Tut 102 Question3

This question asks what the output will be of

ReadingMaterial a = new ReadinMaterial();
System.out.println(a);

Can anyone help with the answer? What I can see is that it will print the HashCode and not the address of the object.

You are correct

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html#toString()

Returns a string representation of the object. In general, the toString method returns a string that "textually represents" this object. The result should be a concise but informative representation that is easy for a person to read. It is recommended that all subclasses override this method.
The toString method for class Object returns a string consisting of the name of the class of which the object is an instance, the at-sign character `@', and the unsigned hexadecimal representation of the hash code of the object. In other words, this method returns a string equal to the value of:

getClass().getName() + '@' + Integer.toHexString(hashCode())

Henk

Hmm... interesting info there. Nice to learn something new here in the forums.

Here is the answer from the lecturers:

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Hi
The option that is partially correct is 4 but as you said it is not completely correct. The hashCode() method returns the hashcode of the object which is the object's memory address in hexadecimal .Refer to http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/IandI/objectclass.html
You can ignore this question.

Regards
A. Thomas