Class Scope

• A class's members (instance variables and methods) belong to that class's scope.

  That is, its members are accessible to all of that class's methods, and can be referred directly.

  Below, hour is referred to directly.

// Convert Time to String in standard-time format
public String toString()
{

return ( ( hour == 12 || hour == 0 ) ? 12 : hour % 12 ) +
":" + ( minute < 10 ? "0" : "" ) + minute +
":" + ( second < 10 ? "0" : "" ) + second +
( hour < 12 ? " AM" : " PM" );

}

• Outside a class's scope, public members can be accessed using the dot notation (to make clear to the compiler which object's instance variable you are referring to).

  t.hour = 7;
  g.drawString( " minute = " + t.minute, 25, 25 );