Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan
Dept. of Computer Science and Engr.
Wright State Univ., Dayton, OH-45435.
(email: tkprasad@cs.wright.edu)
Haripriyan Hampapuram
Intrinsa Corporation
Mountain View, CA-94041.
(email: hhampa@microsoft.com)
Günter Kniesel
Computer Science Dept. III
University of Bonn, D-53117 Bonn
(email: gk@cs.uni-bonn.de)
This paper presents Java language from an object-oriented software construction perspective. It explains the implications of banning generics and multiple inheritance of classes, and explores the idioms used by Java programmers to redeem their benefits. It considers patterns used by Java designers, and patterns supported by Java APIs to facilitate software reuse by Java programmers. In conjuction with the design patterns literature, this exercise sheds light on the consequences of the design decisions and improves our appreciation of certain built-in Java classes.
Keywords: Java Language, Object-Oriented Programming, Design Patterns, Multiple Inheritance, Generics, Delegation.