Java™ How To Program (Early Objects), Tenth Edition

8.4 Referring to the Current Object’s Members with the this Reference

Every object can access a reference to itself with keyword this (sometimes called the this reference). When an instance method is called for a particular object, the method’s body implicitly uses keyword this to refer to the object’s instance variables and other methods. This enables the class’s code to know which object should be manipulated. As you’ll see in Fig. 8.4, you can also use keyword this explicitly in an instance method’s body. Section 8.5 shows another interesting use of keyword this. Section 8.11 explains why keyword this cannot be used in a static method.

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 1   // Fig. 8.4: ThisTest.java 2   // this used implicitly and explicitly ...