Practical Coding in Java

Learn to write and validate your own code

Darren Kessner, PhD

(revised January 9, 2026)

Previous: 11. Composition

PetOwner

//
// Pet.java
//


public class Pet
{
    public Pet(String name, String noise, int fleaCount)
    {
        this.name = name;
        this.noise = noise;
        this.fleaCount = fleaCount;
    }

    public String getName() {return name;}
    public String getNoise() {return noise;}
    public int getFleaCount() {return fleaCount;}

    private String name;
    private String noise;
    private int fleaCount;
}
//
// PetOwner.java
//


public class PetOwner
{
    public PetOwner()
    {
        pet = null;
    }

    public Pet getPet()
    {
        return pet;
    }

    public void setPet(Pet pet)
    {
        this.pet = pet;
    }

    private Pet pet;
}
//
// PetOwnerTest.java
//


public class PetOwnerTest
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        PetOwner drkessner = new PetOwner();

        Pet gadget = new Pet("Gadget", "meow", 0);
        drkessner.setPet(gadget);

        System.out.println("Dr. Kessner's pet is " + 
                drkessner.getPet().getName());
    }
}

Output:

Dr. Kessner's pet is Gadget

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