doubt in has-a relationship

[Vaibhav Chauhan]

true or false:
"Has-a relationships always rely on instance variables."

ans.:true

i am confused that in the following code dog is instance variable or a reference because i think that instance variable is the class attributes( 's' for class Cat)

class Cat{
int s;
Dog dog=new Dog();
}

please meke me clear.

[pranav thakker]

Hi,

In my opinion, dog is an instance variable of class Cat, which (dog) is a reference to the Dog object. The meaning of instance variable is not limited to a primary data types. It can be any primary data type like int, float etc or it can also be a reference to other objects.

Hope this will help you,

Regards,
Pranav Thakker

[Gowher Naik]

class OtherClass{
}
class Test {
int x=10;
OtherClass o=new OtherClass();//has a relationship between
                                      //Test and OtherClass class 
public static void main(String... args){
   Test t=new Test();
   System.out.println(t.x);
}
}

i think you are confuse between instance variable and reference variable.
In above code there two instance variable
1. x
2. o

now class Test and OtherClass is connected with each other by "has a relationship"
and hence has a relationship relays on instance variables.

[Vaibhav Chauhan]

gowher.... do you mean that o is called instance variable as well as reference variable ??

thanks for all help.

[Gowher Naik]

Yes o is reference variable for OtherClass class and instance variable for
Test class.