Java Declaration

I m hoping someone can pseudo code the following declaration, to clear things in my head:

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Calendar startTime = new GregorianCalendar();

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Am I right in saying the above snippet means the following:

make 'startTime' an Object of the method 'GregorianCalendar' which is in the ' Calendar ' api?

Thanks for all help,

Santos

err, that seems very wrong to me.

Calendar startTime = new GregorianCalendar();

should be
Calander startTime = new startTime()

you cannot replace an object with a method!

Eh.... Yes, well, here's the answer:

There is a class called Calendar. It's an abstract class, which means you can't actually *make* a Calendar object. It has a subclass, though, called GregorianCalender. Now, GregorianCalendar is still a Calendar, ie: anything a Calendar can do a GregorianCalendar can do too. A GregorianCalendar has been extended, though, to include extra functionality.

So here's what your code is saying:

Make a new Calendar object, called startTime, using the GregorianCalendar class.

Creating an object this way means that the Java compiler will recognize startTime as a Calendar, so if you try to call methods from the GregorianCalendar class you'll get a compiler error. You can cast startTime to a GregorianCalendar object, though, if you need those methods.

A note about default constructors:

Calendar startTime = new GregorianCalendar();

GregorianCalendar() is a function of the GregorianCalendar class that basically says "Make a new object". It has no arguments and has the same name as the class. It's called a default constructor, and every class has one.