Methods

I love methods !11

Methods with a return type

Before the method name, specify the return type. To return nothing, use void

// int is the return type; now we MUST call "return" in the method
public static int sum(int intA, int intB) 
{
	return intA + intB;
}

Every branch of your code must have a return if the return type is not void

public static boolean isEven(int intA)
{
	if (intA % 2 == 0) return true;
	// this will throw an error b/c there is no return statement for when the if statement is "false"
}

Naming

• Camel case (lower case first letter)
• It should always be named some sort of “action”

JavaDoc

/**
@param intA is an integer
@param intB is an integer
@return the sum of intA and intB
**/
public static int sum(int intA, int intB) {...}

• They must be super concise; no paragraphs needed

Method Signatures

Essentially, it's just the name and its parameters' data types

A signature just shows everything that makes the method unique. I.e, you cannot have two of the same signature. For instance, if you had a method “drive” like this:

public void drive(String driverName, double time) {
	System.out.println(driverName + " drove for " + time + " hours");
}

The signature would be

drive(String, double)

The signature does not include:

• Accessibility modifiers because you cannot have a private and public method in the same class.
• You also cannot have a static and non-static method simultaneously, either.
• Neither can you have the method return two different types. Java can still get confused by that