Greenfoot, using "this"

Question

I am just starting to use greenfoot and I am looking into some examples and find that people often use "this", what does it exactly mean, I don't really understand, for example:

//set the animal's age
public void setAge(int age)
{
   this.age = age;
}

Come on, just search for "this" in Google or SO. – Christian Tapia Mar 09 '14 at 20:56 — Christian Tapia, Mar 09 '14 at 20:56
I did, but I thought I would get a better explanation here. – FpRoT Mar 09 '14 at 21:02 — FpRoT, Mar 09 '14 at 21:02

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:05

0

The keyword

this

refers to an instance of the enclosing class. In your example, "this" will refer to the class containing that keyword.

You question might already have been answered here:

What is the meaning of "this" in Java?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:05

Community

1
1

answered Mar 09 '14 at 20:56

blueygh2

1,538
10
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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '14 at 20:57

The this refers to the current instance of an object. So, in your example:

public void setAge(int age)
{
   this.age = age;
}

The use of this in the setAge setter means we are referring to the instance variable age in the this.age and setting that equal to the value of the parameter age. This means this.age and age refer to different variables.

Greenfoot, using "this"

2 Answers2