Newbie Question about Classes...

Why use many classes to build a program? Well, any non-trivial program
breaks down into different parts - you need to do this, you need to do that,
and so on. In object-oriented design, if you have a function or a group of
similar functions, you "abstract" that function into a class. If your
abstraction is correct (which for me is not usually on the first try), this
class can then be used by other programs that you write in the future.
Saves you programming time in the long run, but not in the short run.

I don't think that a program consisting of a single class of say 2000 lines
of code would run any slower than an object-oriented program consisting of
40 or so classes; it would just be harder to maintain.

Your example of the dialog box is a perfect example of where you would
create a class. You will use many dialog boxes in your programming
lifetime, and they will all be similar. Also, they may appear in many
different contexts, whether it's telnet or accounts payable. So, create a
dialog box class that can be used everywhere. (Incidentally, Java already
has such a class. Check under AWT and Swing.)

How do you call methods in another class? Well, you don't exactly do that,
not usually. What you do is to create an object of the other class, and
then you call its methods. If your other class is called MyDialogBox, first
you create an object of that class:

MyDialogBox gimmeData = new MyDialogBox("Please enter the name of the
server.");

and then you call the methods of the object you just created:

gimmeData.display();

There are several good books available on object-oriented programming and
design available, it might be a good idea to have a look at some.

Anthony Saffer <casaffer@rectec.net> wrote in message
news:39caba26$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Hi All,
> I've been programming in C++ for a few years and feel fairly comfortable
> there. But recently I switched over to Java because, quite frankly, it's
> easier. But I have a couple of questions about classes that I am hoping
someone
> will take the time to answer. I would really appreciate it.
>
> 1) I know that most serious Java programs use multiple class files. Why?
> Is this simply to prevent the existance of a huge, slow, and virtually
unrunnable
> single class?
>
> 2) If not, under what circumstances do I need to use multiple class files.
> For instance, I am writing a small telnet program in Java. If the user
> clicks "Connect" and hasn't entered any server information I will display
> a hand made dialog box telling him to go back and enter some information.
> Should I put the code for this dialog box in a seperate class file?
>
> 3) How do I call methods in an external class file? Is it as simple as a
> class.method() call?
>
> I know these are really newbie questions and is probably wasting
everyone's
> time but I can't seem to find any answers anywhere else. Again, thanks in
> advance for your answers.
>
> Anthony