PURE Java™ 2

Classes

Classes define what an object will be like, its state and behavior. If I create a primitive and initialize it as in

int x = 6;

there is a memory location set aside that contains the number 6 as an int. x refers directly to that memory location. If, however, I code

JFrame mainFrame = new Frame();

mainFrame is not the name of the JFrame object, but an object reference to the JFrame object. This has important ramifications. Consider this little class definition:

public class Book
     {
      boolean reservedStatus;
       int checkOutPeriod;
       String title;
     }

When another class does

Book b = new Book();

memory is allocated for the data members reservedStatus and checkOutPeriod. Furthermore, that memory is given default, initial values, such as false ...