How do I define an integer constant in binary format?

By Wayan in Java Basic 0 Comment

The JDK 7 add a small feature to work with a binary number. In the previous JDK we have to use the Integer.parseInt() method if we need to work with other base number. But with this new feature introduced in the Project Coin we can simplify the code when we work with the binary number.

To specify a binary literal in the code, add the prefix 0b or 0B to the number. The following code snippet show you how to write the binary literals:

package org.kodejava.example.fundamental;

public class BinaryLiteralExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // In JDK 6 and the previous version you must use the
        // Integer.parseInt() method to define a number using
        // a binary literal.
        int x = Integer.parseInt("00101010", 2);
        System.out.println("x = " + x);

        // In the new JDK 7 you can simply use the following
        // binary literal to define a number using a binary
        // literal.
        int y = 0b00101010;
        System.out.println("y = " + y);
    }
}

The result of our code snippet:

x = 42
y = 42

How do I pick a random value from an enum?

By Wayan in Java Basic 0 Comment

The following code snippet will show you how to pick a random value from an enum. First we’ll create an enum called BaseColor which will have three valid value. These values are Red, Green and Blue.

To allow us to get random value of this BaseColor enum we define a getRandomColor() method in the enum. This method use the java.util.Random to create a random value. This random value then will be used to pick a random value from the enum.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.example.basic;

import java.util.Random;

public class EnumGetRandomValueExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Pick a random BaseColor for 10 times.
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            System.out.printf("color[%d] = %s%n", i, 
                    BaseColor.getRandomColor());
        }
    }

    /**
     * BaseColor enum.
     */
    private enum BaseColor {
        Red,
        Green,
        Blue;

        /**
         * Pick a random value of the BaseColor enum.
         * @return a random BaseColor.
         */
        public static BaseColor getRandomColor() {
            Random random = new Random();
            return values()[random.nextInt(values().length)];
        }
    }
}

The output of the code snippet:

color[0] = Blue
color[1] = Red
color[2] = Red
color[3] = Green
color[4] = Blue
color[5] = Blue
color[6] = Green
color[7] = Red
color[8] = Red
color[9] = Green

How do I use the diamond syntax?

By Wayan in Java Basic 0 Comment

In Java 7 a new feature called diamond syntax or diamond operator was introduced. This diamond syntax <> simplify how we instantiate generic type variables. In the previous version of Java when declaring and instantiating generic types we’ll do it like the snippet below:

List<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
Map<String, List<Integer>> map = new HashMap<String, List<Integer>>();

As you can see in the snippet, we were repeating our self by defining the generic type two times. We define the object type we’ll be stored in the List and the Map on both left and the right side. By using the diamond syntax the compiler will infer the type of the right side expression argument automatically. So in Java 7 we can write the above code snippet like this:

List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
Map<String, List<Integer>> map = new HashMap<>();

This make our code simpler and more readable and by using the diamond syntax the compiler will ensure that we have the generic type safe checking available in our code. This will make any error due to type incompatibility captured at the compile time.