Here is a class declaration for a class called Person. It is rather basic as it can be used to store only a name, a date of birth and a height:

0511: import java.util.StringTokenizer;                             // Person.java
0512: public class Person {
0513:    public Person() { this("", 0.0F, new Date()); }
0514:    public Person(String pString) {
0515:       StringTokenizer tTokens = new StringTokenizer(pString, "%");
0516:       oName = tTokens.nextToken();
0517:       iHeight = Float.valueOf(tTokens.nextToken()).floatValue();
0518:       oDateOfBirth = new Date(tTokens.nextToken());
0519:    }
0520:    public Person(String pName, float pHeight, Date pDate) {
0521:       oName = pName; iHeight = pHeight; oDateOfBirth = pDate;
0522:    }
0523:    public String getName() { return oName; }
0524:    public boolean equals(Object pObject) {
0525:       return oName.equals(((Person) pObject).oName);
0526:    }
0527:    public String toString() { 
0528:       return oName + "%" + iHeight + "%" + oDateOfBirth;
0529:    }
0530:    protected String oName;
0531:    private float iHeight;
0532:    protected Date oDateOfBirth;
0533: }

Although this class declaration has protected fields, for the time being treat the protected fields as if they were private fields. The distinction between the two will be discussed later.