typedef in JAVA???

Does any body know what is the correspondence method in JAVA to typedef in C++?

For example, it is supposed that L_Handle have the same data type with int. In C++, it can be obtained as follows:

typedef L_Handle int

what should i do in JAVA?
I tried to use "extends" such as

public class L_Handle extends Integer{}

however, the above code is not working cos Integer is a final class and thus cannot subclass.

if anybody knows how, please mail to me.

thanks in advance

Hi,

There is no equivalent for typedef in Java. And subclassing from Integer is a good idea, but indeed, you can't. It's final. You can make a new class:

[javaclass]
public class L_Handle {
int integerValue;
public L_Handle(int integerValue) {
this.integerValue = integerValue;
}
public int intValue() {
return integerValue;
}
}
[/javaclass]

But indeed, this is very poor.

What can make this a richer class, from an OO standpoint, is that this L_Handle indeed handles L's, whatever an L may be ;)

Please check out the classes java.net.InetAddress, java.net.URL. Both classes could just have been a subclass of String (if technically possible), and are in fact handles. However, they can do a lot more. E.g. an URL can give you an output stream and do other things.

The message is: think OO. A handle is not an integer (!isA => not a subclass). One could have chosen a name for a handle too. An L_Handle handles L's, what can an L do for you? Put that functionality in the class above, and you'll see in which way a C programmer thinks differently from a Java programmer. (Note that it would have been better that in C++, the same OO reflexes would have been valid)

Have a lot of fun with Java,

Regards,
Geert Arys