As I’m not a fan of these other answers, I’ll write my own.<\/p>\n
Real World Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n Think of a “package” as an easy way for a java class to reference another.<\/p>\n Let’s say I have this big box in my attic. I have a calculator, compass, protractor, etc. I can label this box Another example would be taking all your pictures and putting them in the How does this relate to Java? Well, let’s look at the Easy Application:<\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s assume that we can find all the files to a small dice simulator in You have 3 files: .<\/p>\n “C:\/ProgramFiles\/Java Project\/my\/proj\/main\/ “C:\/ProgramFiles\/Java Project\/my\/proj\/sims\/ “C:\/ProgramFiles\/Java Project\/my\/proj\/sims\/ .<\/p>\n Things to notice:<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n You might notice that some people would prefer to use .<\/p>\n Hope this clears things up. Please consider upvoting if this has helped you \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Originally posted 2014-02-08 02:15:49. <\/small><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I’m not a fan of these other answers, I’ll write my own. Real World Examples: Think of a “package” as an easy way for a java class to reference another. Let’s say I have this big box in my attic. I have a calculator, compass, protractor, etc. I can label this box MathTools. Another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unknownerror.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}MathTools<\/code>.<\/p>\nPictures<\/code> folder in your documents. From there, you could split them into Spring Break 2009<\/code> or [Insert Name Here]'s Party<\/code>.<\/p>\njava.util<\/code> package (you can reference this with import java.util.*;<\/code>. You have ArrayLists, Strings, Random, etc. which are used in most Java programs (common “utilities”, if you prefer). There are all neatly organized into the same package, so that programmers can easily reference them (import java.util.*;<\/code>).<\/p>\nC:\/Program Files\/Java Project\/my\/proj\/<\/code> (it’s likely that this file doesn’t exist on your computer, but just pretend for a moment).<\/p>\nMain.java<\/code>, Dice.java<\/code>, and DiceRoller.java<\/code>. All of which are shown below:<\/p>\nMain.java<\/code>“:<\/p>\npackage my.proj.main;\n\nimport my.proj.sims.Dice;\n\npublic class Main\n{\n public static void main(String[] args)\n {\n DiceRoller roller = new DiceRoller();\n roller.rollAndShow(4);\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\nDice.java<\/code>“:<\/p>\npackage my.proj.sims;\n\nimport java.util.Random; \/\/ I used the Random class, but you can also use the Math class if you prefer (java.lang.Math)\n\npublic class Dice\n{\n public Dice()\n {\n }\n\n public int roll()\n {\n Random rand = new Random(); \n return rand.nextInt(6) + 1; \/\/ Rolls a random number 1-6\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\nDiceRoller.java<\/code>“:<\/p>\npackage my.proj.sims;\n\npublic class DiceRoller\n{ \n public DiceRoller ()\n {\n }\n\n \/\/ Rolls and prints the result of 'n' number of rolls\n public void rollAndShow(int n)\n {\n Dice dice = new Dice();\n\n for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)\n {\n System.out.println(dice.roll()); \/\/ You should never use S.o.p in a method - it's bad practice, but it's easier this way if you don't yet understand the concept of objects\n }\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n
Main.java<\/code> is packaged into my.proj.main<\/code><\/li>\nDice.java<\/code> is packaged into my.proj.sims<\/code><\/li>\nMain.java<\/code> needs to import my.proj.sims.Dice<\/code> in order to create a Dice<\/code> object and use its methods because it’s in a different package from Dice.java<\/code>.<\/li>\nDiceRoller.java<\/code> does not need to import my.proj.sims.Dice<\/code> because it is in the same package as Dice.java<\/code> and the compiler will automatically associate the two.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nImport<\/code> is a command to load the functionality of a class into the current file. Look at Dice.java<\/code>, for example. In order for it to create a Random<\/code> object, which has the method nextInt()<\/code>, it needs to import the Random class from the java.util.*<\/code> package.<\/p>\njava.util.*<\/code> instead of java.util.Random<\/code>, java.util.ArrayList<\/code>, etc. What the *<\/code> essentially means is any class within java.util<\/code>. Running import java.util.*<\/code> will import the Random, String, ArrayList, etc. classes.<\/p>\n