Java Illuminated, 5th Edition

2.1 Java Application Structure

Every Java program consists of at least one class. It is impossible to write a Java program that doesn’t use classes. Classes describe a logical entity that has data as well as methods (the instructions) to manipulate that data. An object is a physical instantiation of the class that contains specific data. In Example 2.1 we provide a shell that contains the basic format of a Java application with a class name of ShellApplication. Our source code will use this format, changing the class name as appropriate.

EXAMPLE 2.1 A Shell for a Java Application

 1 /* An application shell
 2    Anderson, Franceschi
 3 */
 4 public class ShellApplication
 5 {
 6    public static void main( String [ ] args ) // required
 7    {
 8       // write ...