Develop Reference

Using a Method to update a 2D Array by finding a matching value and then updating with a different input variable

Lets say I have a public class called GameBoard that will be a two dimensional array with 4 rows and 5 columns. The spaces in the array are filed with String values from 1 to 20. A card will be drawn that has a name (King of Spades for example) . If the user inputs 15 I will store it in a String variable called userLocation. What would be the most efficient way to create a method that takes the input location and updates the array with the name of the Card? Would a for loop be most efficient?
public GameBoard() {
square = new String[4][5];
square[0][0] = new String("1");
square[0][1] = new String("2");
square[0][2] = new String("3");
square[0][3] = new String("4");
square[0][4] = new String("5");
square[1][0] = new String("6");
square[1][1] = new String("7");
square[1][2] = new String("8");
square[1][3] = new String("9");
square[1][4] = new String("10");
square[2][1] = new String("11");
square[2][2] = new String("12");
square[2][3] = new String("13");
square[3][1] = new String("14");
square[3][2] = new String("15");
square[3][3] = new String("16");
square[2][0] = new String(17);
square[3][0] = new String(18);
square[2][4] = new String(19);
square[3][4] = new String(20);
}
My preferred method as of now would look something like this but it gives me the error code "type mismatch:cannot convert string to boolean" under userLocation = board[i][j]
public String[][] updateBoard(String userLocation, Card card, String[][] board) {
for (int i = 0; i <4; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
{
if(userLocation = board[i][j]) {
board[i][j] = card.name;
}
}
}
return board;
}

So the reason it will not compile is your = does not return a boolean expression. == would, but it's still not what you want, since you want to check if the String contents are the same, not if they're the same object, so use .equals.
But, no, I think you don't want to depend on strings to identify locations. What if you want to replace a card? And why look through everything when you need not?
Rather if i is some number between 1 and 20, identify the corresponding spot in the array by square[(i-1)/5][(i-1)%5]
That should bypass the issue you are having with matching strings.
So for example, your constructor becomes:
public GameBoard() {
square = new String[4][5];
for (int i=1; i<=20;i++){
square[(i-1)/5][(i-1)%5]=""+i;//initialize with 1 to 20 if you like
}
and userLocation is an int.

How can I access objects in a loop?

I am trying to hand over the position value of my object 'next' to the next 'next' object. Is it possible to write this code as a loop and scale it by n?
next.next.next.next.pos.y = next.next.next.pos.y;
next.next.next.next.pos.x = next.next.next.pos.x;
next.next.next.pos.y = next.next.pos.y;
next.next.next.pos.x = next.next.pos.x;
next.next.pos.y = next.pos.y;
next.next.pos.x = next.pos.x;
next.pos.x = pos.x;
next.pos.y = pos.y;

I guess you want something like this:
while(obj.next != null) {
obj.next.pos.x = obj.pos.x;
obj.next.pos.y = obj.pos.y;
obj = obj.next;
}
Later edit:
Sorry, I misunderstood your question.
You could then use a list to solve this issue. It's not the most performant way to do it but I will work.
List<Obj> objs = new ArrayList<>();
objs.add(obj);
// Add everything to a list
while(obj.next != null) {
objs.add(obj.next);
obj = obj.next;
}
// Walk the list in the reverse order
for(i = objs.size() - 1; i > 1 ; i--) {
objs[i].pos.x = objs[i - 1].pos.x;
objs[i].pos.y = objs[i - 1].pos.y;
}

How can I stop a method updating an array outside of it

Hoping for some help - I've been asked to write a hotel room system using methods for uni. All has been going well until I try to order the array alphabetically.
I have managed to get it to order within the method but it updated the main array (hotel). I want it to keep it within the order method, if that makes sense?
I've included a cut down version below without all the functions.
Currently it will reorder the array hotel so if you view the rooms the array will print like 'e,e,e,etc, George, Peter, Robert' instead of keeping its original form 'e, Robert, Peter, e,e,etc, George'
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
String roomName;
int roomNum = 0;
String[] hotelRef = new String[12];
String[] hotel = new String[12];
initialise(hotel); //initialise
while (roomNum < 13) {
System.out.println("Please select from the menu:");
System.out.println("V : View rooms");
System.out.println("O : Order Guests alphabetically");
String selection = input.next();
switch (selection) {
//There are more switch cases on the original version
case "O":
order(hotel);
break;
default:
System.out.println("");
}
}
}
private static void order(String[] hotelRef) {
int j;
boolean flag = true; //will determine when the sort is finished
String temp;
String[] order = new String[12];
order = hotelRef;
while (flag) {
flag = false;
for (j = 0; j < order.length - 1; j++) {
if (order[j].compareToIgnoreCase(order[j + 1]) > 0) {
//ascending sort
temp = order[j];
order[j] = order[j + 1]; // swapping
order[j + 1] = temp;
flag = true;
}
}
}
for (int y = 0; y < order.length; y++) {
if (!order[y].equals("e")) {
System.out.println("Room " + y + " is occupied by " + order[y]);
}
}
System.out.println("Ordering completed");
}

You should clone the hotelRef instead of assigning the reference like this order = hotelRef;
You could do the following while creating the order array :
String[] order = new String[hotelRef.length]; // to make sure that order has the right size.
and instead of order = hotelRef;
for (int i=0;i<order.length;i++)
order[i]=hotelRef[i]; // thereby cloning
or use System.arraycopy() or any other method to accomplish cloning the array.

You can make copy of hotel array in your order method:
String[] hotelCopy = new String[hotelRef.length];
System.arraycopy(hotelRef, 0, hotelCopy, 0, hotelRef.length);
And then just use hotelCopy inside your order method.

The problem lies with the following line
order = hotelRef;
Change it to
order = hotelRef.clone();
Though you are creating a new object, you have assigned the reference to outer object only. So whatever changes you make in the inner object it will be reflected to the outer object.

I have to return a value from a function that is called multiple times and I am unable to do that

I am stuck.
The following function is supposed to return currVm, an integer. But if I make a return I will break the loop and next time when this function is called,the same process will begin again.
What shall I do, so that I continue from where I left off ? I tried making static variables but I that didn't help me.
#Override
public int getNextAvailableVm() {
Set<String> dataCenters = confMap.keySet();
for (String dataCenter : dataCenters) {
LinkedList<DepConfAttr> list = confMap.get(dataCenter);
Collections.sort(list, new MemoryComparator());
int size = list.size() - 1;
int count = 0;
while(size >= 0) {
DepConfAttr dca = (DepConfAttr)list.get(count);
int currVm = dca.getVmCount();
int c = 0;
while(c <= currVm) {
allocatedVm(currVm);
c++;
return currVm;
}
count++;
size--;
}
}
return 0;
}
The for-each loop assigns a new data center that acts as a key for the confMap.The list that I get as a value, is sorted.Then a loop is run till it escapes its size.Inside this while loop, another while loop is run from where a function named allocatedVm of the inherited class is called. A parameter named currVm is passed to it.
This is the variable that I need to return. What shall I do to return this variable ? I have to start from I left off. I mean the next call should appear to be the next step, whatever it was, while executing the loop.

Add List<Integer> object to your class, and change your method as follows:
private Iterator<Integer> availableVms = null;
#Override
public int getNextAvailableVm() {
if (availableVms != null) {
if (availableVms.hasNext()) {
return availableVms.next();
}
return 0;
}
List<Integer> tmp = new ArrayList<Integer>();
Set<String> dataCenters = confMap.keySet();
for (String dataCenter : dataCenters) {
LinkedList<DepConfAttr> list = confMap.get(dataCenter);
Collections.sort(list, new MemoryComparator());
int size = list.size() - 1;
int count = 0;
while(size >= 0) {
DepConfAttr dca = (DepConfAttr)list.get(count);
int currVm = dca.getVmCount();
int c = 0;
while(c <= currVm) {
allocatedVm(currVm);
c++;
tmp.add(currVm);
}
count++;
size--;
}
}
availableVms = tmp.iterator();
return availableVms.hasNext() ? availableVms.next() : 0;
}
The idea is to pre-generate the entire list, and store its iterator for future use. Before entering the method you check if the availableVms iterator has been prepared. If it has been prepared, grab the next item off of it if it's available; otherwise, return zero.
If the list has not been prepared yet, run your algorithm, and add the results to a temporary list tmp. Once the list is ready, grab its iterator, and use it for subsequent invocations.

Java: sort 1d array of objects by full or not

I'm trying to compress an array of objects that will have empty items interspersed with complete items. I want to put all the full elements at the start in the same order they started with, and the empty elements on the end.
The object in question uses a String field, "name", and an int field, "weight". An empty version has "no name" and 0 respectively. So an array of the type the method needs to deal with will contain something like:
Fred | 4
Bob | 3
no name | 0
Gina | 9
no name | 0
Yuki | 7
After feeding through the method, the array should go Fred, Bob, Gina, Yuki, no name, no name.
My thought for step one was to just figure out which were full and which weren't, so I came up with this:
public void consolidate() {
boolean[] fullSlots = new boolean[spaces.length];
// pass 1: find empties
for (int i = 0; i < spaces.length; i++) {
fullSlots[i] = spaces[i].getName().equals("no name");
}
}
spaces is the array of objects, getName() retrieves the name field from the object.
I'm not sure where to go from here. Suggestions?
EDIT: Okay, here's what Infested came up with:
public void consolidate()
{
int numberOfEmpties = 0, spacesLength = spaces.length;
Chicken[] spaces2 = new Chicken[spacesLength];
for(int i = 0; i < spaces.length; i++)
{
spaces2[i] = new Chicken(spaces[i].getName(),
spaces[i].getWeight());
}
// pass 1: find empties
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < spacesLength; i++)
{
if (spaces2[i].getName().equals("no name") == false)
{
spaces[j] = new Chicken(spaces2[i].getName(),
spaces2[i].getWeight());
j++;
}
else
{
numberOfEmpties++;
}
}
for (int i = spacesLength - 1; numberOfEmpties > 0 ; numberOfEmpties--, i--)
{
spaces[i] = new Chicken("no name", 0);
}
}
Tested and working.

Java's Arrays.sort is stable, meaning that the relative order of equal elements is not going to change.
This sort is guaranteed to be stable: equal elements will not be reordered as a result of the sort.
You can use this property of the sorting algorithm to sort all your elements with a simple comparator:
Arrays.sort(
spaces
, new Comparator() {
public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
MyClass a = (MyClass)o1;
MyClass b = (MyClass)o2;
boolean aIsEmpty = "no name".equals(a.getName());
boolean bIsEmpty = "no name".equals(b.getName());
if (aIsEmpty && !bIsEmpty) {
return 1;
}
if (!aIsEmpty && bIsEmpty) {
return -1;
}
return 0;
}
}
);
This will sort all items with non-empty names ahead of the items with empty names, leaving the relative order of both groups of objects unchanged within their respective group.
If your space constraints allow you to create a new array of MyClass, you can go for a simpler algorithm: go through the original array once, and make a count of non-empty items. Then create a new array, and make two indexes: idxNonEmpty = 0, and idxEmpty = NonEmptyCount+1. Then go through the original array one more time, writing non-empty objects to idxNonEmpty++, and empty objects to idxEmpty++.

ill assume its a method of the class:
public void consolidate()
{
int lengthOfSpaces = spaces.length , i, numberOfEmpties = 0;
Type[] spacesNumberTwo = new Type[lengthOfSpaces ];
// pass 1: find empties
for (i = 0; i < lengthOfSpaces ; i++)
{
if(spaces[i].getName().equals("no name") == false)
spacesNumberTwo[i] = new Type(spaces[i].getName(), spaces[i].getInt());
else
numberOfEmpties++;
}
for (i = lengthOfSpaces - 1; numberOfEmpties > 0 ; numberOfEmpties--, i--)
{
spacesNumberTwo[i] = new Type("no name", 0);
}
spaces = spacesNumberTwo
}