I have a class A. I define another class B within a method (even main) of the class A and class B can access all the variables within the scope of the method it is defined in. What is the terminology for such classes (as B)? Some people have been saying Nested classes or Inner classes but IIRC, those are the classes where they have another class as their data members (kinda like composition in C++).
The second part of my question is that some people have been saying that when you have a class defined within a method of another class, then the variables of the first class (A) that are accessed by the later class (B) need to be declared final. Is this to be followed strictly and why so?
According to the Java Language Specification these are "local classes":
A local class is a nested class (§8 (Classes)) that is not a member of
any class and that has a name (§6.2, §6.7).
or "anonymous [inner] classes", which are just the ones that don't have a name (e.g. Interface x = new Interface() { ...).
These are special cases of inner classes which is generally what I've heard people refer to them as.
As for your second question, "Any local variable, formal parameter, or exception parameter used but not declared in an inner class must either be declared final or be effectively final (§4.12.4), or a compile-time error occurs where the use is attempted." So it is a compile-time error if you try to access non-final local variables. Obviously this part must be followed strictly if you want your class to compile.
I have not personally heard the advice that you should not access non-final fields of the enclosing class, and I'm pretty sure it's allowed. While arguments could be made that fields should be final unless they can't be, I don't see any stylistic reason this should be more important in inner classes. There is a technical difference that accessing a field from an inner class may cause the compiler to create and call synthetic getters and setters, but this is generally a minor performance concern.
Related
modifiers in variables in an interface are public, static, final by default. But how can I do if I want it to be private so that no other classes can call this variable
Declaring a class to implement an interface is a promise that this class provides these methods, or extensions thereof. Increasing/extending access to the methods is allowed, but decreasing access is not, because then we would break our promise.
This is similar to classes and extensions of them, subclasses. A subclass has to provide all methods of the superclass with at least the visibility they were declared with.
The reason for this is the statically typed nature of Java. If a type may differ from its initial declaration in such a way that it breaks (access to) the type, then it makes the whole static-typing obsolete.
Fields (also called member variables) are different in the way that their access cannot be extended. Declaring another member variable of similar name on a subclass is exactly that, another variable. By doing this, you hide the superclass' variable, and you may have to use the keyword super to access it.
If you search 'java double brace' you'll find strong arguments against using it.
Every time someone uses double brace initialisation, a kitten gets killed.
https://stackoverflow.com/a/27521360/555631
The arguments are you're creating way too many anonymous classes and you're potentially creating a memory leak.
Are lambdas any different? They each create an anonymous inner class, they each reference their enclosing closure.
Lambda expressions are different from an anonymous inner class that happens to implement a functional interface.
Anonymous inner classes will create their own class file at compilation, usually something along the lines of Foo$1.class, if it's contained in the Foo class. It is a fully functional class that implements an interface or subclasses a class. To reference local values outside its scope, it will, behind the scenes, create an instance variable in the anonymous inner class that represents a copy of the value. This is why the variable must be effectively final -- otherwise the actual variable may change and the copy may be stale.
Lambda expressions don't create anonymous inner classes. They use a java.lang.invoke.LambdaMetafactory that produces a CallSite that can be used later to execute the lambda expression. The lambda expression, whether it's a block or an expression, gets converted to a hidden private static method within the class in which it's contained. Instead of creating a class with a hidden variable, captured values get translated into parameters of the hidden private static method. Local values still must be effectively final because the value passed to the method is again a copy. The method gets invoked by a invokedynamic instruction in the JVM.
Sources:
How Lambdas And Anonymous Inner Classes Work
PART 4 – HOW LAMBDA EXPRESSION INTERNALLY WORKS
Yes, they are different.
Lambdas don't actually necessarily create anonymous classes -- they're certainly not just translated into the equivalent anonymous class. Their creation is much more convoluted than that, and often ends up with an anonymous class created at runtime, but not necessarily.
Lambdas specifically do not capture anything except the variables specifically mentioned in them, unlike anonymous inner classes, which do capture the enclosing class object if they're defined in an instance method.
Consider the following code:
public class Foo
{
class Bar
{
private String barbar;
public Bar( String b ) { barbar = b; }
}
class Meh
{
Bar b = new Bar("BAR!");
public void displayName() {
System.out.println( b.barbar );
}
}
}
Java allows class Meh to access the private instance variable, barbar, which is declared as private within Bar.
I know this question has been asked before here. However, the answer just basically reiterates that the observed scope is what it is (that barbar is accessible within the braces of class Foo), but offers no explanation. After some Googling, I hadn't been able to land on a good discussion of this behavior. What I would like to know is if there's a specific rationale for this scoping behavior. I would have expected barbar to be private "within the braces" of class Bar.
The fundamental aspect of this is that inner classes (as opposed to static nested classes) are part of their enclosing class. They aren't separate from it, or from each other. So just like other parts of the enclosing class (constructors and methods) have access to all of its private information, so do all the members of the inner classes. Inner classes are, in some sense, a bit of a fiction that we use as a convenient abstraction mechanism. And since inner classes are part of the enclosing class, their private information is its private information, and so is shared with other inner classes.
As per the JLS
The body of a class declares members (fields and methods and nested
classes and interfaces), instance and static initializers, and
constructors. The scope of a member is the
entire body of the declaration of the class to which the member
belongs. Field, method, member class, member interface, and
constructor declarations may include the access modifiers
public, protected, or private.
So, as per the example, class Bar and class Meh both belongs class Foo.
Hence, any member of Foo will have access to all its other members regardless its a field method or nested class/interface as per the first line in the specs.
Comment questioin:
If I made the variable within Bar to be public instead of private would it then become accessible outside of Foo even though it's from an inner class?
Yes of course it is accessible from outside of the class.
Look at the below example
class A {
Foo foo = new Foo();
Foo.Bar bar = foo.new Bar("name");
public void someOtherMethod() {
bar.barbar = "someOtherName";
//this is valid only if barbar is public
//or if it is default and within the same package
}
}
The inner class is just a way to cleanly separate some functionality that really belongs to the original outer class. They are intended to be used when you have 2 requirements:
Some piece of functionality in your outer class would be most clear if it was implemented in a separate class.
Even though it's in a separate class, the functionality is very closely tied to way that the outer class works.
Given these requirements, inner classes have full access to their outer class. Since they're basically a member of the outer class, it makes sense that they have access to methods and attributes of the outer class -- including privates.
I don't think you're going to find the rationale behind the design of the language unless you talk to the people who designed it. However, one can often get insight into the "why" through the Java Language Specification. Section 6.3 (Scope of a Declaration) lays out the rules for scoping and has examples of the rules in action.
Specifically, the behavior you're asking about is covered by the statement:
The scope of a local class declaration immediately enclosed by a block
is the rest of the immediately enclosing block, including its own
class declaration.
Your two local classes have the same scope, i.e. the "immediately enclosing block", specifically class Foo.
Perhaps in your question you can explain why you think barbar should be inaccessible to the enclosing class, and then we can address any misconceptions you have about how Java works.
Why can I not have a interface inside of a inner class? Why are they inherently static? Sorry if it's a stupid question, I've tried my best to google this again and again but I can't seem to wrap it around my head. As in why cannot I declare these in inner classes/local classes?
Also just as a confirmation, the reason we can have static final variables in a interface is because they do not specify the state or any of that sort of the implementation right? If we lose static and use just a final, we need a instance which makes no sense cause you can't instantiate a interface. Sorry, I really am confused, and I know I should just make another question but I think these two questions are somewhat related.
Think about what static means - "not related to a particular instance". So, as you point out, a static field of class Foo is a field that does not belong to any Foo instance, but rather belongs to the Foo class itself.
Now think about what an interface is - it's a contract, a list of methods that classes which implement it promise to provide. Another way of thinking about this is that an interface is a set of methods that is "not related to a particular class" - any class can implement it, as long as it provides those methods.
So, if an interface is not related to any particular class, clearly one could not be related to an instance of a class - right?
*Note, as #Owlstead points out, there are ways of defining interfaces within classes. But, for the purposes of wrapping your head around what an interface is (which seems to be what you're working on), I would ignore those possibilities for now as they distract from and possibly obscure the purpose of interfaces in general.
Why are they [interfaces] inherently static?
The difference between a static and a non-static nested class is in whether their instances have implicit references to enclosing instances (of the containing class), as well as to local variables from the containing scope. Before Java 8, there was no way for an interface to make use of such implicit references, because an interface could not initialize any non-static fields or provide any method implementations. (It still can't initialize non-static fields, though now it can provide default method implementations.) So before Java 8, there was no meaning in a non-static nested interface.
Also, from an implementation standpoint, these implicit references are implemented as an extra fields on the inner class, and they also require extra arguments to the inner-class constructor (in order to initialize these fields). Interfaces don't have fields, or constructors, so there's no way to implement this.
(Note: I don't usually recommend trying to understand language design decisions in terms of the implementation, because a single language feature can have many different correct implementations. But I think this is one case where understanding the implementation helps to understand the specification, hence the previous paragraph.)
Why can I not have a interface inside of a inner class?
Because interfaces are implicitly static: JLS §8.5.1:
A member interface is implicitly static (§9.1.1). It is permitted for the declaration of a member interface to redundantly specify the static modifier.
and you can't have non-final statics in an inner class.
Why are they implicitly static?
Because that's the way they designed it.
why cannot I declare these in inner classes/local classes?
Because they're implicitly static.
the reason we can have static final variables in a interface is because they do not specify the state or any of that sort of the implementation right?
Right.
If we lose static and use just a final, we need a instance
Right.
which makes no sense cause you can't instantiate a interface.
Yes you can. You can instantiate a class which implements the interface, or you can instantiate a method-local anonymous implementation of it. The real issue here is multiple inheritance of interfaces.
You cannot have an interface inside of an inner class because an inner class only exists within the context of an instance of an 'outer class'. Since this is the case, your interface would be de facto non-static.
You can, however have an interface inside of a nested class. See #owlstead answer. By placing the 'static' keyword on a the declaration of an 'inner class', it becomes a first class citizen, referencable from outside the outer class and (mostly) independent of the context of the outer class. Nested classes can be instantiated outside of the outer class; inner classes cannot.
After Java 16 release we can have static members inside Inner classes and static variables can be declared if they are final or effectively final. See this image
https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/17/language/java-language-changes.html#GUID-8FD2B5E3-46C7-4C6C-8E8A-64AB49ABF855
I just started reading a Java book and wondered; which access specifier is the default one, if none is specified?
The default visibility is known as “package-private” (though you can't use this explicitly), which means the field will be accessible from inside the same package to which the class belongs.
As mdma pointed out, it isn't true for interface members though, for which the default is "public".
See Java's Access Specifiers
The default specifier depends upon context.
For classes, and interface declarations, the default is package private. This falls between protected and private, allowing only classes in the same package access. (protected is like this, but also allowing access to subclasses outside of the package.)
class MyClass // package private
{
int field; // package private field
void calc() { // package private method
}
}
For interface members (fields and methods), the default access is public. But note that the interface declaration itself defaults to package private.
interface MyInterface // package private
{
int field1; // static final public
void method1(); // public abstract
}
If we then have the declaration
public interface MyInterface2 extends MyInterface
{
}
Classes using MyInterface2 can then see field1 and method1 from the super interface, because they are public, even though they cannot see the declaration of MyInterface itself.
If no access specifier is given, it's package-level access (there is no explicit specifier for this) for classes and class members. Interface methods are implicitly public.
The default visibility (no keyword) is package which means that it will be available to every class that is located in the same package.
Interesting side note is that protected doesn't limit visibility to the subclasses but also to the other classes in the same package
It depends on what the thing is.
Top-level types (that is, classes, enums, interfaces, and annotation types not declared inside another type) are package-private by default. (JLS §6.6.1)
In classes, all members (that means fields, methods, and nested type declarations) and constructors are package-private by default. (JLS §6.6.1)
When a class has no explicitly declared constructor, the compiler inserts a default zero-argument constructor which has the same access specifier as the class. (JLS §8.8.9) The default constructor is commonly misstated as always being public, but in rare cases that's not equivalent.
In enums, constructors are private by default. Indeed, enum contructors must be private, and it is an error to specify them as public or protected. Enum constants are always public, and do not permit any access specifier. Other members of enums are package-private by default. (JLS §8.9)
In interfaces and annotation types, all members (again, that means fields, methods, and nested type declarations) are public by default. Indeed, members of interfaces and annotation types must be public, and it is an error to specify them as private or protected. (JLS §9.3 to 9.5)
Local classes are named classes declared inside a method, constructor, or initializer block. They are scoped to the {..} block in which they are declared and do not permit any access specifier. (JLS §14.3) Using reflection, you can instantiate local classes from elsewhere, and they are package-private, although I'm not sure if that detail is in the JLS.
Anonymous classes are custom classes created with new which specify a class body directly in the expression. (JLS §15.9.5) Their syntax does not permit any access specifier. Using reflection, you can instantiate anonymous classes from elsewhere, and both they and their generated constructors are are package-private, although I'm not sure if that detail is in the JLS.
Instance and static initializer blocks do not have access specifiers at the language level (JLS §8.6 & 8.7), but static initializer blocks are implemented as a method named <clinit> (JVMS §2.9), so the method must, internally, have some access specifier. I examined classes compiled by javac and by Eclipse's compiler using a hex editor and found that both generate the method as package-private. However, you can't call <clinit>() within the language because the < and > characters are invalid in a method name, and the reflection methods are hardwired to deny its existence, so effectively its access specifier is no access. The method can only be called by the VM, during class initialization. Instance initializer blocks are not compiled as separate methods; their code is copied into each constructor, so they can't be accessed individually, even by reflection.
default is a keyword that is used as an access modifier for methods and variables.
Using this access modifier will make your class, variable, method or constructor acessible from own class or package, it will be also is set if no access modifier is present.
Access Levels
Modifier Class Package Subclass EveryWhere
public Y Y Y Y
protected Y Y Y N
default Y Y N N
private Y N N N
if you use a default in a interface you will be able to implement a method there like this exemple
public interface Computer {
default void Start() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Error");
}
}
However it will only works from the 8 Java version
Official Documentation
Access Modifiers in Java
See here for more details. The default is none of private/public/protected, but a completely different access specification. It's not widely used, and I prefer to be much more specific in my access definitions.
the default access specifier is package.Classes can access the members of other classes in the same package.but outside the package it appears as private
Here is a quote about package level visibility from an interview with James Gosling, the creator of Java:
Bill Venners: Java has four access levels. The default is package. I
have always wondered if making package access default was convenient
because the three keywords that people from C++ already knew about
were private, protected, and public. Or if you had some particular
reason that you felt package access should be the default.
James Gosling: A package is generally a set of things that are kind of
written together. So generically I could have done one of two things.
One was force you always to put in a keyword that gives you the
domain. Or I could have had a default value. And then the question is,
what makes a sensible default? And I tend to go for what is the least
dangerous thing.
So public would have been a really bad thing to make the default.
Private would probably have been a bad thing to make a default, if
only because people actually don't write private methods that often.
And same thing with protected. And in looking at a bunch of code that
I had, I decided that the most common thing that was reasonably safe
was in the package. And C++ didn't have a keyword for that, because
they didn't have a notion of packages.
But I liked it rather than the friends notion, because with friends
you kind of have to enumerate who all of your friends are, and so if
you add a new class to a package, then you generally end up having to
go to all of the classes in that package and update their friends,
which I had always found to be a complete pain in the butt.
But the friends list itself causes sort of a versioning problem. And
so there was this notion of a friendly class. And the nice thing that
I was making that the default -- I'll solve the problem so what should
the keyword be?
For a while there actually was a friendly keyword. But because all the
others start with "P," it was "phriendly" with a "PH." But that was
only in there for maybe a day.
http://www.artima.com/intv/gosling2P.html
Update Java 8 usage of default keyword:
As many others have noted The default visibility (no keyword)
the field will be accessible from inside the same package to which the
class belongs.
Not to be confused with the new Java 8 feature (Default Methods) that allows an interface to provide an implementation when its labeled with the default keyword.
See: Access modifiers
There is an access modifier called "default" in JAVA, which allows direct instance creation of that entity only within that package.
Here is a useful link:
Java Access Modifiers/Specifiers
First of all let me say one thing there is no such term as "Access specifier" in java. We should call everything as "Modifiers". As we know that final, static, synchronised, volatile.... are called as modifiers, even Public, private, protected, default, abstract should also be called as modifiers . Default is such a modifiers where physical existence is not there but no modifiers is placed then it should be treated as default modifiers.
To justify this take one example:
public class Simple{
public static void main(String args[]){
System.out.println("Hello Java");
}
}
Output will be: Hello Java
Now change public to private and see what compiler error you get:
It says "Modifier private is not allowed here"
What conclusion is someone can be wrong or some tutorial can be wrong but compiler cannot be wrong.
So we can say there is no term access specifier in java everything is modifiers.