Chapter 2

Dr. Sami Albouq

What You Will Learn
• Identifier
• Variables
• Data types
• Variable initialization
• Change variable value
• Constant
• Assignment

Dr. Sami Albouq

Identifier
A name that is used to identify:
• Variable
• Method
• Class How did we choose
• Other programming element. this name?

Example:
public class Welcome

Can we use 123 as a

class name?

Dr. Sami Albouq

Identifier
Identifier Rules Example Cannot do this
Starts with: a letter (a-z or A-Z), dollar age
sign($), or underscore(_) $um
_count
Followed by: zero or more letters, dollar signs, _count2 2_count
underscores, or digits(0-9) COUNT1 1COUNT
Case-sensitive! Uppercase and lowercase are RATE
different. Rate, rate, and RATE are the names of rate
three different variable Rate
Cannot be any of the reserved names public
void,, etc..
identifier cannot contain white space (e.g., _ count or count 1
student grade).
Can theoretically be of any length myAppCanDoSomething

Dr. Sami Albouq

Identifier
Keywords and Reserved words:

Identifiers that have a predefined meaning in Java

Do not use them to name anything else.

Examples:

public class void static

if for private

Dr. Sami Albouq

Identifier
Predefined identifiers:
Identifiers that are defined in libraries required by the Java
language standard

Although they can be redefined, this could be confusing and

dangerous if doing so would change their standard meaning

Examples:

System String println

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Check Your Knowledge

Identifier Correct (Y or N) Explain

Rate
7age
_myAge
void Variable
intNumber
Abstract
abstract

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Variables

In Java, a variable is a container that holds a value that can

be used by the program. Variables can be used to store various
types of data such as integers, floating-point numbers,
characters, and strings.

Every variable must have:

1. Data type
2. Name
3. Value

Dr. Sami Albouq

How to Declare Variables in
JAVA?
• What does variable declaration mean?

• Variable declaration is the process of creating a new

variable in a program. It involves specifying the name of
the variable and its data type, which defines the kind of
data that can be stored in the variable.
• Instructs the compiler to reserve a portion of memory space
large enough to hold a particular type of value
• Indicates the name by which we refer to that location

Dr. Sami Albouq

Variable Declaration
Datatype Identifier ;

boolean | char | byte

Any name that meets
short | int | long End of the statement
the rules of java
float | double

Example: int age ;

byte x ;
double y ;

Dr. Sami Albouq

Data Types
Data type tells the compiler:
• How much memory to allocate
• How to store the data
• The types of operations you will perform on the data

Compiler monitors use of data

• Java is a strongly typed language

Java has eight primitive data types

byte, short, int, long, float, double, char, boolean

Dr. Sami Albouq

Data Types

Dr. Sami Albouq

Declare Variables
Note variables are typically declared just before they are
used or at the start of a block (indicated by an opening
brace { )
public class Test{
public static void main (String [] args){

int x; // uninitialized
int y; // uninitialized
int n1, n2; // uninitialized

}
n1 n2 x y
}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

RAM

Dr. Sami Albouq

Declare Variables and Assign
Them Values
Note variables are typically declared just before they are
used or at the start of a block (indicated by an opening
brace { )
public class Test{
public static void main (String [] args){

int x = 1; // inline initialization

int y; // uninitialized
int n1 = 5, n2; // inline initialization and uninitialized
y = 12; // late initialization

} n1 n2 x y
}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

5 1 12 RAM
Dr. Sami Albouq
Change Variable Values
In Java, you can change the value of a variable by
assigning a new value to it using the assignment operator
"=".
public class Test{
public static void main (String [] args){

int x = 1; // Declare x and assign an initial value of 1

x = 3; // Change the value of x to 3
x = 4 + 5; // Change the value of x to be 4 + 5
int y = 3 ; // Declare y and assign an initial value of 3
y = 2 + x // Change the value of y to be 2 + x where x is equal to 9

}
}
x y

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9 11 RAM

Dr. Sami Albouq

Do Not Do This
Redeclaring a variable in Java means declaring the same variable
again within the same scope with a different data type or the
same data type. This is not allowed in Java, and it will result
in a compile-time error.

public class Test{

public static void main (String [] args){

int x = 1; // Declare x and assign an initial value of 1

// trying to redeclare variable x with value 10 (this will result in a compile-time error)
int x = 10

}
}

Dr. Sami Albouq

Check Your Knowledge
Do we have a problem in following code segment?
How can we fix the problem?

public class Test{

public static void main (String [] args){

sum = num1 + num2;

System.out.println(”The sum is ” + sum);
}
}

Dr. Sami Albouq

Check Your Knowledge
Do we have a problem in following code segment?
Yes, we do. We did not declare the variables sum, num1, and num2 yet.
How can we fix the problem?
We need to declare sum, num1, and num2 and assign them values.

public class Test{

public static void main (String [] args){

sum = num1 + num2;

System.out.println(”The sum is ” + sum);
}
}

Dr. Sami Albouq

Check Your Knowledge
Do we have a problem in following code segment?
Yes, we do. We did not declare the variables sum, num1, and num2 yet.
How can we fix the problem?
We need to declare sum, num1, and num2 and assign them values.

public class Test{

public static void main (String [] args){

int sum, num1 = 1, num2 = 3;

// after this step the value of sum will be 4.
sum = num1 + num2;
System.out.println(”The sum is ” + sum);
}
sum num1 num2
}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

RAM
4 1 3
Dr. Sami Albouq
Primitive Data Types
Basic types in java are called primitive types

• Integer types:
• int: most common
• short, byte: for small integers
• long: for huge values

• Floating point types:

• float: roughly 7 digits of precision
• double: 16 digits of precision
• char: a single character

• boolean: (true or false)

Dr. Sami Albouq

Named Constant
• Constant represents permanent data that never changes.
• A constant must be declared and initialized at the same line
• The word final is a java keyword for declaring a constant
• Example π

final Datatype CONSTANTNAME = Value;

A value of
Java reserved keyword boolean | char | byte Any name that
the same
indicates the value short | int | long meets the
data type
will not change float | double rules of java

Example: final int MAX_SIZE = 100;

final float PI = 3.14159f;
Dr. Sami Albouq
Naming Conventions
• Names of variables should be meaningful and reflect
the data they will store.

int studentAge = 60;

int classRoomNumber = 60;

• Don't skimp on characters, but avoid extremely long

names.

int age = 60;

int IamFromIslamicUniversity_age_whatElse = 60;

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Statements With
Primitive Types

In Java, the assignment statement is used to change

the value of a variable

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Statements With
Primitive Types
• The equal sign (=) is used as the assignment operator
• An assignment statement consists of a variable on the left side of
the operator, and an expression on the right side of the operator
Variable = Expression;

• An expression consists of a variable, number, or mix of variables,

numbers, operators, and/or method invocations

temperature = 98.6;
count = numberOfBeans;

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Statements With
Primitive Types
• When an assignment statement is executed, the expression is first
evaluated, and then the variable on the left-hand side of the equal
sign is set equal to the value of the expression

distance = rate * time;

• Note that a variable can occur on both sides of the assignment

operator
count = count + 2;

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Statements With
Primitive Types
The assignment operator is automatically executed from right-to-left,
so assignment statements can be chained

step 2: number1 = 3

number2 = number1 = 3;

step 3: number2 = step 1: 3 will be

number1 assigned to number 1

Dr. Sami Albouq

Examples

Example 1: int x; // Declare a variable of type int

x = 10; // Assign the value 10 to the variable x
int y = 4; // Declare a variable of type int and initialize it with 4
y = y + x + 4;
Variable y
appeared in
both sides
Expression
Example 2: int a = 5;
int b = 3;
int c = a + b; // Assign the result of the expression "a + b" to the variable c

Variable

Dr. Sami Albouq

Shorthand Assignment
• Shorthand assignment notation combines the assignment operator (=) and
an arithmetic operator
• It is used to change the value of a variable by adding, subtracting,
multiplying, or dividing by a specified value The general form is

Variable Op = Expression
which is equivalent to

Variable = Variable Op (Expression)

• The Expression can be another variable, a constant, or a more

complicated expression
• Some examples of what Op can be are +, -, *, /, or %

Dr. Sami Albouq

Shorthand Assignment
Example: Equivalent To:
count += 2; count = count + 2;

sum -= discount; sum = sum – discount;

bonus *= 2; bonus = bonus * 2;

time /= time =
rushFactor; time / rushFactor;

change %= 100; change = change % 100;

amount *= amount = amount * (count1 +

count1 + count2; count2);

Dr. Sami Albouq

Practice
Here are some examples of shorthand assignments in Java:

1. Addition:
int x = 5;
x += 3; // equivalent to x = x + 3;
System.out.println(x);

2. Moduls
int b = 13;
b %= 5; // equivalent to b = b % 5;
System.out.println(b);

You may see something like this in the exam and the question
will be what is the output of the following statements.

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Compatibility
• In general, the value of one type cannot be stored in a variable of
another type
int intVariable = 2.99; //Illegal

• The above example results in a type mismatch because a double value

cannot be stored in an int variable

• However, there are exceptions to this

double doubleVariable = 2;

For example, an int value can be stored in a double type

Dr. Sami Albouq

Assignment Compatibility
• More generally, a value of any type in the following list can
be assigned to a variable of any type that appears to the right
of it

byte®short®int®long®float®double
char
• Note that as your move down the list from left to right, the
range of allowed values for the types becomes larger
• An explicit type cast is required to assign a value of one type
to a variable whose type appears to the left of it on the above
list (e.g., double to int)
• Note that in Java an int cannot be assigned to a variable of
type boolean, nor can a boolean be assigned to a variable of
type int

Dr. Sami Albouq

 Examples assign double
to int var

Example 1: int num = 5.5; // Error: mismatch between int type and floating-point value

Example 2: short s = 256;

byte b = s; // -127 to 128 but s exceeds the size of b
System.out.println(b);
The size of b
is smaller than
s

Example 3: byte b = 100 * 2; // the result exceeds the range -127 to 128
System.out.println(b);

Dr. Sami Albouq

Arithmetic Operators

• As in most languages, expressions can be formed in Java using

variables, constants, and arithmetic operators

• These operators are + (addition), - (subtraction), *

(multiplication), / (division), and % (modulo, remainder)

• An expression can be used anyplace it is legal to use a value of

the type produced by the expression

Dr. Sami Albouq

Arithmetic Operators
Name Meaning Example Result

+ Addition 34 + 1 35

- Subtraction 34.0 – 0.1 33.9

* Multiplication 300 * 30 9000

/ Division 1.0 / 2.0 0.5

% Remainder 20 % 3 2

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Integer Division
Integer division is a type of division operation that involves
two integer operands, and it returns an integer result. In Java,
integer division is denoted by the / operator.

Example 1: int x = 10;

int y = 3;
int z = x / y; // z will be 3, as the result is rounded down to the nearest integer

Dr. Sami Albouq

 Avoid Integer Division
To avoid integer division, you can either use floating-point
division or use type casting to convert one or both of the
integer operands to a floating-point type before performing the
division.

Example 1: int x = 10;

int y = 3;
int z = x / y; // z will be 3, as the result is rounded down to the nearest integer

Example 1: int x = 10;

double y = 3.0;
double z = x / y; // z will be 3.33333,

Dr. Sami Albouq

Examples
Example 1: 5 / 2 yields an integer 2.
Note both are integer values

Example 2: 5.0 / 2 yields a double value 2.5

Note one of then is a floating point value

Example 3: 5 % 2 yields 1 (the remainder of the division)

Note both are integers, but how about 5.5 % 2?

Dr. Sami Albouq

 Now You Can Answer :
1.What characters can be used in a Java identifier?
2.Are Java identifiers case-sensitive or case-insensitive?
3.Can Java keywords be used as identifiers?
4.Are there any restrictions on the length of a Java identifier?
5.What is a variable declaration in Java?
6.What are the different data types that can be used for Java
variable declarations?
7.What is the syntax for declaring a variable in Java?
8.Can multiple variables of the same data type be declared in a
single statement in Java?
9.What is the scope of a variable declared in Java, and how does it
affect the visibility and accessibility of the variable within a
program?

Dr. Sami Albouq

 Practical Questions:
1.What is the result of 5 / 2 in Java?
Answer: The result is 2, because integer division truncates the
decimal portion of the result.

2.What is the result of 5.0 / 2 in Java?

Answer: The result is 2.5, because floating-point division retains the
decimal portion of the result.

3.What is the result of 1 / 2 in Java?

Answer: The result is 0, because integer division truncates the decimal
portion of the result.

Dr. Sami Albouq

Practical Questions:
1.Declare two integer variables x and y, and assign them values of 10 and 5,
respectively. Then, write a new line of code that adds x and y together and
assigns the result to a new integer variable called z. Finally, print the value
of z to the console.

int x = 10;
int y = 5;
int z = x + y;
System.out.println("The value of z is: " + z);

2. Declare two integer variables m and n, and assign them values of 10 and 2,
respectively. Then, write a new line of code that divides m by n and assigns
the result to a new integer variable called o. Finally, print the value of o to
the console.

int m = 10;
int n = 2;
int o = m / n;
System.out.println("The value of o is: " + o);

Dr. Sami Albouq