = " ";
	Scanner s1 = new Scanner(args[0]);
	Scanner s2 = new Scanner(args[0]);
	while(b = s1.hasNext()) {
	s = s1.next(); hits += "s";
	}
	while(b = s2.hasNext()) {
	if (s2.hasNextInt()) {
	i = s2.nextInt(); hits += "i";
	} else if (s2.hasNextBoolean()) {
	b2 = s2.nextBoolean(); hits += "b";
	} else {
	s2.next(); hits += "s2";
	}
	}
	System.out.println("hits " + hits);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Formatting with printf() and format()

Both methods have exactly the same behaviour which means anything we say about one of these methods is applicable to both.

Let's see how formatting works:

%[arg_index$][flags][width][.precision]conversion char

The values within [ ] are optional.

1. arg_index - An integer followed directly by a $, this indicates which argument should be printed in this position.

2. flags - While many flags are available, for the exam you'll need to know:
¦ "-" Left justify this argument
¦ "+" Include a sign (+ or -) with this argument
¦ "0" Pad this argument with zeroes
¦ "," Use locale-specific grouping separators (i.e., the comma in 123,456)
¦ "(" Enclose negative numbers in parentheses


3. width -  This value indicates the minimum number of characters to print. (If you
want nice even columns, you'll use this value extensively.)

4. precision - For the exam you'll only need this when formatting a floating-point
number, and in the case of floating point numbers, precision indicates the number of
digits to print after the decimal point.

5. conversion - The type of argument you'll be formatting. You'll need to know:
¦ b boolean
¦ c char
¦ d integer
¦ f floating point
¦ s string

	package br.com.ocjp.regex;
	public class AppPrintf {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	boolean b = true;
	double num = 565.99;
	long num1 = 6565415;
	System.out.printf("%1$010d \n",num1);
	System.out.printf("%1$,.5f \n",num);
	System.out.printf("%1$010d , %2$,.5f \n ",num1,num);
	System.out.printf("---> %1$b",b);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Working with Dates/Numbers and Currencies

In this section you'll learn the most common methods to format Dates, Numbers and Currencies as well as the relationship between the main classes responsible to do that.

Let's start with the classes that you have to learn.

java.util.Date;
java.util.Calendar;
java.text.DateFormat;
java.text.NumberFormat;
java.util.Locale;

	package br.com.ocjp.formatting;
	import java.util.Date;
	public class AppDate {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Date d = new Date();
	System.out.println(d.toString());
	Date d2 = new Date(1000000L);
	System.out.println(d2.toString());
	Date d3 = new Date();
	System.out.println(d3.getTime());
	Date d4 = new Date(d3.getTime());
	System.out.println(d4.toString());
	Date d5 = new Date();
	d5.setTime(10000054700104L);
	System.out.println(d5.toString());
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Console:

Wed Jul 18 10:18:42 AMT 2012

Wed Dec 31 19:16:40 AMT 1969

1342621122734

Wed Jul 18 10:18:42 AMT 2012

Sun Nov 21 04:58:20 AMT 2286

The class java.util.Date is hard to work with,if you look at the preceding example to set a specific date we have to use a number representation(long), this class is normally used to create a date that represents "now" as well as working with java.util.Calendar.

	package br.com.ocjp.formatting;
	import java.util.Calendar;
	import java.util.Date;
	public class AppCalendarDate {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Date d1 = new Date("09/15/2012");
	System.out.println(d1.toString());
	Date d = new Date();
	System.out.println("Today is " + d.toString());
	Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
	cal.setTime(d);
	System.out.println("Day of the week " + cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK));
	System.out.println("Day of the year " + cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR));
	Calendar c1 = Calendar.getInstance();
	c1.setTime(d1);
	System.out.println("Last day of the year " + c1.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR));
	long current = cal.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR);
	long last = c1.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR);
	long remaining = last - current;
	System.out.println("Remaining Days ==> " + remaining );
	cal.add(Calendar.YEAR, 2);
	d = cal.getTime();
	System.out.println(d.toString());
	cal.roll(Calendar.MONTH, 10);
	d = cal.getTime();
	System.out.println(d.toString());
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Console:

Sat Sep 15 00:00:00 AMT 2012
Today is Wed Jul 18 10:37:26 AMT 2012
Day of the week 4
Day of the year 200
Last day of the year 259
Remaining Days ==> 59
Fri Jul 18 10:37:26 AMT 2014
Sun May 18 10:37:26 AMT 2014


Watch out, the class Calendar is abstract you cannot create an instance of it(look at line 16), also it provides friendly methods to manipulate dates, where you can add hours, days, weeks, and so on.
Notice the class java.util.Calendar work together java.util.Date, instead of setting a date using number(long) you can use a Date object.
Finally the method roll is similar to add, the difference is it does not change into next month(if you're adding days), years(if you're adding months) and so on.

	package br.com.ocjp.formatting;
	import java.text.DateFormat;
	import java.util.Calendar;
	import java.util.Date;
	import java.util.Locale;
	public class AppDateLocale {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
	c.set(2012, 07, 17);
	Date d = c.getTime();
	Locale us = new Locale("en");
	Locale pt = new Locale("pt","br");
	Locale fr = new Locale("fr");
	Locale sp = new Locale("es");
	Locale ja = new Locale("ja");
	DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, us);
	DateFormat df1 = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, pt);
	DateFormat df2 = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, fr);
	DateFormat df3 = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, sp);
	DateFormat df4 = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.FULL, ja);
	System.out.println(df.format(d));
	System.out.println(df1.format(d));
	System.out.println(df2.format(d));
	System.out.println(df3.format(d));
	System.out.println(df4.format(d));
	try {
	String date = df.format(d);
	Date parseDate = df.parse(date);
	System.out.println("Parse ==> " + parseDate);
	} catch ( ParseException e){}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Console:

Friday, August 17, 2012
Sexta-feira, 17 de Agosto de 2012
vendredi 17 août 2012
viernes 17 de agosto de 2012
2012?8?17?
Parse ==> Fri Aug 17 00:00:00 AMT 2012


The class java.text.DateFormat is an abstract class that provides us formatted dates using or not pré-defined styles as well as Locales.
You can get a DateFormat class by invoking the methods getInstance() and getDateInstance().
Finally we can parse a String to Date by using the method parse() which must be enclosed in a try-catch block.

	package br.com.ocjp.formatting;
	import java.util.Locale;
	public class AppLocale {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	Locale[] loc = new Locale[4];
	loc[0] = new Locale("pt");
	loc[1] = new Locale("pt","br");
	loc[2] = new Locale("fr");
	loc[3] = new Locale("en","us");
	for ( Locale l : loc) {
	System.out.print(l.getLanguage() + " -> ");
	System.out.println(l.getDisplayCountry(l));
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Console:

pt ->
pt -> Brasil
fr ->
en -> United States


Let's take a briefly look at java.util.Locale.

The first argument is related to the language and the second is a country.
The most important methods are getLanguage() and getDisplayCountry().
There are not setters to define language and country at java.util.Locale.

	package br.com.ocjp.formatting;
	import java.text.NumberFormat;
	import java.text.ParseException;
	import java.util.Locale;
	public class AppNumberFormat {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	float f = 1100.56845f;
	Locale pt = new Locale("pt");
	Locale us = new Locale("en","us");
	NumberFormat nf[] = new NumberFormat[6];
	nf[0] = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance();
	nf[0].setMaximumFractionDigits(5);
	nf[1] = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance(pt);
	nf[2] = NumberFormat.getNumberInstance(us);
	nf[3] = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
	nf[4] = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(pt);
	nf[5] = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(us);
	for ( NumberFormat nfs : nf ) {
	System.out.println(nfs.format(f));
	}
	System.out.println(nf[0].getMaximumFractionDigits());
	try {
	NumberFormat nf1 = NumberFormat.getInstance();
	System.out.println(nf1.parse("1234.567"));
	nf1.setParseIntegerOnly(true);
	System.out.println(nf1.parse("1234.567"));
	} catch (ParseException pe) {
	System.out.println("parse exc");
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Console:

1.100,56848
1.100,568
1,100.568
R$ 1.100,57
¤ 1.100,57
$1,100.57
5
1234567
1234567


Similar to java.text.DateFormat the class java.text.NumberFormat works with numbers(currency, percent, and so on), where there are many ways to get a concrete class since NumberFormat is abstract.

getInstance(),
getNumberInstance(),
getCurrencyInstance(),
.. and so on

The method parse() is present as well where you can get a Number object.

I/O - Getting better understanding of API

Let's start with the class File

	package br.com.ocjp.io;
	import java.io.File;
	import java.io.IOException;
	public class ClassFile {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	File f = new File("C:\\temp\\file.txt"); // There is no file yet.
	System.out.println("Does the file exist? " + f.exists());
	try {
	boolean flag = f.createNewFile(); // May Create a real file
	System.out.println("File has been created " + flag);
	System.out.println("Does the file exist? " + f.exists());
	} catch (IOException e) {}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Notice that the file has not been created until the line 13 be reached, to memorize it think of when you create a File(line 10) it doesn't throw any exception but the method createNewFile does.

Serialization

Serialization is the mechanism that allows you save the state of objects.
Find below the keys to make a class serializable.

	package br.com.ocjp.serializable;
	import java.io.FileInputStream;
	import java.io.FileOutputStream;
	import java.io.IOException;
	import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
	import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
	import java.io.Serializable;
	import java.util.Date;
	class Request implements Serializable {
	public int number;
	public Date create;
	public String description;
	}
	public class Serialization {
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
	Request request = new Request();
	request.number = 100;
	request.create = new Date();
	request.description = "@@ version 1.3 @@";
	FileOutputStream output = new FileOutputStream("C:\\temp\\request.ser");
	ObjectOutputStream os = new ObjectOutputStream(output);
	os.writeObject(request);
	os.close();
	FileInputStream file = new FileInputStream("C:\\Temp\\request.ser");
	ObjectInputStream io = new ObjectInputStream(file);
	Request r = (Request) io.readObject();
	System.out.println(r.number);
	System.out.println(r.create);
	System.out.println(r.description);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

First of all we have to implement the interface serializable( look at line 11), also to save the state of object we need the classes FileOutputStream and ObjectOutputStream, the writeObject(object) method is responsible for it and to retrieve the serializable object from the file we need FileInputStream and ObjectInputStream the readObject() is responsible for reading it.

!Import

- If you don't want to save a member of object you must mark it as transient
- Whether a super class implements Serializable its subclasses are indirectly Serializable
- Whether a subclass implements Serializable and a superclass doesn't the constructor will be invoked as well as the instance variable will get their default values

Let's see an example:

	package br.com.ocjp.serializable;
	import java.io.FileOutputStream;
	import java.io.IOException;
	import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
	import java.io.Serializable;
	class Something {
	Something() {
	System.out.println("Something constructor");
	}
	}
	class Animal extends Something {
	Animal() {
	System.out.println("Animal constructor");
	}
	String name = "something";
	int age;
	}
	class Dog extends Animal implements Serializable {
	Dog() {
	System.out.println("Dog constructor");
	}
	String kind;
	String owner;
	}
	public class SerializableExamples {
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
	FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("C:\\temp\\animal.ser");
	ObjectOutputStream st = new ObjectOutputStream(out);
	Dog a1 = new Dog();
	a1.age = 5;
	a1.name = "Dog";
	a1.kind = "Pet";
	a1.owner = "Somebody";
	st.writeObject(a1);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Let's see what's been saved.

	package br.com.ocjp.serializable;
	import java.io.FileInputStream;
	import java.io.IOException;
	import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
	public class Input {
	public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
	FileInputStream f = new FileInputStream("C:\\temp\\animal.ser");
	ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(f);
	Dog a2 = (Dog)in.readObject();
	System.out.println("Age ==> " + a2.age);
	System.out.println("Name ==> " + a2.name);
	System.out.println("Kind ==> " + a2.kind);
	System.out.println("Owner ==> " + a2.owner);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

- if you wanna save a state of object that has a reference to another object which does not implement Serializable you have to write the methods writeObject() and readObject().

	package br.com.ocjp.serializable;
	import java.io.FileInputStream;
	import java.io.FileOutputStream;
	import java.io.IOException;
	import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
	import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
	import java.io.Serializable;
	class Monitor {
	String model;
	}
	class PC implements Serializable {
	String system;
	int version;
	public transient Monitor monitor;
	private void writeObject(ObjectOutputStream o) {
	try {
	o.defaultWriteObject();
	o.writeObject(monitor.model);
	} catch (IOException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
	}
	}
	private void readObject(ObjectInputStream in) {
	try {
	in.defaultReadObject();
	Monitor m = new Monitor();
	m.model = (String)in.readObject();
	this.monitor = m;
	} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
	} catch( IOException e) {}
	}
	}
	public class WriteReadObject {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	PC m = new PC();
	m.system = "iOS";
	m.version = 1;
	Monitor d = new Monitor();
	d.model = "SX465";
	m.monitor = d;
	try {
	FileOutputStream f = new FileOutputStream("C:\\temp\\pc.ser");
	ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(f);
	out.writeObject(m);
	FileInputStream f1 = new FileInputStream("C:\\temp\\pc.ser");
	ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(f1);
	PC pc = (PC)in.readObject();
	System.out.println("PC Monitor ==> " + pc.monitor.model);
	} catch (IOException e) {
	System.out.println("Cannot save it");
	} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

- Finally we can use serialization with static variables but as you've seen serialization is useful for objects

Print this post

Working with Strings and StringBuffer/StringBuilder

In this section we'll discuss about String as well as its creation, polemic things like "Strings are immutable" and see wthat's going on behind the scenes also StringBuffer and StringBuilder will be on focus.

Let's take a look at how the string objects are created and understand the immutability.

	package br.com.ocjp.string;
	public class StringImmutable {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	String st = new String("OCJP");
	String st2 = st;
	st = st.concat(" - Java");
	System.out.println("st variable ==> " + st);
	System.out.println("st2 variable ==> " + st2);
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

	package br.com.ocjp.string;
	public class StringImmutable {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	String book = new String("Book");
	book.concat(" - Java");
	book.upperCase();
	System.out.println("book variable ==> " + book); // it prints "Book"
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

As you can see it prints "Book" because we don't refer the new String created to "Java - Book", so the object is in the heap however nobody refers to it.

Commom methods
Let's see common methods in action.

	package br.com.ocjp.string;
	public class StringCommon {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	String example = "Java Example ";
	System.out.println("charAt() ==> " + example.charAt(0)); // it prints J
	System.out.println("concat() ==> " + example.concat(" -1")); // it prints Java Example - 1
	System.out.println("equalsIgnoreCase() ==> " + example.equalsIgnoreCase("java example ")); // it prints true
	System.out.println("length() ==> " + example.length()); // it prints 14
	System.out.println("replace() ==> " + example.replace("a","@")); // it prints J@v@ Ex@mple
	System.out.println("substring() ==> " + example.substring(0)); // it prints Java Example
	System.out.println("substring() ==> " + example.substring(0,4)); // it prints Java
	System.out.println("toLowerCase() ==> " + example.toLowerCase()); // it prints java example
	System.out.println("toString() ==> " + example.toString()); // it prints Java Example
	System.out.println("toUpperCase() ==> " + example.toUpperCase()); // it prints JAVA EXAMPLE
	System.out.println("trim() ==> " + example.trim()); // no space at the end... it prints Java Example
	}
	}

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Pool of String

	package br.com.ocjp.string;
	public class StringPool {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	String t = "java"; // Creates an object in a heap and puts it in a pool of String
	String t1 = new String("java"); //Creates a new object in a heap and puts it in a pool of String
	System.out.println(t == t1); // prints false
	String s = "ocjp";
	String s1 = "ocjp"; // Retrieve the string ocjp from the pool
	System.out.println(s == s1); // prints true
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Also you can use the method intern() (String class) this way we can get the string from the pool if the string pass using the method equals().


StringBuffer and StringBuilder friends of memory

Both classes are intented to help you handle Strings without wasting memory, as we mentioned Strings are immutable and if we have to handle lots and lots of them StringBuffer and StringBuilder will help you.
The unique difference between StringBuffer and StringBuilder is StringBuilder is not thread-safe which means its methods aren't synchronized, as you can imagine StringBuilder is faster than StringBuffer.

	package br.com.ocjp.string;
	public class StringBufferBuilder {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
	sb.append("Java Test - ");
	sb.append("OCJP");
	System.out.println(sb); // Prints Java Test - OCJP
	StringBuffer sd = new StringBuffer("0123456789");
	sd.delete(4, 6);
	System.out.println(sd); //Prints 01236789
	StringBuffer si = new StringBuffer("0123456789");
	si.insert(4, "----");
	System.out.println(si); //Prints 0123----46789
	StringBuffer sr = new StringBuffer("0123456789");
	sr.reverse();
	System.out.println(sr); //Prints 987654321
	StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder("abcdef");
	builder.append("ghij").reverse().delete(5,20);
	System.out.println(builder); // Prints jihgf
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

The most import thing here is StringBuffer and StringBuilder are not immutable like String and the StringBuffer contains the synchronized methods;

Unusual things in Exceptions

I called this post "Unusual things in Exceptions" because you're going to see something that isn't usually used in a real word as well as staffs that you have to memorize for the OCJP certification.

Let's start with the class hierarchy:

	package br.com.ocjp.exception;
	import java.io.IOException;
	public class ExceptionOrder {
	public static void doSomething() {
	try {
	String s = "Exception example";
	} catch (IOException e) { // does not compile
	}
	}
	}

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The code above does not compile you cannot handle an exception if the block try does not "throw" one.

!Import
The block finally always is called, even if there is a return statement in the try/catch block, the finally block will be executed before the return stamement.

	package br.com.ocjp.exception;
	import java.io.File;
	import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
	import java.io.FileOutputStream;
	import java.io.IOException;
	public class ExceptionOrder {
	public static void doSomething() {
	try {
	new FileOutputStream( new File("C:\\file.txt"));
	} catch (IOException e) {
	} catch (FileNotFoundException e) { // does not compile
	}
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

In this case the block try "throws" an exception throught the creation of FileOutputStream, but we still getting a compiler error, because the catch that handles FileNotFoundException will never be reached.

	package br.com.ocjp.exception;
	import java.io.IOException;
	public class ExceptionCatchDeclare {
	public void doSomething()/* throws IOException*/ {
	throw new IOException(); // does not compile you have to declare(throws)
	}
	public void doAnything() {
	doSomething(); // here you have to handle(try/catch) or declare(throws)
	}
	}

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That's the rule for checked exceptions if you throw an exception you must declare(throws) from the calling method or catch(try/catch).


Different from checked exception, every exception under RuntimeException/Error are not obligated to catch or declare, but if you did you would be able to catch it by using try/catch block.

	package br.com.ocjp.exception;
	public class ExceptionRunTime {
	public void doIt() throws ArithmeticException {
	throw new ArithmeticException();
	}
	public void doThat() {
	doIt();
	}
	}

view raw gistfile1.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Common Exception

Let's take a look at the common exception, watch out where they come from