Sybex OCA Java 8 Study Guide: page 200 default errata?

[Charles O'Leary]

Sybex page 200 says that the first object created is supposed to have

...the default weight and color.  It then constructs a different object with the desired weight and color...

(I get that this particular Sybex section is about why you really want to be using this(), but presumably, understanding defaults is also essential on the exam.)

Since both objects have the same result:
1) What is meant by the term "default" above?
2) Was the book's expectation that the properties of these 2 ignored objects be different possibly?

public class Hamster
{
  private int weight;
  private String color;
  public Hamster(int weight)
  {
    Hamster h = new Hamster( weight, "brown");
    System.out.println("Inside public Hamster(int weight) h.weight = " + h.weight + " h.color = " + h.color); 
  }
  public Hamster(int weight,String color)
  {
   this.color = color;
   this.weight = weight;
    
    System.out.println("Inside public Hamster(int weight,String color) this.weight = " + this.weight + " this.color = " + this.color); 
  }
  public static void main(String[] args){
   new Hamster(5); 
  }
}

output:
Inside public Hamster(int weight,String color) this.weight = 5 this.color = brown
Inside public Hamster(int weight) h.weight = 5 h.color = brown

[João Victor Gomes]

Hello Charles, how are you?

I'm looking at the book here, and you are talking about the following constructors given in the book

public Hamster(int weight) {
	new Hamster(weight, "brown");
}

public Hamster(int weight, String color) {
	this.weight = weight; //line 1
	this.color = color; //line 2
}

The explanation is about when, for example, new Hamster(10) is called, this constructor will create an object with default values for its instance variables. So, the weight and the color of the object created by calling the first constructor (the one with one parameter) will be initialized with the default values: for a String, null, and for an int, 0. So, the object created by calling new Hamster(10) will have null for its color, and 0 for its size (because we don't initialize them).
Then, when the book says "It then constructs a different object with the desired weight and color and ignores the new object", it's talking about the other constructor call, new Hamster(weight, "brown");
Inside the first constructor, we are calling another constructor, and this will construct another object, initializing its values with the desired weight and color passed in the constructor call, since we assign those values to the instance variables, as in line 1 and line 2. This new object is created, but it is ignored, since we call new Hamster(weight, "brown") and never assign it to a variable, and never use it.

[Charles O'Leary]

Hi João, It's nice to hear from you again.

Please see both the full compilation and the full execution in my original post.  

[Charles O'Leary]

More specifically I am asking if "default" in this context is an error of the book ... not in my understanding. Succinctly, instance defaults do not apply.

[Roel De Nijs]

Charles O'Leary wrote:Sybex page 200 says that the first object created is supposed to have

...the default weight and color.  It then constructs a different object with the desired weight and color...

The book is absolutely spot-on! And with a little tweak to your code snippet, you'll notice that straight away

  public Hamster(int weight)
  {
    Hamster h = new Hamster( weight, "brown");
    System.out.println("Inside public Hamster(int weight) h.weight = " + h.weight + " h.color = " + h.color);
    System.out.println("Inside public Hamster(int weight) this.weight = " + this.weight + " this.color = " + this.color); 
  }

If you run your code again now, the output will be:
Inside public Hamster(int weight,String color) this.weight = 5 this.color = brown
Inside public Hamster(int weight) h.weight = 5 h.color = brown
Inside public Hamster(int weight) this.weight = 0 this.color = null

So the statement new Hamster(5); has created two objects: one with the default values ("default" as in the default values which are assigned to instance variables if not initialized with an explicit value) and another object (which goes out of scope once the Hamster(int weight) constructor finishes) with the desired values 5 and "brown". The object created in the main method is the object with the default values. Again illustrated with a small tweak to your code snippet

  public static void main(String[] args){
    Hamster h = new Hamster(5); 
    System.out.println("Inside main h.weight = " + h.weight + " h.color = " + h.color);
  }

If you run your code again now, the output will be:
Inside public Hamster(int weight,String color) this.weight = 5 this.color = brown
Inside public Hamster(int weight) h.weight = 5 h.color = brown
Inside public Hamster(int weight) this.weight = 0 this.color = null
Inside main h.weight = 0 h.color = null

Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Roel

[Charles O'Leary]

Clear! Crystal Clear!    

Thanks Roel and João.  (I figure that was a good take on the whole "How many objects are created?" combined with "What are their respective values?" type questions.)