Java Operators

Operators in Java

Operators Supported by Java Language

Operators are special symbols that perform specific operations on one, two, or three operands, and then return a result. Java supports a rich set of operators. Some of them are =, +, -, *. An Operator is a symbol that tells the computer to perform certain mathematical or logical manipulations. Operators are used in programs to manipulate data and variables. They usually form a part of mathematical or logical expressions. 

Java operators can be classified into a number of related categories as below:

Arithmetic Operators

+      Additive operator (also used for String concatenation)
-       Subtraction operator
*       Multiplication operator
/       Division operator
%     Remainder operator

Relational Operators

==    Equal to

!=     Not equal to
>      Greater than
>=    Greater than or equal to
<      Less than
<=    Less than or equal to

Logical Operators

&&   Logical AND

||       Logical OR
!       Logical NOT

Assignment Operators
=      Assignment

Increment and decrement Operators
++   Adds 1 to the Operand
--     Subtracts 1 from the Operand

Conditional Operators

?:    Ternary (shorthand for if-then-else statement)

Bitwise Operators

~     Unary bitwise complement

<<   Signed left shift

>>   Signed right shift

>>> Unsigned right shift

&     Bitwise AND

^      Bitwise exclusive OR

|       Bitwise inclusive OR

Special Operators

. (Dot Operator)   - To access instance variables

instanceof             - Object reference Operator

As we explore the operators of the Java programming language, it may be helpful for you to know ahead of time which operators have the highest precedence. The operators in the following table are listed according to precedence order. The closer to the top of the table an operator appears, the higher its precedence. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated before operators with relatively lower precedence. Operators on the same line have equal precedence. When operators of equal precedence appear in the same expression, a rule must govern which is evaluated first. All binary operators except for the assignment operators are evaluated from left to right; assignment operators are evaluated right to left.

Operator Precedence

Operators	Precedence
postfix	expr++ expr--
unary	++expr --expr +expr -expr ~ !
multiplicative	* / %
additive	+ -
shift	<< >> >>>
relational	< > <= >= instanceof
equality	== !=
bitwise AND	&
bitwise exclusive OR	^
bitwise inclusive OR	|
logical AND	&&
logical OR	||
ternary	? :
assignment	= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= <<= >>= >>>=

The basic evaluation procedure includes two left-to-right passes through the expression. During the first pass, the high priority operators (if any) are applied as they are encountered. During the second pass, the low priority operators (if any) are applied as they are encountered.

Data Types in Java

Different Data Types used in Java

Data type defines a set of permitted values on which the legal operations can be performed.

There are two data types available in Java:

• Primitive Data Types
• Reference/Object Data Types

Primitive Data Types

     Primitive Data Types defines 8 simple types of data: byte, short, int, long, char, float, double, and boolean. These can be put in four groups.

Integer:

This groups include byte, short, int, and long which are for whole valued signed number. 

Floating:

This group includes float and double, which represents numbers with fractional precision. 

Characters:

This group includes char, which respresents symbls in a character set like letters and numbers. 

Boolean:

This group includes boolean, which is a special type for representing true/false.

Data Type	Default Value (for fields)	Size (in bits)	Minimum Range	Maximum Range
byte	0	8 bits	-128	+127
short	0	16 bits	-32768	+32767
int	0	32 bits	-2147483648	+2147483647
long	0L	64 bits	-9223372036854775808	+9223372036854775807
float	0.0f	32-bit	1.40129846432481707e-45	3.40282346638528860e+38
double	0.0d	64-bit	4.94065645841246544e-324d	1.79769313486231570e+308d
char	'\u0000'	16-bit		0 to 65,535
boolean	false	1- bit	NA	NA

Reference Data Types

     Reference variables are created using defined constructors of the classes. They are used to access objects. Class objects, and various type of array variables come under reference data type. Default value of any reference variable is null. These non-primitive types are often called "reference types" because they are handled "by reference"--in other words, the address of the object or array is stored in a variable, passed to methods, and so on. By comparison, primitive types are handled "by value"--the actual primitive values are stored in variables and passed to methods. The reference data types are arrays, classes and interfaces that are made and handle according to a programmer in a java program  which can hold the three kind of values as:

• Array Type
• class type
• Interface Type