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Final variables can be used to construct trees of immutable objects. Once constructed, these objects are guaranteed not to change anymore. To achieve this, an immutable class must only have final fields, and these final fields may only have immutable types themselves. Java's primitive types are immutable, as are strings and several other classes.
In object-oriented (OO) and functional programming, an immutable object (unchangeable [1] object) is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created. [2] This is in contrast to a mutable object (changeable object), which can be modified after it is created. [3]
Concrete classes have to explicitly declare they implement the immutable interface. This may not be possible if the concrete class "belongs to" third-party code, for instance, if it is contained within a library. The object is not really immutable and hence not suitable for use in data structures relying on immutability like hash maps.
A new instance is created by calling the class as if it were a function, which calls the __new__ and __init__ methods. If a constructor method is not defined in the class, the next one found in the class's Method Resolution Order will be called. [14] In the typical case, only the __init__ method need be defined. (The most common exception is ...
Functional languages also simulate states by passing around immutable states. This can be done by making a function accept the state as one of its parameters, and return a new state together with the result, leaving the old state unchanged. [82] Impure functional languages usually include a more direct method of managing mutable state.
In class-based programming, a factory is an abstraction of a constructor of a class, while in prototype-based programming a factory is an abstraction of a prototype object. A constructor is concrete in that it creates objects as instances of one class, and by a specified process (class instantiation), while a factory can create objects by instantiating various classes, or by using other ...
Classes may inherit from other classes, so they are arranged in a hierarchy that represents "is-a-type-of" relationships. For example, class Employee might inherit from class Person. All the data and methods available to the parent class also appear in the child class with the same names.
There can be more than one class with a main method, but the main class is always defined externally (for example, in a manifest file). The main method along with the main class must be declared public. The method must be static and is passed command-line arguments as an array of strings.