Java primitive data fields in object wrappers

Question

I was looking through the documentation for primitive wrappers in Java.

While I understand the utility of all the extra functionality provided by the methods, I don't seem to understand how the object stores the primitive in the first place. There doesn't seem to be any primitive final int.

EDIT: I learnt that Java documentation only shows public fields and methods, and after going through source code see a private int field. Just to confirm, it's then as simple as the compiler doing autoboxing/autounboxing through the public constructor to set the value ?

@ScaryWombat , that field is not mentioned in the documentation I have linked above. the answer below has answered my question though. — Abhinav Vishak, Apr 05 '17 at 02:44
If you have something `private` then do you advertise it to the world? — Scary Wombat, Apr 05 '17 at 02:45
@ScaryWombat, That makes total sense. I'm not able to ( and still can't apart from the answer below ) , find any source that says private fields and methods are not shown. — Abhinav Vishak, Apr 05 '17 at 02:48
It is up to the developer to decide what javadocs are written - learn about the `tags` used — Scary Wombat, Apr 05 '17 at 02:53
"If you have something private then do you advertise it to the world?" Some people do that. — Blessed Geek, Apr 05 '17 at 03:18

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 05 '17 at 01:49

1

If you go to the source code of java.lang.Integer you will find

 private final int value;

The reason that you don't see it in the API documentation, is that private attributes and methods are not included in the documentation.

answered Apr 05 '17 at 01:49

Harald Gliebe

7,236
3
33
38

Java primitive data fields in object wrappers

1 Answers1