Need of constructors in java

Answer 1

Every class, including abstract classes, MUST have a constructor. Hard Code that into your brain. But just because a class must have one, doesn't mean the programmer has to type it. A constructor looks like this:

class Car {

Car() { } // The constructor for the Car class

}

You notice anything missing in the declaration above? There's no return type! Two key points to remember about constructors are that they have no return type and their names must exactly match the class name. Typically, constructors are used to initialize instance variable state, as follows:

class Car {

int size;

String name;

Car(String name, int size) {

this.name = name;

this.size = size;

}

}

In the preceding code example, the Car class does not have a no-arg constructor. That means the following will fail to compile:

Car f = new Car(); // Won't compile, no matching constructor

but the following will compile:

Car f = new Car("Ford", 43); // No problem. Arguments match

// the Car constructor.

So it's very common for a class to have a no-arg constructor, regardless of how many other overloaded constructors are in the class (constructors can be overloaded just like methods). You can't always make that work for your classes; occasionally you have a class where it makes no sense to create an instance without supplying information to the constructor. A java.awt.Color object, for example, can't be created by calling a no-arg constructor, because that would be like saying to the JVM, "Make me a new Color object, and I really don't care what color it is...." Do you seriously want the JVM making your color choices?