Java – Basic Operators

Basic Java Operators includes the following:

1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Relational Operators
3. Bitwise Operators
4. Logical Operators
5. Assignment Operators
6. Miscellaneous Operators

1. Arithmetic Operators

You use arithmetic operators for math statements. Hence, they are used when you need to to some calculation. I provide a list of arithmetic operators below. Also, a brief explanation of each of them.

Let X = 10 and Y = 20

Table 1.0: List of Arithmetic Operators

2. Relational Operators

You use relational operator to test for conditions. Therefore, you see them in conditional statements. Normally with if statements. Table 1.1 gives list of relational operators.

Here X = 10 and Y = 20

Table 1.1: List of Relational Operators

3. Bitwise Operators

We use Bitwise Operators to perform bit-by-bit operations. For that reason, the operands need to be binary numbers.

Let x = 60 and y = 13. Converting them to binary, we then have:

x = 00111100

y = 00001101

• x&y = 0000 1100
• x|y = 0011 1101
• x^y = 0011 0001
• ~x  = 1100 0011

Table 1.3 provides a list of bitwise operators

Table 1.2: List of Bitwise Operators

4. Logical Operators

Logical operators are used for logical operations.

Let X = true and Y = false, then the Table 1.3 give a list of logical operations on X and Y.

Table 1.3: List of Logical Operators

5. Assignment Operators

You use assignment operators to assign values to variables. Table 1.4 provides a list of assignment operators.

They are like two-in-on operations. With exception of simple assignment.

Listing 1.4: List of Assignment Operators

6. Miscellaneous Operators

Finally, we now consider two miscellaneous operators.

• Conditional Operator (?:)
• InstanceOf Operator (instanceof)

Conditional Operator

This is also called ternary operator. This is because it uses three operators. You can probably consider it a shortened if statement.

You used it to conditionally assign a value to a variable. It evaluates a condition. If the condition is true, then assign a value, if false, assign alternate value.

The syntax is:

	variable = (condition) ? value_if_true : value_if_false

Take an example in Listing 1.0 below.

public class Tester {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
      int x;
      int y;
      x = 5;
      y = (x == 10) ? 100: 200;
      System.out.println( "x is : " +  y ); // y is assigned 200

      y = (x == 5) ? 100: 200;
      System.out.println( "x is : " + y ); //y is assigned 100
   }
}

Listing 1.0: Example of Conditional Operator

I would recommend you try this yourself. Copy and paste the code in your IDE. Then run it to see the output.

instanceof Operator

You use this operator only for object reference variables. It tests whether an object is an object of a given class. The syntax is

object_variable instanceof class_name

If the object variable is an instance of the class, it returns true. Otherwise, it returns false.

Example is given in Listing 1.1 below

public class Tester {

   public static void main(String args[]) {
	      String website = "Java Tutorials";

	      boolean answer = website instanceof String;
	      System.out.println( answer );    
   }
}

Listing 1.1: Example of instanceof

The output of Listing 1.1 would be true. This is because the string website is an instance of the String wrapper class.