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   Lecture 5

Operators and Expressions 

 

Read on for an overview of operators, expression, precedence and order of expression evaluation and type conversion.. 

Operators & Operands

Expressions


Operators and Operands 

We know that variables can be assigned values once they are declared.  We can also modify the value a variable holds at any time later in the program.  Consider the following:-

int x = 10;

x = 5;

The variable x was declared and assigned a value of 10.  Later, x is assigned a new value of 5. Variables have only one value — the current one. 

The general form of an assignment statement is:

variable = expression.

Really, the assignment operator = does not mean ‘is equal to’ in the algebraic sense. You should imagine it as meaning ‘becomes’ or ‘set’.  Thus, x = 5 means x is set to a value of 5.

You should know the meaning of operator and operand.  In the statement x = 5, the operator is = and the operands are x and 5.

 Let's look at some more assignment operators.


Assignment Operators

Here are some more assignment statements.

int x;

int y;

x = 6;          //assign the literal value of 6 to x

y = x;         //assign the value held by the variable x to y

The following is a common sort of operation.

x = x + 2;   // x is assigned a new value of 8

The variable x is re-assigned the value it currently holds added to the number 2.  In other words - add the number 2 to the value of x and re-assign this new number to x.  

Here are a few more examples of a similar kind.

x = 6; 

x = x - 2;    //x is assigned a new value of 4.  I.e. 6 - 2

x = x * 2;    //x is assigned a new value of 8.  I.e. 4 * 2

x = x / 2;    //x is assigned a new value of 4.  I.e. 8 / 2

x = x % 2;    //x is assigned a new value of 0.  I.e. 4 % 2 leaves a remainder of 0

The table below shows there are shorthand operators for these 5 operations.  Instead of typing:-

x = x + 2; 

I can type:-

x += 2; 

Which produces the same result.  A complete list of assignment operators is shown in the table below.

Operator

Name

Example/Description

=

assignment 

x = 10;  //put the value of 10 into x

x = y;  //put the value of y into x

+=

assignment with addition

i +=10;  //shorthand for i = i+10

-=

assignment with subtraction

i -=10;  //shorthand for i = i-10

*=

assignment with multiplication

i *=10;  //shorthand for i = i*10

/=

assignment with division

i /=10;  //shorthand for i = i/10

%=

assignment with modulo division

rem %=10;  //shorthand for rem = rem%10

~Now try the activity~

Activity A

  1. Determine the values of x and y at the end of the code fragment

int x = 10, y = 5;

x += 2;

y *= x;

  1. Determine the values of p and q at the end of the code fragment

int p = 10, q = 16;

p -= 2;

q /=  p;

Why not check your answers by using code.

 


Arithmetic Operators

The arithmetic operators are listed below.  

Operator

Name

 Example/Description

+  

addition

x = y + 4;  //put the value of y plus 4 into x

  - 

subtraction

x = y - 4;  //put the value of y minus 4 into x

*   

multiplication

x = y * 4;  //put the value of y times 4 into x

/   

division

x = y / 4;  //put the value of y divide by 4 into x

  %   

modulo (remainder)  

x = y % 4;  //put the value of the remainder of y divided by 4 into x

You should note that the effect of division in Java is not always the same as arithmetic division when using integers.  For example:-

10 / 4 will give the integer result 2

int x = 10;

x / 4 will also give the integer result 2

If any of the operands are real, the result will be real;-

10.0 / 4 will give the real result 2.25

int x = 10.0;

x / 4 will also give the real result 2.25

Warning: do NOT attempt to divide by zero; this will cause an error.

~Now try the activity~

Activity B

  1. Determine the values of x and y at the end of the code fragment

int x = 10, y = 5;

x = y + 2;

y = x + 4;

  1. Determine the values of p and q at the end of the code fragment

int p = 10, q = 5;

p =  4 - q;

q =  4 / p;

  1. Determine the values of rem at the end of the code fragment

int rem = 6 % 4;

Why not check your answers by using code.

 


Increment/Decrement Operators

Some time ago a large number of programs were studied, and statements of the form

int n = 5;

n = n + 1;

were found to be extremely common.  The n on the left-hand side of the = is assigned a new value using the current value of n, incremented by 1, in this case resulting in 6. 

Thus 

something = something + 1;

and

something = something - 1;

were found to be such a common instructions that many programming languages including Java created a shorthand version of this increment or decrement instruction

The shorthand increment version is written as:

something++;

The shorthand decrement version is written as:

something--;

The table below shows the increment/decrement operators.

Operator

Name

 Example/Description

++ 

increment before

++j;         //increment j by 1 before using

k = ++j;   //increment j by 1 before assigning the value to k

++ 

increment after

k = j++;   //increment j by 1 after assigning the value of j to k

--

decrement before

--j;         //decrement j by 1 before using

k = --j;   //decrement j by 1 before assigning the value to k

--

decrement after

k = j--;   //decrement j by 1 after assigning the value of j to k

We can see from the table that the increment and decrement operators can be positioned before or after a value or variable.  To understand the different results from this positioning let's look at a few examples.

Increment example

int count = 10;

count = count + 1;  //Increment count by 1. Result is count holds a value of 11

Alternative

count++;    //Increment count by 1

Decrement example

int count = 10;

count = count - 1;  //decrement count by 1.  Result is count holds a value of 9

Alternative

count++;    //decrement count by 1

Now, the position of the increment/decrement operators can be important in an expression.  

When ++ follows the variable (e.g. count++) incrementation happens last.  This is called post-incrementing.   When ++ comes before the variable (e.g. ++count) incrementation happens last.  This is called pre-incrementing.

Post-increment example

int k = 10, ans;

ans = k++;  

The value of k is assigned to ans first.  Then k is incremented.  So ans now has a value of 10 and k has a value of 11. 

Pre-increment example

int k = 10, ans;

ans = ++k;  

First k is incremented.  Then the value of k is assigned to ans.  So ans now has a value of 11 and k has a value of 11. 

The same principles apply to the decrement operator -- only we would call it post-decrementing and pre-decrementing. 

~Now try the activity~

Activity C

  1. Determine the values of ans and count at the end of the code fragment

int ans = 1, count = 2;

ans += count++;

  1. Determine the values of p and q at the end of the code fragment

int p = 10, q = 5;

p = ++q + 3;

  1. Determine the values of x and y at the end of the code fragment

int x = 2, y = 5;

y  += 3;

x *= y--;

Why not check your answers by using code.

   


Expressions

An expression in Java is a combination of operators and operands (variables, literal values and method calls.)  In the expression

     a = b + c;

 a, b and c are variables (or operands) and = and + are operators.  Since an expression can contain an unlimited number of operators in any order, you have to be aware of both operator associativity,  precedence and order of expression evaluation.

Associativity

If all the operators are the same then the rule is simple - all the arithmetic operators associate left to right.  Consider the following:-

a = b + c + d;

In calculating the value on the right of the = operator, b + c is calculated first, then d is added to the result.  

Here are a few more.

vol  =  length * height * depth;

result = x / y / z;

In the first case, although the expression (length * height * depth) is evaluated from left to right you would get the same answer even if you could change this associative order (which you can't).  In the second case you would get an incorrect answer if somehow the associative order could be changed. 

To see this, consider the correct equivalent of  x / y / z using parenthesis:-

result = ( x / y)  /  z;

If you assumed the following was equivalent you would be incorrect.

result = x / (y  /  z);

Try giving values to x, y, z.  Say x = 10, y = 5 and z = 2.  Then

result =  x / y  /  z;  is equivalent to (10/5)/2 which is 1, not 10/(5/2) =  4

Precedence & Order of Evaluation

What happens if the operators in an expression are not all the same type, but are a mixture?  The associative rule doesn't apply.  In mathematics, if you write A+B*C you would first multiply B by C and then add A.  Thus, the multiplication operator takes precedence over the addition operator.  In fact, the operators * and / take precedence over + and -.  The same precedence rules are applied in Java.

Here are some examples...

3 + 4 * 2 results in 11

3 - 4 / 2 results in 1

3 + 4 * 2 - 5 results in 6

It is often better to use parenthesis to make sure that expressions are evaluated in the order we wish and to make our code clearer.  Parenthesis take the highest precedence.  Any expression in parentheses is evaluated first.

Let's re-write the examples above using parentheses.

3 + ( 4 * 2) results in 11

3 - (4 / 2) results in 1

3 + (4 * 2) - 5 results in 6

I can force a change in the natural precedence order.  The expression:-

3 + 4 * 2 results in 11

is equivalent to

3 + ( 4 * 2) results in 11

but I could force a change in the precedence order by moving the parentheses:-

(3  +  4 )* 2  results in 14

   

~Now try the activity~

Activity D

Determine the result of each of the following expressions.

  1. 6 + 3 * 4 / 2 

  2. (6 + 3) * 4 / 2 

  3. -5 * 4 - 6 / 2 

  4. -5 * (4 - 6) / 2 

Why not check your answers by using code.

   


Type Conversion

What happens if we have an expression with different data types involved?  e.g.

float x;

int y = 5;

x = y;

What will be the resulting value of x?  Will it be 5 or a floating point version of 5, say 5.0.  

In fact x would end up with a floating point version of 5.  In this case, Java automatically converts the integer value of 5 to a floating point value of 5.0.  

 As we will see, Java will carry out automatic type conversion in some cases.  If we specifically need to convert values from one type to another we can force a type conversion.

Let's look at automatic conversion and then how to force a type conversion.

Automatic type conversion

Automatic type conversion means that we can copy a weaker data type to a stronger one, such as an int to a float and a float to a double without having to think about it.  Java automatically does the conversion for us.

Consider:-

int x = 4;

double y;

y = x;

Then x would have the value of  4 but y would have the value of 4.0.   Instead of assigning an integer 4 to y, the 4 is converted to a double and then assigned to y because y is expecting to hold a double data type and not an integer.

Java will carry out type conversion automatically for us as long as the conversion is from a weaker type to a stronger type.  

 

 byte           short           int           long           float           double   

 

 Weakest

Strongest

 

However, trying to convert from a stronger to a weaker type, such as...

int x; 

double y = 3.2;

x = y;

...would result in an error message from the compiler;-

incompatible type for...

because we are trying to get x, which was expecting to hold an integer data type to hold a floating point value.  In some cases weaker types have not been allocated enough memory to hold stronger types.  In the case above x has been allocated four bytes of memory but a double requires 8 bytes.

Let's have a few more examples of valid conversions.

int to a float

int a = 5;

float b;

b = a;   

Results in b holding a value 5 in floating point format

float to a double

float b = 10.3;

double c;

c = b;

Results in c holding a value 10.3 in double format

Numeric type to a string

int age = 80;

g.drawString(“My age is is  “ + age, 5, 5);  // displays "My age is 80"

In Java, when + operates on a string and a number, the number is converted to a sequence of characters, and is then joined onto the string. The complete string is then displayed.  

Complicated expressions

What happens if an expression contains lots of different types?

Consider the following expression with three different data types:-

int a = 5;

double c;

c =  a + 3.14F   //F forces 3.14 to be considered a float  

In order to evaluate this expression, Java requires that all the data types are the same.  The rule is simple: all values in an expression are converted to the strongest data type.  So in the expression above, the value of a is converted to a float which is then added to 3.14.  The result is then converted to a double and assigned to c.

Forcing type conversion

What if we specifically need to convert values from stronger type to a weaker.  We have seen that an error message will result if we try to get Java to automatically do this for us.  So, how can we can force a type conversion?

We must cast the stronger type to a weaker type by using expression such as:-

(int)  forces conversion to an int

(float)  forces conversion to a float

(double)  forces conversion to a double

(char)  forces conversion to a char

Here is an example:-

float to an int

int x; 

double y = 3.2;

x =  (int) y;

The (int) in parentheses forces the conversion.  Now we don't get an error message.  In effect, by using the casting statement we are informing Java that we are intentionally converting a stronger type to a weaker and we are not just being idiots. 

We should be aware that  information can be lost when we force type conversions.   In the above example, the decimal places are truncated: x ends up with a value of 3.

numeric to char

We can force conversion of a numeric type to a char by casting it, e.g..  

char ch = (char) 65;   // 65 is converted to an 'A' which is then assigned to ch

char ch = (char) 66;  //66 is converted to a 'B' which is then assigned to ch

Java uses the Unicode values to convert numbers to characters.  In the above example, the Unicode value of 'A' is 65 and 'B' is 66, 'C' is 67 and so on through to 90 for 'Z'.

 

~Now try the activity~

Activity E

Given the declaration

byte b1, b2 = 65;

int i, j = 1000;

float f1, f2 = 5.2F;

char ch;

For each of the following, state the final type and value of the operand on the left side of the =.

  1. b1 = b2 + 1; 

  2. i = j + b2; 

  3. f1 = (int) f2 + 10; 

  4. i = (int) f2 * (byte)10.34; 

  5. ch = (char) (b2 + 3);

Why not check your answers by using code.

    


That is folks!!

Now try the Operators & Expressions exercise

 

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