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| • When a method returns an object, it is actually returning a reference to this
object. • The reserved word this is used to refer to a receiving object of a message from within this object’s method. • Aclass may include multiple methods with the same name as long as their signatures are different. The signature of a method refers to the name of the method and the number and data types of its parameters. They are called overloaded methods. • Aclass may included multiple constructors as long as their signatures are different. They are called overloaded constructors. • Aconstructor can call another constructor of the same class using the reserved word this. • Class variables and class methods are declared by using the reserved word static. • Class methods can access only the class variables and the class constants. • Instance methods can access all types of data members (i.e., both class and instance components). • Arguments are passed to the methods by using the call-by-value scheme in which the value of an argument is passed. The value is the actual data in the case of a primitive data type and a reference to an object in the case of a reference data type. • Programmer-defined classes can be grouped into a programmer-defined package. • The javadoc comment is the third style of comments used in Java. From the javadoc comments in a class, a tool can generate its documentation in the HTML format. |