Eclipse Vocab

Declaration

A Java statement when a variable is defined but not necessarily assigned a value.

Static Modifier

A Keyword that makes a variable, method, or inner class available without creating an instance of a variable.

method

A block of code inside a class that is used to change or access information about the class.

Garbage Collector

A built-in function of the Java VM that frees memory as objects are no longer needed or referenced

programmer-created object class

A class that defines instances of objects to be used in another class.

import statement

A code statement in a Java class file that includes java code from another package or class.

Default Constructor

A constructor that does not have any parameters.

Object Reference

A data type that references the location in memory where an object is stored rather than a single, specific value.

"is a" relationship

A helpful term used to conceptualize the relationships among nodes or leaves in an inheritance hierarchy.

Char

A java primitive type (2 bytes) that can hold single character values. Example: "a","#", or "X".

Extends

A keyword in Java that allows you to explicitly declare the superclass of the current class.

Super

A keyword that allows subclasses to access methods, data, and constructors from their parent class.

Continue

A keyword used to skip over the remaining code in a loop and return the program control to the beginning of the loop to execute again.

Break

A keyword used to terminate a loop from executing before the loop condition is met.

Mutator Method

A method that changes the state of an object (setter).

Accessor Method

A method that returns information about an object back to the calling program (getter).

Do-While Loop

A post-test loop that executes an unknown number of times until a condition is met, but always executes the first time through the loop.

While

A pre-test loop that executes an unknown number of times until a condition is met.

For Loop

A pre-test loop that uses an iterator to keep track of how many times a loop will execute.

Encapsulation

A programming philosophy that promotes protecting data and hiding implementation in order to preserve the integrity of data and methods.

constructor

A special kind of method that is a template for an object. It creates an instance of an object.

UML

A standardized language for modeling systems and structures in programming.

Hierarchy

A structure that categorizes and organizes relationships among ideas, concepts of things with the most general or all-encombpassing co,ponent at the top and the more specific, or component with the narrowest scope, at the bottom.

Public

A type of access modifier. Permits access from anywhere.

Private

A type of access modifier. Permits access only from inside the same class.

Variable Argument Method

A way to call a method with a variable number of arguments.

Object

An instance of a class.

String Object

An object type that stores sentences, words, or multiple characters.

This Reference

An optional keyword used to access the members and methods of a class.

Static Variable

Any Java class-level variable that is declared with the static modifier. This means only one instance of a class can exist in the JVM regardless of the number of class instances. Is a variable that may be available outside of a class without first creating an instance of a class. It is declared by preceding the variable name with the static modifier.

Static Method

Any Java method defined with a static modifier.

Literal

Can be any number, text, or other information that represents a value; used to initialize a primitive type.

Subclass/Child Class

Classes that are more specific subsets of other classes and that inherit methods and fields form more general classes.

Superclass/Parent Class

Classes that pass down their methods to more specialized classes.

String Methods

Code available in the Java API to manipulate or return strings.

comments

Code that is preceded by //, used to clarify programming logic and are ignored by the compiler.

Immutable

Final, unable to be changed.

lower camel case

First letter lowercase and the first letter of each internal word capitalized. Example: studentFirstName.

upper camel case

First letter uppercase and the first letter of each internal word capitalized. Example: SavingsAccount

Overloading

Having more than one constructor or method with the same name but different arguments.

Static Nested Class

Is an inner class that is available for use without first creating an instance of the container class. It is declared by preceding its definition with the static modifier.

Nested Class

Is an inner class. Inner classes are defined within a parent or container class and are members of the container class by composition. In fact, inner classes are the only way you can create class instances through composition.

Concatenation

Joining multiple String objects together.

access modifiers

Keywords used to specify the accessibility of a class (or type) and its members. Ex: public, private, protected, default.

code block

Sections of code that are enclosed inside a set of curly braces ({}).

Escape Sequences

Specific characters that are preceded by a \ character. When evaluated, the special character is evaluated as special a function, such as tabs, newlines, etc.

Driver Class

The class that contains the main method in a program.

Inheritance

The concept in object-oriented programming that allows classes to gain methods and data by extending another classes fields and methods.

Naming Convention

The formatting and naming standards that most programmers use.

New

The operator used to create an instance of a class.

object class

The outline of an object, including class variables, constructors, and methods.

Cast

The process of explicitly modifying one data type to become a different data type.

Order of Operations/Precedence

This word describes the mathematical precedence that a variable has in a Java program.

Constructor

Used to assign initial values to instance variables of a class.

Scope

Used to describe the block of code where a variable exists in a program. A block of code is denoted by {}.

Access Modifier

Used to specify accessibilty for variables, methods, and classes.

arguments

Values that are sent into a method or constructor to be used in a calculation or substituted with values from the class.

variables

Values, such as numbers, characters, or booleans. References to objects, such as a BankAccount object.

Initialization

When a Variable is assigned a value for the first time.

class

a construct that is used as a blueprint to create objects or a construct in which objects are created

package

a mechanism for organizing Java classes into namespaces or containers; created inside a project.

main method

the method inside a class that runs when the class is compiled and run - it is the "driver" of the program.