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TakingInputfromtheUserJavaTutorialJavaWithUs

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Java Tutorial
Introduction to Java
Hello World Program
Variables and Data types
More about data types
Displaying text using print and
println
Displaying text using printf
Java Comments
Naming conventions for Identifiers
Mathematical operations in Java
Taking input from the user

Classes and Objects

Introduction to object oriented
programming
The constituents of a Class
Creating objects and calling
methods

TakingInputfromtheUser
In the addition program that we have written, we have initialised the variables firstNumber and
secondNumber with 3 and 4. Wouldn't it be better if you could ask your friend to enter his own values
and then display the sum of those two numbers? There are several ways to do it in Java. But here, we
shall look at one simple way by using the Scanner class. You may not be able to understand every line of
code that we would be writing here but still at the end, you will know how you can take different types of
input- integers, real numbers, Strings from the user just like the way you are now capable of writing
simple programs like displaying 'Hello World!' and adding two numbers even when you could not fully
understand what public, static, void and other words meant. Things would become clearer as we
proceed to other topics. For now, we shall look at the Scanner class.
As already said, Java has a number of predefined classes which we can use. These classes are just like the
HelloWorld and Addition classes that we have written but they do not contain a main method. Instead,
they have some variables, constructors and some different methods. With the help of constructors, we
instantiate (create) objects from these classes. We can create as many objects as we want from a single
class and each of them have their own set of instance variables. And, we call the methods of these
objects to perform tasks.
These predefined classes are organised in the form of packages. For now, you can think of a package as a
simple collection of classes. Before we can use the class, we need to either import the entire package or
the class. We import the Scanner class using the following line.

Get and Set Methods

Default constructor provided by
the compiler
Access Specfiers

import java.util.Scanner;
The import statement should be the first line in our program. And then as usual we write the code for
our class or program, similar to what we have done earlier.

Scope and lifetime of Variables

Call by value and Call by Reference

A few more topics

Casting
Class as a reference data type
Constants or literals
Final variables
Increment and decrement

import java.util.Scanner;
public class Addition {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// some code here
}
}
This is the structure of a class which we are already familiar with. Now, we need to write some code in
the main method to perform the intended task. Before we write the code, let us look at how information
can be passed from the keyboard to our program using the Scanner class.

operators

Manipulating Strings
Operators
Overloading constructors and
methods
Static methods and variables

The Java API

The Math class
this keyword
Wrapper classes

Control Structures
Control Statements
Repetition statements
Nested loops
Formulating algorithms
Branching Statements

Information flows as a stream just like the way water flows through a hose. The System class which we
have used contains two pre-defined streams. One is the output stream (out) which is connected the
console. We have used it in our earlier programs to print information on the screen. The other stream is
the input stream (in) which is by default connected to the keyboard. We need to obtain the stream and
convert the information in that stream into meaningful data like integers and Strings. The input stream
object (in) is accessed by the statement System.in 'System', as we have already said is a predefined class
and 'in' is a variable in that class which holds a reference to an input stream object. We now use this in
object to create a Scanner object. As we have already said, to create an object from a class, we use the
constructor of that class. The constructor just like methods may require arguments. Remember that
when we have used the print() or println() methods, we have passed String arguments like 'HelloWorld'. A
Scanner constructor requires an input stream object as an argument. Therefore we pass the in object to
the Scanner constructor and create a Scanner object named s in the following way.
Scanner s = new Scanner ( System.in );
Note that s is an identifier- a variable name just like firstNumber and secondNumber. And therforore
you can give any name that you want. The proper way to access a variable of another class (here, in) is to
refer to its name by specifying the class name followed by a dot operator and the variable name.

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The keyword new is used to create an object. We will learn more about creating objects later on. If you
have understood all that has been stated till now, it's a good thing. If you haven't, do not bother. Simply
remember that the obove statement is used to create a Scanner object named s.

Arrays
Arrays introduction
Processing arrays using 1oops
Searching and sorting arrays
Array of objects

The Scanner class has several methods which are used to take different types of inputs. They are listed in
the table below.

Multi dimensional arrays

Method

Description

Taking input as command line

nextByte()

Accept a byte

arguments

nextShort()

Accept a short

Using ellipsis to accept variable

nextInt()

Accept an int

number of arguments

nextLong()

Accept a long

next()

Accept a single word

nextLine()

Accept a line of String

nextBoolean()

Accept a boolean

nextFloat()

Accept a float

nextDouble()

Accept a double

Inheritance
Inheritance introduction
Relation between a super class
and sub class
Final classes and methods
The protected access specifier
Class Object

Suppose, we want to accept an integer and store it in the variable firstNumber, we write the following
statement:
int firstNumber = s.nextInt();

Polymorphism
Introduction

In a similar way, we can accept other data types from the user. The following code shows the complete
program which accepts two numbers from the user and adds them and displays the result.

Interfaces
Packages
Abstract classes and methods

Exception handling
Exception handling introduction
Exception hierarchy
Nested try catch blocks
Throwing exceptions

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Following shows a sample output when we enter the numbers 34 and 43 as input.

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import java.util.Scanner;
public class Addition {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter first number: ");
int firstNumber = s.nextInt();
System.out.print("Enter second number: ");
int secondNumber = s.nextInt();
int sum = firstNumber + secondNumber;
System.out.println("The result of addition was " + sum);
}
}

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Enter first number: 34

Enter second number: 43
The result of addition was 77
In a similar way, you can take other data types as input.
Following program shows another example usage of the Scanner class. Here we take the marks of a
student in three subjects and display his average and his average as in done a progress report.
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Average Marks {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner s = new Scanner ( System.in);
System.out.print("Enter your name: ");
String name=s.next();
System.out.print("Enter marks in three subjects: ");
int marks1=s.nextInt();
int marks2=s.nextInt();
int marks3=s.nextInt();
double average = ( marks1+marks2+marks3)/3.0;
System.out.println("\nName: "+name);
System.out.println("Average: "+average);

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}
}
There are a few things worth mentioning regarding this code. The first thing is that we have taken the
marks of the student in three subjects by using the nextInt() method repeatedly. We haven't prompted
thrice for input. While, there appears nothing extraordinary in this way of programming, let's look at the
output in different executions.
Following are some sample outputs.
Enter your name: Sai
Enter marks in three subjects: 100 98 99
Name: Sai
Average: 99.0
Enter your name: Sai
Enter marks in three subjects: 100
99
98
Name: Sai
Average: 99.0
Enter your name: Sai
Enter marks in three subjects:
100
99
98
Name: Sai
Average: 99.0
Enter your name: Sai
Enter marks in three subjects:
100 99
98
Name: Sai
Average: 99.0
We have given the same input in all the cases but the way in which we have input the values was
different. In the first case, we separated the different marks with a space. In the second case, we have
pressed the enter key after entering each subject's marks. In few of the outputs, we have also entered
some blank lines but still the output was the same in all the cases. This is because of the way in which
the input from the keyboard. Whatever in entered by us goes to the input steam, in and then we extract
data from it using the nextInt() method. What actually happens is that the data is separated into tokens.
Token are pieces of information. Tokens are not generated randomly but by noting the delimiters. Every
time, the delimiter appears, the input is split at that point and a new token is created. The default
delimiter is a whitespace. A whitespace can be a tab, space, a new line or a combination of theses. For
example- a new line followed by three spaces is also a delimiter. After the input is split into tokens, the
tokens are accessed by the method nextInt(). In all the cases, the three tokens formed were the same
and hence we got the same output.
Another thing has to be noted is the following statement:
double average = ( marks1 + marks2 + marks3 ) / 3.0;
The first thing is the use of parentheses. If we have omitted the parentheses, then marks3 would have
been divided by three first and then added to marks1 and marks2. Precedence of operators exists in Java
just as in mathematics. In Java /, * and % have equal preference which is higher than the preference for
+ and -. In order to alter the order in which evaluation is performed, we use parentheses. Change 3.0 to
3 and you will notice that the average printed would be incorrect. This is because, the three integers
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marks1, marks2 and marks3 on addition give an integer and an integer on division with another integer
gives another integer and not a floating point number. In simpler words, an integer on division with
another integer gives the quotient and not the entire result that includes the remainder part in the form
of a decimal part. However, when the expression involves atleast a single decimal, we get the decimal
part of the calculation as well. That is why we have written 3.0 instead of 3. We shall see more about
mathematical calculations in the next chapter.
Next : Introduction to object oriented programming
Prev : Mathematical operations in Java

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