Methods

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Goal

Write a Java method that takes parameters and returns a value. After this page you will be able to read the controller methods on later pages.

Prerequisites

• Classes and primitives

What a method looks like

A method is a named block of code that takes zero or more inputs and returns one value (or nothing, written as void). It always lives inside a class.

The shape of a method declaration:

<visibility> <return-type> <name>(<parameter list>) { ... }

• Visibility is public, private, or omitted. public means any other class can call it.
• Return type is the type of the value the method gives back. Use void if it gives nothing back.
• Parameter list is zero or more Type name pairs, separated by commas.

The return keyword exits the method and hands a value back to the caller. If the return type is void, omit the value.

Code

public class Greeter {
    public static String greet(String name, int year) {
        return "hello " + name + ", year " + year;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        var message = greet("Aarav", 2026);
        System.out.println(message);
    }
}

Run it:

java Greeter.java

Output:

hello Aarav, year 2026

What changed from the previous page:

• greet is a method that takes two parameters and returns a String.
• main calls greet and stores the result in message.
• static on both methods means they belong to the class itself, not to an instance. That is what lets main call greet without first creating a Greeter object.

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