Java Jargon Jamboree

Welcome to 4.3.8++, fondly referred to over the years (or at least since just after class on Monday) as the Java Jargon Jamboree. Here all will be revealed, and no secrets will be witheld. The context of every single word you can find in any Java program (anywhere!) will be described by one of the following terms. (Though there a few operators we have yet to look at.)

Note that through the "read" stage of learning any language, you have to know the common terms, i.e. jargon, used within that programming language community, and for Java, these are them.

At this point, a lot of what is below may be still a bit cloudy to you, but a lot you've seen and heard enough that you should be able to fit it into the grand perspective.

• methods
  • method definition         public static void myMethod( )...
  • method call                  myMethod( );

• primitive types         boolean, char, byte, short, int, long, float, double
• data structure (array, list, tree)         int [ ]
  
  

• user defined types         Student s = new Student( )
• Java defined types        Scanner snr = new Scanner( )
  
  

• variables         
  • variable declared and/or        int x;
  • assigned                                int x = 234;
  • variable used                         System.out.println(x);
  • variable re-assigned              x = x + 789;

• static "class" objects         System.in
  
  

• instance of
  • user defined type (i.e. object)          Student s = new Student( )
  • Java defined type (i.e. object)         Scanner snr = new Scanner(System.in)
• contructor methods                                 Student( )
  
  

• return type (& return value)       public int add(int x, int y)
• arguments                                add(3, 4)
• parameters                               public int add(int x, int y)
  
  

• control keyword (if/else/while/for)         if(rainingOutside) etc.
• modifiers (public, static)                        public static void aMethod( )
  
  

• string literal         "Hello World!"
• constants (real numbers, integers, true, false)         2.234, 9987, true, false
  
  

• new         new
• class       class
• return      return

Example.

So as it turns out, the first half dozen or so of our 10-Step Java Caluculator program have an example of every single one of the terms above. First, here's the code, and then below a diagram. See how much you can match to the terms above on your own.

The color code for above is, generally:

green - generally data, i.e. a focus on stuff

brown - generally methods, i.e. a focus on doing stuff

red - object oriented, i.e. a focus on user made & Java classes & "OOP" programming

 

Try the same with any Java code. Recall the great repository of different Java (and other programming) algorithms, at RosettaCode.org.

Give this one, from there, a go. (It is an important algorithm we'll look at later on.)

1 public class BinarySearchIterative {
 
2    public static int binarySearch(int[] nums, int check) {
3        int hi = nums.length - 1;
4        int lo = 0;
5        while (hi >= lo) {
6            int guess = (lo + hi) /2
7            if (nums[guess] > check) {
8                hi = guess - 1;
9            } else if (nums[guess] < check) {
10                lo = guess + 1;
11            } else {
12                return guess;
13            }
14        }
15        return -1;
16    }
17 
18    public static void main(String[] args) {
19        int[] haystack = {1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11};
20        int needle = 5;
21        int index = binarySearch(haystack, needle);
22        if (index == -1) {
23            System.out.println(needle + " is not in the array");
24        } else {
25            System.out.println(needle + " is at index " + index);
26        }
27    }
28}

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

jamboree

noun