Week 3 [Mon, Aug 26th] - Topics

Java comes with a rich collection of classes that you can use. They form what is known as the Java API (Application Programming Interface). Each class in the API comes with documentation in a standard format.

• List of all Java classes
• Example: API documentation of the String class

String is a built-in Java class that you can use without importing. Given below are some useful String methods:

Find characters of a string

String fruit = "banana";
char letter = fruit.charAt(0);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

char[] fruitChars = fruit.toCharArray()

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Change a string to upper/lower case

String name = "Alan Turing";
String upperName = name.toUpperCase();
System.out.println(name);
System.out.println(upperName);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Alan Turing
ALAN TURING

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

String s = "Ada";
s.toUpperCase(); // no effect
s = s.toUpperCase(); // the correct way

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Replacing parts of a string

String text = "Computer Science is fun!";
text = text.replace("Computer Science", "CS");
System.out.println(text);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

CS is fun!

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Accessing substrings

Searching within strings

Comparing strings

String name1 = "Alan Turing";
String name2 = "Alan Turing";
System.out.println(name1 == name2);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

if (name1.equals(name2)) {
    System.out.println("The names are the same.");
}

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

String name1 = "Alan";
String name2 = "Ada";
int diff = name1.compareTo(name2);
if (diff == 0) {
    System.out.println("The names are the same.");
} else if (diff < 0) {
    System.out.println("name1 comes before name2.");
} else if (diff > 0) {
    System.out.println("name2 comes before name1.");
}

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

String s1 = "Apple";
String s2 = "apple";
System.out.println(s1.equals(s2)); //false
System.out.println(s1.equalsIgnoreCase(s2)); //true

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Printing special characters (line breaks, tabs, ...)

System.out.println("First line\nSecond \"line\"");

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

First line
Second "line"

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

System.out.println("First" + System.lineSeparator() + "Second");

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

First
Second

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

String formatting

public static String timeString(int hour, int minute) {
    String ampm;
    if (hour < 12) {
        ampm = "AM";
        if (hour == 0) {
            hour = 12;  // midnight
        }
    } else {
        ampm = "PM";
        hour = hour - 12;
    }

    // returns "07:05 PM"
    return String.format("%02d:%02d %s", hour, minute, ampm);
}

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Primitive values (like int, double, and char) do not provide methods.

int i = 5;
System.out.println(i.equals(5));  // compiler error

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

But for each primitive type, there is a corresponding class in the Java library, called a wrapper class, as given in the table below. They are in the java.lang package i.e., no need to import.

Double d = new Double(2.5);
int i = d.intValue();
System.out.println(d);
System.out.println(i);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

2.5
2

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Each wrapper class defines constants MIN_VALUE and MAX_VALUE.

System.out.println(Integer.MIN_VALUE + " : " + Integer.MAX_VALUE);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Wrapper classes provide methods for strings to other types e.g., Integer.parseInt converts a string to (you guessed it) an integer. The other wrapper classes provide similar methods, like Double.parseDouble and Boolean.parseBoolean.

Integer.parseInt("1234") 1234

Wrapper classes also provide toString, which returns a string representation of a value.

Integer.toString(1234) "1234"

java.util.Arrays provides methods for working with arrays. One of them, toString, returns a string representation of an array. It also provides a copyOf that copies an array.

int[] a = new int[]{1,2,3,4};

int[] b = Arrays.copyOf(a, 3); // copy first three elements
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(b));

int[] c = Arrays.copyOf(a, a.length); // copy all elements
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(c));

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

[1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 3, 4]

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Scanner is a class that provides methods for inputting words, numbers, and other data. Scanner provides a method called nextLine that reads a line of input from the keyboard and returns a String. The following example reads two lines and repeats them back to the user:

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Echo {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String line;
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);

        System.out.print("Type something: ");
        line = in.nextLine();
        System.out.println("You said: " + line);

        System.out.print("Type something else: ");
        line = in.nextLine();
        System.out.println("You also said: " + line);
    }
}

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Scanner class normally reads inputs as strings but it can read in a specific type of input too.

Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);

System.out.print("What is your age? ");
int age = in.nextInt();
in.nextLine();  // read the new-line character that follows the integer
System.out.print("What is your name? ");
String name = in.nextLine();
System.out.printf("Hello %s, age %d\n", name, age);

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

Remote repositories are repos that are hosted on remote computers and allow remote access. They are especially useful for sharing the revision history of a codebase among team members of a multi-person project. They can also serve as a remote backup of your codebase.

It is possible to set up your own remote repo on a server, but the easier option is to use a remote repo hosting service such as GitHub or BitBucket.

When you clone from a repo, the original repo is commonly referred to as the upstream repo. A repo can have multiple upstream repos. For example, let's say a repo repo1 was cloned as repo2 which was then cloned as repo3. In this case, repo1 and repo2 are upstream repos of repo3.

Cloning, pushing, and pulling/fetching can be done between two local repos too, although it is more common for them to involve a remote repo.

Given below is an example scenario you can try yourself to learn Git cloning.

Suppose you want to clone the sample repo samplerepo-things to your computer.

Here's a scenario you can try in order to learn how to pull commits from another repo to yours.

1. Clone a repo (e.g., the repo used in [Git & GitHub → Clone]) to be used for this activity.

2. Delete the last few commits to simulate cloning the repo a few commits ago.

Sourcetree

Right-click the target commit (i.e. the commit that is 2 commits behind the tip) and choose Reset current branch to this commit.

Choose the Hard - … option and click OK.

This is what you will see.

Note the following (cross-refer the screenshot above):

• Arrow marked as a: The local repo is now at this commit, marked by the master label.
  
• Arrow marked as b: The origin/master label shows what is the latest commit in the master branch in the remote repo. origin is the default name given to the upstream repo you cloned from. You can ignore the origin/HEAD label for now.

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CLI

Use the reset command to delete commits at the tip of the revision history.

$ git reset --hard HEAD~2

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

More info on the git reset command can be found here.

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Now, your local repo state is exactly how it would be if you had cloned the repo 2 commits ago, as if somebody has added two more commits to the remote repo since you cloned it.

3. Pull from the remote repo: To get those missing commits to your local repo (i.e. to sync your local repo with upstream repo) you can do a pull.

Sourcetree

Click the Pull button in the main menu, choose origin and master in the next dialog, and click OK.

Now you should see something like this where master and origin/master are both pointing the same commit.

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CLI

$ git pull origin

    

    


    
    
    

      


    
    

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You can also do a fetch instead of a pull in which case the new commits will be downloaded to your repo but the working directory will remain at the current commit. To move the current state to the latest commit that was downloaded, you need to do a merge. A pull is a shortcut that does both those steps in one go.

Given below is a scenario you can try in order to learn how to fork a repo:.

0. Create a GitHub account if you don't have one yet.

1. Go to the GitHub repo you want to fork e.g., samplerepo-things

2. Click on the button on the top-right corner. In the next step,

• choose to fork to your own account or to another GitHub organization that you are an admin of.
• Un-tick the [ ] Copy the master branch only option, so that you get copies of other branches (if any) in the repo.

Professional software engineers often write code using Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). IDEs support most development-related work within the same tool (hence, the term integrated).

An IDE generally consists of:

• A source code editor that includes features such as syntax coloring, auto-completion, easy code navigation, error highlighting, and code-snippet generation.
• A compiler and/or an interpreter (together with other build automation support) that facilitates the compilation/linking/running/deployment of a program.
• A debugger that allows the developer to execute the program one step at a time to observe the run-time behavior in order to locate bugs.
• Other tools that aid various aspects of coding e.g. support for automated testing, drag-and-drop construction of UI components, version management support, simulation of the target runtime platform, modeling support, AI-assisted coding help, collaborative coding with others.

Examples of popular IDEs:

• Java: Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans
• C#, C++: Visual Studio
• Swift: XCode
• Python: PyCharm
• Multiple languages: VS Code

Some web-based IDEs have appeared in recent times too e.g., Amazon's Cloud9 IDE.

Some experienced developers, in particular those with a UNIX background, prefer lightweight yet powerful text editors with scripting capabilities (e.g. Emacs) over heavier IDEs.

Running IntelliJ IDEA for the First Time

Some useful navigation shortcuts:

1. Quickly locate a file by name.
2. Go to the definition of a method from where it is used.
3. Go back to the previous location.
4. View the documentation of a method from where the method is being used, without navigating to the method itself.
5. Find where a method/field is being used.