Java Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Strings, StringBuffers,
StringBuilders, Numbers,
and BigNumbers
In This Chapter
Strings
Comparing Strings
Working with Strings
Numeric Wrapper Classes
StringBuffers
BigNumbers
Exercises: Strings, StringBuffers, Numbers, and BigNumbers
Reviewing the Exercises
This chapter explores text manipulations and number-related classes and methods.
S
TRINGS
Java provides a
String
class that developers can use to hold and manipulate charac-
ter strings (that is, a sequence of chars). The COBOL developer may recognize
String
s as the equivalent of the PIC X(x) definition, and they are generally similar.
However, Java's native
String
handling functions are far superior to COBOL's no-
toriously weak character manipulation support. Further,
String
s are real objects,
and so some differences naturally exist. Java
String
s contain 16-bit Unicode charac-
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