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Java

what exactly is a public void

very simple terms please

3 Answers

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

Yep! Doesn't necessarily have to do display, it might change the internal state of object, but just not return anything back to the caller.

okay thank you so much!

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

This sounds like you are talking about a method declaration. Meaning you are explaining what your object can do.

In this case, void is used to state that nothing is returned from the method. Some methods return a value, but this will not.

Like this

public void say sayHello() {
     System.out.println("hello");
}

Versus one that returns an int.

public int addNumbers(int first, int second) {
   return first + second;
}

That clear things up?

um could you clear up what it means to return an int? and also what it means to return anything?

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

So if those methods were called it would be like this:

// Add *returns* 5
int answer = obj.addNumbers(2, 3);

// Say hello does not return anything, it just runs
obj.sayHello();

Make sense? Sometimes you want a method to provide, or return, an answer, and sometimes you don't need it to. Because Java is strongly typed, you must define what you are expecting the method to do.

That help clear things up?

ohhh so basically if it returns something it's like interactive with the program but if it doesn't then it's just for display?