Re: recommendations to 'hold data'

From:

Lew <noone@lewscanon.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.java.gui

Date:

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:04:05 -0400

Message-ID:

<gsgvo7$nu5$1@news.albasani.net>

Jeremy Watts wrote:

At various times, other classes are going to want access to this stored
information, and I have been wondering how to go about this. Is this
what Java Files are for? I've been trying to find out exactly what
these things are about but I'm having trouble cutting through the
jargon...

Assumedly these things are 'files' that are accessible by anything...?Is
that correct? Would you recommend using a 'File' to store the values of
the matrices entered by the user?

No, and no.

You keep your information in an object model (google the term). For this you
write classes that directly represent the structure of, say, a matrix. You
don't want to use a String for this.

The java.io.File class exists to make it easier to interact with files as an
operating system knows them, that is, thingies that get stored on disk.

The need you describe is for a bunch of objects, that is, instances of classes
that you write, to which various parts of the program can refer.

You might find Java collections useful. Look at the java.util package for
things like Set, List and so forth.

This is a big topic. I'm only describing the first few bricks in the Yellow
Brick Road.

--
Lew