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What is a Java Class?

There are two kinds of classes in Java. Concrete vs Abstract Classes

Characteristics of Concrete Classes

1. Concrete Classes in Java, means they can be instantiated. Unless, a private access modifier has been added to the constructor within that class.

Characteristics of Abstract Classes

1. Abstract Classes in Java, means the can not be instantiated.

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Simply stated, a class in java is made up of a few parts. These parts consist of the following:

1. Variables – A type of container that holds a value of a particular data type.
2. Methods – Here is where the logic of your code and algorithms live

HelloWorld Example:

This class below declares a variable ‘message’ with a data type of String. (We will discuss data types in a later section). It then has a method called ‘printMessage’ wich prints the message that is passed out to the console.

 
 public class HelloWorld {
    String message = "Hello World";
 
    public void printMessage(String message) {
       System.out.println(message);
   }
}
 

Console Output: Hello World