All About @strings Objects

Hi Steven, great question! Let's look at an example line and talk about how it works.

Resources resources = getResources();

So as you mentioned, the left side declares a variable that is a Resources object named 'resources'. The equals sign means that we are assigning some value to the variable. But it's not assigning a method as you said in your question. When a method is called like this, the code for the method runs before the assignment takes place. The code in getResources() creates another Resources object, and then it returns that object. Here's an example of how the getResources() method is defined:

public Resources getResources() {
    Resources theResources;

    // Code to get and assign the resources

    return theResources;
}

So here you can see that a new Resources object is created and then returned. When it's returned, it essentially replaces the method call on the right side. So our code, while it's executing, ends up looking like this:

Resources resources = theResources; // When the return value gets substituted

Our code doesn't actually change, of course, but that's basically how it's working. So our object ends up getting assigned the value of the theResources object. Then our own code continues.

If you're wondering what happens to the theResources object that was created in getResources(), it gets flagged for garbage collection and will eventually be deleted and its place in the computer's memory will be available for new use. That's a whole other discussion. :)

As a side note, lots of students have asked about resources for Java, and I plan on covering that sooner than later. In the mean time, check out a game called CodeSpells, where you learn Java by creating "spells" out of code. It's pretty awesome.

Ben,

Thanks for the great explanation. I think I get this. That is a cool way to use methods. I will tuck this away.

I do look forward to seeing what else Tree House rolls out. Now that lunch has rolled around, I am going to check out CodeSpells. Thanks for the reference!