I'm trying to learn Java, I studied Pascal in high school and it has the repeat until..; instruction.
I want to solve an exercise where I'm supposed to keep entering numbers until the penultimate + antepenultimate numbers equal the last number I entered.(a[i-2]+a[i-1] = a[i]); I'm doing it without arrays but that doesn't really matter.
In Pascal it would be easy because repeat until is more easier to use
For ex it would be
repeat
...
until ((a[i-2]+a[i-1] = a[i]) and (n=3));
n is the number of values I entered
I can't figure out how to introduce it in Java, so far I did this but it doesn't work if I enter 2 2 4. It should stop but it keeps asking for numbers
int pen = 0, ant = 0, s = 0, n = 1;
int ult = input.nextInt();
s = s + ult;
do {
do {
ant = pen;
pen = ult;
ult = input.nextInt();
n++;
s = s + ult;
} while (ant + pen != ult);
System.out.println(n);
} while ((n == 3) || (n < 4));
ult is the last number I enter, s is the sum of the numbers entered.
Could anyone tell me how to set the conditions so it will stop if I enter the values 2 2 4?
A Do-While loop runs the code in the loop first. It evaluates the logic last, and then if it's true it repeats the code inside the loop, and so on until the logic is false.
The way to solve tricky problems like this is to get out a sheet of paper and record what each variable does. Step through each line like a debugger and record what's being stored in each variable as the program progresses.
It's the best way to do it. You'll find that you'll gain a deeper understanding of how your programs are working.
Java isn't any more magic than Pascal, the issue might be you've had a long break from programming :). Anyway, its been a while since I wrote anything in Java, but the issue I could spot in your code is just that n equals three after you've entered three ints, and so the outer loop continues.
int pen = 0, ant = 0, ult = 0, n = 0;
do {
ant = pen;
pen = ult;
ult = input.nextInt();
} while (++n < 3 || ant + pen != ult );
assert n >= 3;
assert ant + pen == ult;
Note that ever since Pascal everything has been zero indexed instead of one indexed.
Pascal uses the form:
repeat
doStuff();
until (boleanValue);
Java is basically the same, except for one important point:
do
doStuff();
while (~boleanValue);
The important difference is that "~" before booleanValue. The Pascal repeat ... until keeps running until the boolean evaluates to true. In Java the do ... while keeps running until the boolean evaluates to false. When converting from Pascal to Java you need to switch the boolean to work the other way.
The primary difference between while loop and a do-while loop is that while loop does eager condition check where as do-while loop does lazy condition check
while: Expression is evaluated at the top of the loop
syntax:
while (expression) {
statement(s)
}
(taken from http://www.w3resource.com/c-programming/c-while-loop.php)
Example:
public class WhileDemo{
public static void main(String args[]) {
boolean isSunday = false;
while(isSunday) {
System.out.println("Yayy.. Its Sunday!!");
}
}
}
Output: (nothing is printed on console)
Reason: Since isSunday is false, the body of loop is not executed
do-while: Expression is evaluated at the bottom of the loop. Therefore, the statements within the do block are always executed at least once.
syntax:
do {
statement(s)
} while (expression);
(taken from http://www.w3resource.com/c-programming/c-do-while-loop.php)
Example:
public class DoWhileDemo{
public static void main(String args[]) {
boolean isSunday = false;
do {
System.out.println("Yayy.. Its Sunday!!");
} while(isSunday);
}
}
Output: Yayy.. Its Sunday!!
Reason: The body of do is executed first, there by printing Yayy.. Its Sunday!! and then the condition while(isSunday); evaluates to false since isSunday is false and the loop terminates
You're only missing one thing from your problem. Your explanation of the Pascal code is almost correct, but wouldn't work without some modification.
In Java, use short-circuit logical operators to do the check.
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/op2.html
Not tested:
int n = 0;
int a[] = new a[3];
do {
n++;
a[0] = a[1];
a[1] = a[2];
a[2] = input.nextInt();
} while ((n < 3) || (a[0]+a[1] != a[2]));
System.out.println(a[2]);
Related
I'm fairly new to programming and I started to write some basic codes. I tried to create an algorithm that found every position of the character you wanted in a string. If I were to enter "helllo" as a string and wanted to search for the character l, it would output 2, 3 and 4. The code worked fine until I tried to trick the code a bit to change something. To do so, I first removed the termination condition in the "for loop" and instead added an if statement during the loop to break it. I spent about 2h on the error that occurred after and I still can't find out what's happening.
Here's the code and the output it gives me. (I know my code is a mess and not properly optimized, but right now I would just like to know what is happening. I'll rearrange it later if I get it to work. thank you^-^.)
When I run the code, instead of displaying as it should, "7, 8, 9, 10"(it searches for the character ^ in the string Oioriew^^^^) it outputs "7-1,8,9,10". To fix it, I can simply insert the termination condition in the loop again, which was, "pow != -1" but at this point, I really want to know why it happens.
public class Tests {
static void zeMethod(String mainString,char charToFind) {
int a = 0;
String b, c;
char chartToConvert;
c = "";
b = "";
for (int pow = mainString.indexOf(charToFind);
; // *the condition was here.*
pow = mainString.indexOf(charToFind, pow + 1)) {
a++;
if (a == 1){
System.out.println("String: "+mainString);
System.out.println("il y a un "+charToFind+" à la/aux position(s)");
}
if (a == 1){
System.out.print(pow);
}
if (a%2 == 0 && pow != -1) {
c = b+", "+pow;
}
if (a%2 != 0 && a != 1 && pow != -1) {
b = c+", "+pow;
}
if (pow == -1){
System.out.print(pow);
break;
}
//*end of loop*
}
if (a%2 != 0){
System.out.println(c);
}
else {
System.out.println(b);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args){
String string = "Oioriew^^^^";
char chara = '^';
zeMethod(string, chara);
}
}
I'm sorry if my question is a bit incoherent or not properly asked. This is my first time on the site and English isn't my mother language. Thank you for your time!
Edit:
I know the question wasn't clear at first, but what I meant is, why does pow become -1 after the second iteration of the loop. Also, why does the break after the System.out.print(pow); doesn't make it leave the loop. (I'm looking how to make a debugger work atm too.)
[...] instead of displaying as it should, "7, 8, 9, 10" [...] it outputs "7-1,8,9,10 [...] I really want to know why it happens
Sounds like you're asking why it prints -1, which happens because you explicitly asked it to:
if (pow == -1){
System.out.print(pow);
break;
}
If pow is -1 then print pow (aka -1) and exit the loop.
UPDATE
As for why the order of the output, use a debugger and step through the code one statement at a time, and you'll see.
But, lets see: We can agree that loop will iterate with pow having these numbers in this order: 7, 8, 9, 10, -1
Why does it print 7 first?
Because you have this code inside the loop:
a++;
if (a == 1){
System.out.print(pow);
}
Why does it print -1 next?
Because there are no other print statements inside the loop, which would be a lot more apparent if you indented the code correctly, i.e. indented the content of the loop.
Why does it print 8,9,10 last?
Because you print the content of b or c after the loop, and that is the content of whichever one of them is being printed.
Note that first value (-7) is not added to b, because you explicitly exclude it in the if statement.
I'm all good, thank you all for your time and Andreas, for the debugger option. It's a must-have for anyone programming. I don't know how I didn't see this earlier, but to break, it had to become -1 and since I had to break before I could print my answer, -1 was first.
I was trying to implement the coin change problem using recursion. I have written the following code and am facing a problem with the static class variable. 'answer' is a class variable and i am trying to add the return value to it in the loop. This works fine within the while loop but after the while loop ends the answer is reset to 0;
while (i * currentCoin <= sum) {
System.out.println("inside while; answer is " + answer);
answer = answer
+ findCombinations(
sum - i * currentCoin,
new ArrayList<Integer>(denominations.subList(1,
denominations.size())));
i++;
}
Below is all the code that I have written. You can copy and run it to check.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
public class CoinChangeHashMap {
static int answer = 0;
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] array = new int[] { 7, 3, 2 };
ArrayList<Integer> input = new ArrayList<Integer>();
getList(array, input);
findCombinations(12, input);
System.out.println(answer);
}
private static void getList(int[] array, ArrayList<Integer> input) {
for (int i : array) {
input.add(i);
}
}
public static int findCombinations(int sum, ArrayList<Integer> denominations) {
if (denominations.size() == 1) {
if (sum % denominations.get(0) == 0) {
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
int i = 0;
int currentCoin = denominations.get(0);
while (i * currentCoin <= sum) {
System.out.println("inside while; answer is " + answer);
answer = answer
+ findCombinations(
sum - i * currentCoin,
new ArrayList<Integer>(denominations.subList(1,
denominations.size())));
i++;
}
return 0;
}}
**The output that I get is 0. but the expected output is 4. While debugging the output that I got is **
inside while; answer is 0
inside while; answer is 0
inside while; answer is 1
inside while; answer is 1
inside while; answer is 2
inside while; answer is 2
inside while; answer is 0
inside while; answer is 0
inside while; answer is 0
0
Any Help is appreciated.
The problem is related to your odd code structure, in which you convey the outcome of your recursive call sometimes by modifying static variable answer, and sometimes via the method's return value.
If you analyzed the problem more closely, you would discover that it is not upon exit from the loop that the partial results are lost, but rather some time after return from the method. Therefore, consider carefully the way you update the answer:
answer = answer + findCombinations( /* ... */ );
At the top-most level of your recursion, answer is initially 0. When Java evaluates the above expression, it evaluates first the left operand and then the right operand, then it adds them. That is, it evaluates answer, getting the result 0, before it performs the recursive call. The value of answer may be updated in the course of the recursive call, but those changes come too late. Only the bottom-most level of the recursion ever returns a value different from zero, so if the recursive call itself recurses at least one level deeper then it will return zero. In that case, the sum is computed as 0 + 0, and assigned to answer, clobbering any update the method performed.
You could resolve the problem by swapping the order of the operands in your sum, but it would be better, and not much harder, to get rid of the static variable altogether. Use a local variable within the method to accumulate results, and in all cases convey the total back to the caller via the method's return value.
Is there ever a situation where you must use a do while loop? Is it an accepted practice? It seems like it is equivalent to a plain while loop except that its first iteration happens before checking the conditional, if that is even true.
int i = 3;
while ( i > 0 ) { // runs 3 times
i--;
}
vs
int j = 3;
do {
j --;
} while ( j > 0 ); // runs 3 times
The same?
EDIT: I have seen the java doc, but
the example in the java docs doesn't look like it requires that the particular routine inside of the do while loop must be run in the do while loop instead of inside of a regular while loop!
Is there ever a situation where you must use a do while loop?
No: every do-while loop can be written as a while-loop by running the body once before the loop begins. However, there are certainly cases where it makes more sense to use the do-while construct (i.e. if you always want the loop to iterate at least once), which is why it exists in the first place.
Is it an accepted practice?
If you use it appropriately, then yes absolutely.
It seems like it is equivalent to a plain while loop except that its first iteration happens before checking the conditional, if that is even true.
That's right. You can read more about do-while in its tutorial.
This example maybe help you be clearer:
int i = 3;
System.out.print("while: ");
while (--i > 0){
System.out.print("x");
}
System.out.print("\ndo-while: ");
int j = 3;
do
{
System.out.print("x");
}while (--j > 0);
This prints
while: xx
do-while: xxx
A real time example.
There is a contest with 5 level.
In each level if you score 100 you can proceed to next level.
Less code for do while, but not for while.
boolean playContest()
{//do while
int level = 1;
int score;
do
{
score = 0;
score = play();
}while(score>99 && level++<6)
if(level>4 && score>99)
isWinner = true;
else
isWinner = false;
return isWinner;
}
boolean playContest()
{//while
int level = 1;
int score;
while(level <6)
{
score = 0;
score = play();
if(score < 100)
break;
level++;
}
if(level>4 && score>99)
isWinner = true;
else
isWinner = false;
return isWinner;
}
basic difference between while and do-while is do while will be executed at least once.
when do-while is best option?
in case when you want to execute some actions till you meet condition, of course you could achieve same thing by using while but early termination of loop with break, is nasty and ugly solution
When you want to execute the statement inside do for at least once, then you can go for it.
Directly from Docs
The difference between do-while and while is that do-while evaluates its expression at the bottom of the loop instead of the top. Therefore, the statements within the do block are always executed at least once,
do {
statement(s)
} while (expression);
No, there is no time a do-while loops is the only option, it is used for convenience when you do not want to repeat code.
i have recrusive function which works fine. The problem is it gives stackoverflow error when the number of lines are huge. I want to put it in iterative, probably using a for loop. Need some help in doing it.
private TreeSet validate(int curLine, TreeSet errorSet) {
int increment = 0;
int nextLine = 0;
if (curLine == lines.length || errorSet.size() != 0) {
return errorSet;
} else {
String line = lines[curLine];
//validation starts. After validation, line is incremented as per the requirements
increment = 1 //As per requirement. Depends on validation results of the line
if (increment > 0) {
try{
Thread.currentThread().sleep(100);
}catch(Exception ex){
System.out.println(ex);
}
nextLine = (curLine + increment);
validate(nextLine, errorSet);
}
}
return errorSet;
}
Poster's description of the method:
The method does validates textlines, these lines has instructions of how much line has to be skipped, if the line is valid. So, if the line is valid that many of lines will be skipped using the increment. if the line is not valid increment will be 0.
I'm not sure why this was ever recursive in the first place. This is perfectly suited for the use of a FOR loop. use something like so:
private TreeSet validate(int curLine, TreeSet errorSet) {
int increment = 0;
if (errorSet.size() != 0)
return errorSet;
for (int curLine = 0; curLine < lines.Length; curLine += increment)
{
// put your processing logic in here
// set the proper increment here.
}
}
If the increment is always going to be 1, then you can just use curr++ instead of curLine += increment
for(String line : lines) {
// validate line here
if(!errorSet.isEmpty()) {
break;
}
}
The solution for your problem could be simple for loop or while, with logical expression for stop condition. Typically we use for loop when we have to pass through all elements of Iterable or array. In case when we are not aware how many loops we are going to do we use a while loop. Advantage of for loop over while, is that we for free have localized variables so we ca not use them out side of the loop, therefore we reduce possibility to have some bug.
You problem is that you have to break the program on two conditions:
When errorSet is not empty.
When the array of lines have no longer items.
As contradiction, we can say that your program should continue:
Until errorSet is empty,
and until line number is smaller than array size where they are stored.
This provide us to simply expression
errorSet.isEmpty()
lineNumber < lines.length()
We can combine them using logical operator && and use as a stop rule in for loop.
for(int lineNumber= 0; errorSet.isEmpty() && lineNumber< lines.length(); lineNumber++) {
//code to operate
}
Note:
Typically for logical expression is used operator &&, that assure that every part of the logical expression is evaluated. An alternative for this is &, that in case of false do not operate longer and return false. We could be tempted to use this operator for this expression but i would be bad idea. Because when we would traversed all lines without error code will generate IndexOutOfBoundException, if we switch the places then we would not have any optimization as first expression would be evaluated same number of times.
I've heard that using while(true) is a bad programming practice.
So, I've written the following code to get some numbers from a user (with default values). However, if the user happens to type in -1, then it will quit the program for them.
How should this be written then without a while(true)? I can think of a condition to make the while loop go off that will get caught right away without continuing on until the next iteration?
Here is how I have it now:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println("QuickSelect!");
while (true)
{
System.out.println("Enter \"-1\" to quit.");
int arraySize = 10;
System.out.print("Enter the size of the array (10): ");
String line = input.nextLine();
if (line.matches("\\d+"))
{
arraySize = Integer.valueOf(line);
}
if (arraySize == -1) break;
int k = 1;
System.out.print("Enter the kth smallest element you desire (1): ");
line = input.nextLine();
if (line.matches("\\d+"))
{
k = Integer.valueOf(k);
}
if (k == -1) break;
List<Integer> randomData = generateRandomData(arraySize, 1, 100);
quickSelect(randomData, k);
}
}
while (true) is fine. Keep it.
If you had a more natural termination condition, I'd say to use it, but in this case, as the other answers prove, getting rid of while (true) makes the code harder to understand.
There is a Single Entry Single Exit (SESE) school of thought that suggests that you should not use break, continue or abuse exceptions to do the same for some value of abuse). I believe the idea here is not that you should use some auxiliary flag variable, but to clearly state the postcondition of the loop. This makes it tractable to formerly reason about the loop. Obviously use the stands-to-reason form of reasoning, so it is unpopular with the unwashed masses (such as myself).
public static void main(String[] args) {
...
do {
...
if (arraySize == -1) {
...
if (k != -1) {
...
}
}
} while (arraySze == -1 || k == -1);
...
}
Real code would be more complex and you would naturally(!) separate out the inputing, outputting and core "business" logic, which would make it easier to see what is going on.
bool exit = false;
while (!exit) {
...
...
if (k == -1) {
exit = true;
}
else {
List <Integer> ....;
quickselect(.......);
}
}
But as has been said before, your while loop is a valid usage in this situation. The other options would simply build upon the if statements to check for the boolean and exit.
While having a loop like this is not technically wrong, some people will argue that it is not as readable as the following:
bool complete = false;
while (!complete)
{
if (arraySize == -1)
{
complete = true;
break;
}
}
Additionally, it is sometimes a good idea to have a safety loop counter that checks to make sure the loop has not gone through, say, 100 million iterations, or some number much larger than you would expect for the loop body. This is a secure way of making sure bugs don't cause your program to 'hang'. Instead, you can give the user a friendly "We're sorry but you've discovered a bug.. program will now quit.." where you set 'complete' to true and you end the program or do additional error handling. I've seen this in production code, and may or may not be something you would use.
while ( true ) is perfectly fine here, since the condition is really "while the user doesn't want to quit"!
Alternatively you could prompt for both the inputs on one line to simplify the logic, and use "q" for quit: this allows you to refactor the loop to "while ( !line.equals("q") )".
The problem is that you're doing an awful lot in that loop, rather than separating the functionality into simple methods.
If you want to stick to a procedural approach, you could move the reading of the array size and k into separate methods, and use the fact that the result of an assignment is the assigned value:
for (int arraySize; ( arraySize = readArraySize ( input ) ) != -1;) {
final int k = readKthSmallestElement ( input );
List<Integer> randomData = generateRandomData(arraySize, 1, 100);
quickSelect(randomData, k);
}
However that's still a bit ugly, and not well encapsulated. So instead of having the two != -1 tests on separate variables, encapsulate arraySize, k and randomData in an object, and create a method which reads the data from the input, and returns either a QuickSelect object or null if the user quits:
for ( QuickSelect select; ( select = readQuickSelect ( input ) ) != null; ) {
select.generateRandomData();
select.quickSelect();
}
You might even want to go to the next stage of creating a sequence of QuickSelect objects from the input, each of which encapsulate the data for one iteration:
for ( QuickSelect select : new QuickSelectReader ( input ) ) {
select.generateRandomData();
select.quickSelect();
}
where QuickSelectReader implements Iterable and the iterator has the logic to create a QuickSelect object which encapsulates arraySize, k, the list and the quick select operation. But that ends up being quite a lot more code than the procedural variants.
I'd only do that if I wanted to reuse it somewhere else; it's not worth the effort just to make main() pretty.
Also note that "-1" doesn't match the regex "\\d+", so you really do have an infinite loop.
If you really don't like while(true) you can always go for for(;;). I prefer the latter because it seems less redundant.