Confused in Kathy and Bert's J5 book

[Tony Shivpershad]

Hi,

After months of waiting for this book, I finally received last week, and have been digging into it. It really does live up to all it's praises that I've seen, but I have run into a part that seems to contradict itself.

Page 41 talks about Final Arguments. The example is:

public Record getRecord (int fileNumber, final int recNumber){}

Then on page 46 in the section titled Methods with Variable Arguement Lists (var-args), it defines how the terms "argument" and "parameter" will be used throughout the book.

argumentsThe things you specify between the parentheses when you're invokinga method

parameters The things in the method's signature that indicate what the method must receive when it's invoked

If that is the case, shouldn't the secion on page 41 be called "Final parameters"? Based on the examples in the book this is what it appears like to me. Can someone please clarify?

Thanks,
Tony

[Andrew Shumway]

I believe it depends on the perspective.

If your a method being called then you get parameters. If you are invoking a method then you pass it arguments.

Looks like you are trying to read carefully. That's good. Do note, however, that the authors are often a bit fuzzy with some particular definitions. Sometimes this diversity is in an effort to help everyone understand and sometimes this is in an effort to avoid unnecessary detail.

Member functions are call instance methods, as member variables are called properties or instance fields depending on your background. They are just trying to get people from various perspectives on the same sheet of music.



--andrew

[Tony Shivpershad]

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. I felt like maybe I was reading into it way too literally, but I just wanted to make sure. Thanks for letting me know.

Tony

[J Abraham]

Hi Tony,

Are you in India ??? Is the Kathy's Java5 Cert Indian Edition available in Computer Book Shops ???

[Barry Gaunt]

You may also read of "formal arguments" (in the method declaration) and "actual arguments" (in the method call).

[Tony Shivpershad]

Originally posted by Jibin J Abraham:
Hi Tony,

Are you in India ??? Is the Kathy's Java5 Cert Indian Edition available in Computer Book Shops ???

Hi Jibin,

I am not India, I am in Canada. I ordered the book through the Canadian version of Amazon, www.amazon.ca. I ordered it since November, and it only became availabe one week ago.

[Tony Shivpershad]

Here is the link directly to the book:

SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide (Exam 310-055) at amazon.ca

[J Abraham]

HI Tony,

Thanks for the reply.I will check in the local book store whether itz available here.