Java Methods and Modularity

Vocabulary flashcards focusing on Java methods, modularity, static and instance members, signatures, parameters, return values, control flow, and value semantics.

Modularity

Writing code in smaller, more manageable components or modules, and then combining those modules into a cohesive system.

Method

A named group of statements that defines the behaviors or functions for objects.

Object's Behavior

Refers to what an object can do or what can be done to it.

Non-static (Instance)

Classification of variables and methods that are part of an individual object rather than shared by the class.

Static

Classification of variables and methods that are part of a class rather than an object, shared by all objects of that class instead of copied into each object.

Driver Class

The class containing the main method, which serves as the beginning and ending point of a program run.

Method Signature

A structure consisting of the method name and the ordered, possibly empty, list of parameter types.

Formal Parameters

The variables and parameter types defined in a method header.

Void Keyword

Specifies that no value is returned when a method completes its execution.

Return Keyword

Used inside a method to send out a value as the result back to its caller.

Procedural Abstraction

A practice allowing a programmer to use a method by knowing what it does without needing to know how it was written.

NullPointerException

An exception thrown when attempting to call a method or access an instance variable using a null reference.

Void Methods

Methods that do not produce return values and cannot be called as part of an expression.

Overloaded Methods

Multiple methods within the same class that share the same method name but have different method signatures.

Value Semantics

Call-by-value mechanism where formal parameters receive copies of actual parameter values, preventing changes to primitive types or String variables inside the method from altering original caller variables.

java.lang Package

The Java package containing the Math library, which provides built-in mathematical methods such as Math.abs and Math.sqrt.

Control Flow in Method Calls

The execution path where calling a method causes execution to jump into that method, execute its statements, and jump back to the calling location once finished.

Method Parameter Auto-Casting Rule

Java's automatic type conversion when calling methods that casts an int argument to a double, but refuses to cast a double argument to an int.

Instance Method Call Syntax

Calling a non-static method through an object variable name using the dot operator.

Static Method Call Syntax

Calling a static method using the class name with the dot operator, or calling it directly without dot notation if called from within the same class.