keyword : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2009 Canadian Mind Products
index page for letter ⇒ punctuation 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (all)

keyword

Java reserves some words. They cannot be used as variable, method or class names.

Java Keywords
abstract	do	import	public	throws
boolean	double	instanceof	return	transient
break	else	int	short	try
byte	extends	interface	static	void
case	final	long	strictfp	volatile
catch	finally	native	super	while
char	float	new	switch
class	for	package	synchronized
continue	if	private	this
default	implements	protected	throw
Reserved keywords (not currently in use)
const	goto
Reserved Literals
null	true	false

assert arrived with JDK 1.4. enum arrived with JDK 1.5. Const and goto are not currently used. They may be there just in case C++ programmers use them by mistake to enable the compiler to give a more meaningful error message.

What keywords Can Be Applied to What

	variable	method	class	inner class	code block
public
protected
private
abstract		¹
static					²
final		³	⁴	⁴
native		⁵
synchronized
volatile	⁶
transient
strictfp

Notes

¹ - abstract methods cannot have a body.

² - static blocks may not occur inside methods.

³ - final methods cannot be overridden in a subclass. This is not the same as C++ const.

⁴ - you can’t derive from a final class.

⁵ - implemented in some other language, usually C, C++ or assembler.

⁶ - May be asynchronously modified by other threads. Volatile is not a substitute for task synchronization.

Table composed by Razvan.

Learning More

Sun’s Javadoc on the Modifier class : available:

on the web at java.sun.com
in the current JDK 1.6.0_14 or in the old JDK 1.5.0_19 on your local Windows J: drive.

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