Class Date Assignment

Learning Team C

University of Phoenix

Steve Randel

PRG 420

November 30, 2011

Class Date Assignment

Introduction

There are several different aspects to programming that we need to take into consideration as we learn more and more of the language. In Java, there is much to learn that will assist in becoming programmers. During this paper we will discuss several aspects of a program that are essential to make a program run properly. Inside every program there is a certain set of commands and formats that are required in order for the program to work like it needs to. Several of them will be listed later.

Karen Fords two bullets

Methods

The definition of a method is, “two of the components of a method declaration comprise the method signature—the method's name and the parameter types.” ("Defining Methods", 2011). There are several different aspects of a method that we, as programmers, need to keep in mind as begin our journey into the programming world. Each method has six components that make work correctly. Each of the six components will have to be used in order to make the method work right. The six components are:

1. Modifiers a. Public – allows this method to be used in all areas of the program b. Private – can only be used when direction is given or a password is used 2. Return Type a. Void – means that the method does not return any value b. Double – means that the method returns a double value; for instance, 10.75 rather than just 10 c. Integer – returns a whole number d. Float – returns a number that can be either whole or double 3. Method Name a. Names – can be anything that the programmer would like to use, each name should be in two parts however. For instance, “getCalc” would state that this method would be a calculator for that method 4. Parameter List a. Parenthesis – these are used to give the parameters inside the method b. Commas – used to separate the parameters inside the parenthesis 5. Exception List a. Throws IOException – this allows user interaction. There are more exceptions but currently this is the only one I have used. 6. Method Body a. Braces – used to contain the method. All parts of the method are placed inside the braces so that when called it gives all of the information held in them. b. Semi-colon – every line needs to end with a semi-colon so that the program knows that it is the end of that line Naming a method is also a very important step in programming. Without a name then the program will not work correctly because we will not know how to call the method we have just created. A name will normally consist of a verb in lower case or a verb in lower case and a noun in upper case, also known as a conventional name. For instance, names could look like this: get or getCalc. Another thing that can be done inside a java program is you can overload a method. This means that you can give it the same name just add a different parameter to it. Passing it a different parameter makes it faster than trying to rename every method. Using the same method name and just passing a different argument saves time.
Messages

There are several different messages that can be used in java. For instance, for us, programmers, we see status and error messages. Each of the messages allows to make the necessary changes so that our programs continue to work the way we need them to. An example of this would be when we place all of our information into our classes and compile it if we get the message “Tool Completed Successfully” than our program has executed successfully. If we get any other message then it will let us know the line number and the nature of the error. Once we have corrected any or all of the errors corrected than it is time to compile again and see if we get any other messages or if it has compiled correctly.

References

Defining methods. (2011). Retrieved from http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/methods.html, on November 25, 2011

Messages. (2011). Retrieved from http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/i18n/format/messageintro.html, on November 27, 2011