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  • The value of the static constant DEFAULT_PRICE is set as soon as the class is loaded and is displayed in the Constant area.
  • The variable song1 is allocated and contains the null value.
  • Memory is allocated for the four fields of the object and default values are assigned to the fields.
  • The constructor is called with three actual parameters; the call is resolved so that the first constructor is executed. These values are assigned to the formal parameters of the constructor method and the values of the formal parameters are assigned to the three fields.
  • The method computePrice is called; it returns a value which stored in the field price .
  • The constructor returns a reference to the object, which is stored in the variable song1 .
  • The computation is then repeated for song2 . Since the constructor is called with just two parameters (for name and seconds ), the second constructor is executed.The value of the field pricePerSecond is assigned from the constant, not from a parameter.

Exercise Modify the class to include a constructor with one parameter for the name and with a default song length of three minutes.

Exercise Modify the class to include a constructor with no parameters, so that all fields receive default values. Is there any meaning to the following constructor?

Song() { }

Invoking an overloaded constructor from within a constructor

Concept Constructors can be overloaded like other methods. A method is overloaded when there is more than one method with the same name; the parameter signature is used to decide which method to call. For constructors, overloading is usually done when some of the fields of an object can be initialized with default values, although we want to retain the possibility of explicitly supplying all the initial values. In such cases, it is convenient to invoke one constructor from within another in order to avoid duplicating code. Invoking the method this within one constructor calls another constructor with the appropriate parameter signature.

Program: Constructor04.java

// Learning Object Constructor04 //    invoking one constructor from anotherclass Song {     String name;    int seconds;     double pricePerSecond;    double price;     final static double DEFAULT_PRICE = 0.005;      Song(String n, int s, double p) {        name = n;         seconds = s;        pricePerSecond = p;         price = computePrice();    }      Song(String n, int s) {         this(n, s, DEFAULT_PRICE);    }      private double computePrice() {         return seconds * pricePerSecond;    } }  public class Constructor04 {    public static void main(/*String[] args*/) {        Song song1 = new Song("Waterloo", 164);     }}

The website charges a uniform price per second for all songs, except for special offers. We define two constructors, one that specifies a price for special offers and another that uses a default price for ordinary songs.

  • The value of the static constant DEFAULT_PRICE is set as soon as the class is loaded and is displayed in the Constant area.
  • The variable song1 is allocated and contains the null value.
  • Memory is allocated for the four fields of the object and default values are assigned to the fields.
  • The constructor is called with two actual parameters; the call is resolved so that it is the second constructor that is executed.
  • The two parameters, together with the default price, are immediately used to call the first constructor that has three parameters. The method name this means: call a constructor from this class. This constructor initializes the first three fields from the parameters, and the value of the fourth field is computed by calling the method computePrice .
  • The constructor returns a reference to the object, which is stored in the variable song1 .

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Source:  OpenStax, Learning objects for java (with jeliot). OpenStax CNX. Dec 28, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10915/1.2
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