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Ivan Yudhi
2,031 PointsSo what is actually differentiating between a constructor and a method?
From the examples so far it seems the only thing differentiating the two is the fact that a constructor share the same as the class. Is that how a constructor is defined?
2 Answers
Ken Alger
Treehouse TeacherIvan;
The easiest way I have found to explain the difference was in a post at StackOverflow:
The important difference between constructors and methods is that constructors create and initialize objects that don't exist yet, while methods perform operations on objects that already exist.
Constructors can't be called directly; they are called implicitly when the new keyword creates an object. Methods can be called directly on an object that has already been created with new.
The definitions of constructors and methods look similar in code. They can take parameters, they can have modifiers (e.g. public), and they have method bodies in braces.
Constructors must be named with the same name as the class name. They can't return anything, even void (the object itself is the implicit return).
Methods must be declared to return something, although it can be void.
Post back with additional questions.
Ken
Ivan Yudhi
2,031 PointsThanks for the answer Ken. That helps a lot.