Passing Arguments using Methods

COMP 1010 Home > User-Defined Methods

Introduction

When you call a method that has parameters, you must pass values to the method. This section explains the ways in which you may pass values in a method call.

What is an Argument?

An argument is a value passed to a method's parameter during a method call.

For example, consider the following method:

 /**
     * This method returns the sum of two integers.
     *
     * @param x, y - The integers to add.
     *
     * @return int sum - The sum of x and y.
     */
     public static int add(int x, int y)
     {
         int sum;
         sum = x + y;
         return sum;
     } 

When you call the above method, you need to pass two int values to the method. Each value is an argument.

 public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int result = add(16, 28);
    } 

In the above example, the values 16 and 28 are arguments.

Argument Values

Three types of values may be used as arguments:

1. Literal values, such as the String "Hello world!" or the double 52.8
2. Variables (the variable must be the same type as the parameter)
3. Other method calls (the return value of the passed method call must be the same type as the parameter)

The following example uses all three types of values to call a method.

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  String s;
  int x;

  s = "Peace out";
  x = 2;

  printValues("Goodbye", 1);            //This call to printValues uses literal values

  printValues(s, x);                    //This call to printValues uses variables
  
  printValues(getString(), getInt());   //This call to printValues uses other method calls

}

public static void printValues(String s, int x) {
  System.out.println("String: " + s);
  System.out.println("int: " + x);
}

public static String getString() {
  return "See you later";
}

public static int getInt() {
  int x = 3;
  return x;
} 

Something else to note from the above example is the return statements from getString() and getInt(). Remember that just like you can send a method literal values, variables, or other method calls, you can return any of these from a method as well.

Nested Method Calls

Passing a method call as an argument to another method call creates a nested method call. For example, we can nest calls to the add method in this way:

 public class NestedAdd
 {
    /**
     * This method returns the sum of two integers.
     *
     * @param x, y - The integers to add.
     *
     * @return int sum - The sum of x and y.
     */
     public static int add(int x, int y)
     {
         int sum;
         sum = x + y;
         return sum;
     } 
 
     public static void main(String[] args)
     {
         int result;
 
         // This is our nested method call
         result = add(8, '''''add''(2, 3)''');
         System.out.println(result);
 
         result = add(8, 5);
         System.out.println(result);
     }
 } 

In this example, the result of add(2, 3) is used as an argument for another call to the add method. The output of the program is:

 13
13 

Order of Arguments

Arguments must be passed to a method call in the same order that the parameters are declared. The following program demonstrates a method call which requires two different argument types:

 public class ArgumentOrder
 {
    /**
     * This method repeatedly prints a line.
     *
     * @param String line - The String to print.
     * @param int numLines - The number of times to print the line.
     *
     * @return void
     */
     public static void printLines(String line, int numLines)
     {
         for(int i = 1; i <= numLines; i++)
         {
             System.out.println(i + " " + line);
         }
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args)
     {
         printLines("Just a short line.", 5);
     }
 } 

The output will be:

 1 Just a short line.
2 Just a short line.
3 Just a short line.
4 Just a short line.
5 Just a short line. 

The printLines method requires a String argument and an int argument. The arguments are called in the order which the method header declares the parameters. Changing the call to printLines in the following way will result in a compile-time error:

  printLines(5, "Just a short line."); // Error! Program will not compile.

This will result in an error because the printLines method is expecting a String then an int, not an int followed by a String.