Develop Reference

Check for Palidrome using Recursion and Char Array search

I'm currently trying to use a function that compares the left and right side character to return a true or false Boolean value as to whether the string entered by the user is a palindrome or not, but I get a vague error statement to do with line 44. Not sure how to proceed. I am a beginner-level Java programmer who is open-minded and willing to learn, so don't roast me to hard haha.
import java.util.Scanner;
/**
*
* #author owner
*/
public class Q2_RecursivePalidrome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int leftSideCharacter = 0;
int rightSideCharacter = 0;
Scanner scan = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.println("Enter word to check whether palidrome: ");
String userInput = scan.next();
char[] checkPalidrome = userInput.toCharArray(); // creates an array of characters
System.out.println(isPalidrome(checkPalidrome, leftSideCharacter, rightSideCharacter));
}
public static boolean isPalidrome(char[] checkPalidrome, int leftSideCharacter, int rightSideCharacter) {
leftSideCharacter = 0;
rightSideCharacter = checkPalidrome.length - 1; // java arrays start at 0, not 1.
if (rightSideCharacter > leftSideCharacter) { // check both ends of string character by character
// to be palidrome, both sides of string should be same
//
if (checkPalidrome[leftSideCharacter] == checkPalidrome[rightSideCharacter]) {
return (isPalidrome(checkPalidrome, leftSideCharacter + 1, rightSideCharacter - 1));
}
else {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
}

There are a couple main issues here, but you have the right idea:
Your recursive function uses left and right indices to determine which characters to compare in the test string. However, these two pointers are immediately set to the left and right ends of the string when the function is called, so they never recursively move towards the middle. Since the base case where the indices are equal is unreachable, the stack overflows. Remember, these calls are identical all the way down the stack, but with different parameters, so one-time "set up" tasks like setting initial indices should be moved outside of the recursive function.
Your initial pointer indices are 0, 0. This is an inaccurate "set up" call to the recursive function--it should be 0, string.length - 1.
Here is code that fixes these problems and cleans up comments and variable names:
import java.util.*;
public class Q2_RecursivePalidrome {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String test = "racecar";
System.out.println(isPalidrome(test.toCharArray(), 0, test.length() - 1));
}
static boolean isPalidrome(char[] test, int l, int r) {
if (l < r) {
if (test[l] == test[r]) {
return isPalidrome(test, l + 1, r - 1);
}
else {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
}
By the way, the important lesson to take from all this is how to debug your program. In this case, printing your indices (the arguments that change from one call to the next) at the top of your recursive function will clearly show that they aren't doing what you expect.

Java Min-Heap Implementing Priority Queue - Iteration

I'm trying to use this code to implement a Priority Queue. There are a number of questions regarding this implementation on the site, but given how many different ways you can write code to do essentially the same thing I am still at a loss after looking through a handful of other examples.
There are some missing lines in this code, but I am limited to editing only the four marked lines and so I find myself stuck on one particular aspect. I can't seem to understand how 'quantity' is incremented.
From my understanding main creates a new object of maxSize = 5. Then calls the insertItem method passing the value of 130. This should be placed into the root (I had put queArray[quantity] = item; into the first blank) at which point the insertItem method exits and is then called again with the next value. So at what point is 'quantity' incremented? Maybe I am missing something incredibly simple, or maybe there is another way of solving this that may not be apparent or known to beginners like me?
I would think you would want to increment quantity under the initial if statement, but that doesn't seem to be an option, so as far as I can tell the else statement can never be executed as quantity doesn't change. I know I am incorrect, but I don't know how, some help would be greatly appreciated.
public class Main {
/**
* #param args the command line arguments
*/
// array in sorted order, from max at 0 to min at size-1
private int maxSize;
private long[] queArray;
private int quantity;
public Main(int s) {
maxSize = s;
queArray = new long[maxSize];
quantity = 0;
}
public void insertItem(long item) {
int i;
if (quantity == 0)
__________; // insert at 0
else
{
for (i = quantity - 1; i >= 0; i--) // start at end,
{
if (item > queArray[i]) // if new item larger,
__________; // shift upward
else
// if smaller,
break; // done shifting
}
__________; // insert it
__________;
} // end else (quantity > 0)
}
public boolean PQEmpty(){
return (quantity == 0);
}
public long removeItemPQ(){
return queArray[--quantity];
}
public long peekMin(){
return queArray[quantity - 1];
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Main thePQ = new Main(5);
thePQ.insertItem(130);
thePQ.insertItem(450);
thePQ.insertItem(110);
thePQ.insertItem(430);
thePQ.insertItem(280);
while (!thePQ.PQEmpty()) {
long item = thePQ.removeItemPQ();
System.out.print(item + " ");
}
System.out.println("");
}
}

It isn't a style I'd recommend, but you could use queArray[quantity++] = item;.

Strange output(square symbol) in the Java code

everyone. I am currently having issue on doing the evaluation of postfix expression in Java and I think everything is alright except the output is not really correct. But never mind, please let me to post all the codes so that all of you can have a look on them. By the way, please be noted that all of you just need to concentrate on TestPalindrome class is enough because I never change the codes for the other classes except the class that I specified just now.
StackInterface defines all the methods that are available to ArrayStack class.
//There is no need to check this.
public interface StackInterface<T> {
/** Task: Adds a new entry to the top of the stack.
* #param newEntry an object to be added to the stack */
public void push(T newEntry);
/** Task: Removes and returns the stack誷 top entry.
* #return either the object at the top of the stack or, if the
* stack is empty before the operation, null */
public T pop();
/** Task: Retrieves the stack誷 top entry.
* #return either the object at the top of the stack or null if
* the stack is empty */
public T peek();
/** Task: Detects whether the stack is empty.
* #return true if the stack is empty */
public boolean isEmpty();
/** Task: Removes all entries from the stack */
public void clear();
} // end StackInterface
ArrayStack class that is nothing special.
//There is no need to check this.
public class ArrayStack<T> implements StackInterface<T> {
private T[] stack; // array of stack entries
private int topIndex; // index of top entry
private static final int DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY = 50;
public ArrayStack() {
this(DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY);
} // end default constructor
public ArrayStack(int initialCapacity) {
stack = (T[]) new Object[initialCapacity];
topIndex = -1;
} // end constructor
public void push(T newEntry) {
topIndex++;
if (topIndex >= stack.length) // if array is full,
doubleArray(); // expand array
stack[topIndex] = newEntry;
} // end push
public T peek() {
T top = null;
if (!isEmpty())
top = stack[topIndex];
return top;
} // end peek
public T pop() {
T top = null;
if (!isEmpty()) {
top = stack[topIndex];
stack[topIndex] = null;
topIndex--;
} // end if
return top;
} // end pop
public boolean isEmpty() {
return topIndex < 0;
} // end isEmpty
public void clear() {
} // end clear
/** Task: Doubles the size of the array of stack entries.
* Refer to Segment 5.18 */
private void doubleArray() {
T[] oldStack = stack; // get reference to array of stack entries
int oldSize = oldStack.length; // get max size of original array
stack = (T[]) new Object[2 * oldSize]; // double size of array
// copy entries from old array to new, bigger array
System.arraycopy(oldStack, 0, stack, 0, oldSize);
} // end doubleArray
} // end ArrayStack
The following class is TestPalindrome class.(The class name may sounds strange because the exercises that I did were all in the same class and I do not post the irrelevant codes in the class.)
import java.util.Scanner;
public class TestPalindrome {
public TestPalindrome() {
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//P3Q2
StackInterface<Character> myStack = new ArrayStack<Character>();
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
int result;
char resultInChar;
System.out.print("Please enter a postfix expresion : ");
String postfix = scanner.nextLine();
for(int i = 0; i < postfix.length(); i++)
{
char postfixChar = postfix.charAt(i);
if(Character.isDigit(postfixChar)) //If postfixChar is a digit, then it will be pushed into the stack.
{
myStack.push(postfixChar);
}
/*(For else statement) First operand will be popped as right operand and second
operand will be popped as left operand if postfixChar is operator such as + .
The calculation of both operands will be carried out based on the operator given.
After this the result of calculation will be pushed back into the stack and the
same things will happen again.*/
else
{
int firstOperand = Character.getNumericValue(myStack.pop()); //To get numeric value of the first character stored.
System.out.println("\nThe right operand : " + firstOperand);
int secondOperand = Character.getNumericValue(myStack.pop()); //To get numeric value of the second character stored.
System.out.println("The left operand : " + secondOperand);
switch(postfixChar)
{
case '+':
result = secondOperand + firstOperand;
System.out.println("The result is " + result);
resultInChar = (char)result; //Convert the result of calculation back to character data type so that it can be pushed into the stack.
System.out.println("Strange output : " + resultInChar); //Here is where the strange output occurred.
myStack.push(resultInChar);
break;
case '-':
result = secondOperand - firstOperand;
System.out.println("The result is " + result);
resultInChar = (char)result;
myStack.push(resultInChar);
break;
case '/':
result = secondOperand / firstOperand;
System.out.println("The result is " + result);
resultInChar = (char)result;
myStack.push(resultInChar);
break;
case '*':
result = secondOperand * firstOperand;
System.out.println("The result is " + result);
resultInChar = (char)result;
myStack.push(resultInChar);
break;
}
}
}
System.out.println("\nThe answer of " + postfix + " is " + Character.getNumericValue(myStack.pop())); //To get the final answer in the form of numeric value
}
}
Here is the attachment of the picture to show all the outputs of the program.
Please explain the wrong part as I really cannot figure out why this will happen since 1 + 1 = 2 and the ASCII code of 2 which is 50 should be displayed instead of the weird square symbol.Thanks because spending the valuable time to look into my problem.

You say:
Please explain the wrong part as I really cannot figure out why this
will happen since 1 + 1 = 2 and the ASCII code of 2 which is 50 should
be displayed instead of the weird square symbol.
Yes, 1 + 1 = 2. But if you cast it to a char, it will use ASCII value 2, and not 50. To do that, you should do something like:
resultCharIn = (char) ('0' + result);
In other words: '0' != 0.
However, this seems like a wrong approach, because: what if the result is greater than 9. You will need two characters. Maybe you should consider a different design?

How do I pass an array to a method in java?

Here is the program that I am trying to run:
/**
* Write a description of class mainGame here.
*
* #author Anthony Parsch
* #version 0.1.1
*/
//Import what I need to.
import java.io.*;
public class mainGame
{
/**
* Constructor for objects of class mainGame
*/
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// initialise instance variables
int xCoord = 10; //The map's max x coordinate +1
int yCoord = 10; //The map's max y coordinate +1
int playerX = 0; //The player's current x coordinate
int playerY = 0; //The player's current y coordinate
//Declare the arrays
String[][] map; //[x][y]The map
String[][] direc; //[x][y]Which directions that you can go
String[][] items; //[x][y]Where items are at
String[] inv; // Holds your inventory.
int[][] helpInt; //[x][y] All the other stuff in the
//Initalize the arrays
//---The player arrays
inv = new String[10]; //The player's inventory
inv[0] = "0";
inv = addItem(inv, "Blarg");//GET RID OF THIS LATER
//---The map arrays
map = new String[xCoord][yCoord]; //Descriptions
direc = new String[xCoord][yCoord]; //north y++,west x--,south y--,east x++
items = new String[xCoord][yCoord]; //The items within the world
//Declare the values of map
map[0][0] = "You wake up with the feel of cold metal on your back. The only other thing in this room is the door.";
map[0][1] = "You are now in a hallway with a door behind you and one either side. Forward is a continuation of the hallway.com";
//Declare the values of direc
direc[0][0] = "north";
direc[0][1] = "north, south, east, west";
print(inv[0]); //Check that the functions work
print(findDirec(direc, 0, 0));
}
/**
* Finds and displays the avaliable exits for a coordinate.
*
* #param map[][] The map array from which this method pulls the directions from.
* #param x The x value of the map
* #param y The y value of the map
* #return The string value of which way you can go
*/
static String findDirec(String[][] map, int x, int y){
//Pulls the directions
String match = map[x][y];
//Checks Directions
boolean nor = match.matches("(.*)north(.*)");
boolean sou = match.matches("(.*)south(.*)");
boolean wes = match.matches("(.*)west(.*)");
boolean eas = match.matches("(.*)east(.*)");
//Displays directions
String placeHolder = "You can go ";
if (nor == true){
placeHolder = placeHolder + "north, ";
} else if(sou == true) {
placeHolder = placeHolder + "south, ";
} else if(wes == true) {
placeHolder = placeHolder + "west, ";
} else if(eas == true) {
placeHolder = placeHolder + "east";
}
//---Checks if east is in the string, if not it removes the space and comma
if (eas == false){
StringBuffer soo = new StringBuffer(placeHolder);
soo.delete((placeHolder.length()-3), (placeHolder.length()-1));
placeHolder = soo.toString();
}
//Adds the ending period
placeHolder = placeHolder + ".";
//Returns the string
return placeHolder;
}
//Adds an item to an inventory
static String[] addItem(String inv[], String item){
int i; //Counter for the for loop, and where to add the item at.
boolean stop = false;
for(i=0; stop = true; i++)
{
if(inv[i].equals("0"))
{
stop = true;
}
}
inv[i] = item;
return inv;
}
static void print(String entry){
System.out.print(entry);
}
}
And when I try and run it through the Command Prompt, I get this error:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerExcpetion
at mainGame.addItem(mainGame.java:113)
at mainGame.main(mainGame.java:38)

When I paste this in to a text editor, line 113 is simply a closing brace }.
However, one line before that is a logic flaw which I presume is really line 113 for you.
for(i=0; stop = true; i++)
{
if(inv[i].equals("0"))
{
stop = true;
}
}
Each iteration of the loop assigns true to stop and then tests if true equals true, which it does. Your condition to exit the loop is when true equals false, which is never the case, therefore your loop goes forever until an error occurs. Also, don't you want to iterate while stop is false? I think you have it backwards.
The next problem is your if statement, which is probably where your NullPointerException is coming from:
if(inv[i].equals("0"))
{
stop = true;
}
You assume that inv[i] refers to an object. You need a null check.
Three recommendations:
Never use = for a comparison. Use ==. Since this is a boolean, you can even simplify this to stop.
Check the length in your for loop.
Compare "0" to inv[i] instead of the other way around to avoid null pointer dereferencing.
Try this:
boolean stop = false;
for (int i = 0; i < inv.length && !stop; i++)
{
if("0".equals(inv[i])
{
stop = true;
}
}
Another option, and this is a matter of form, is to remove the looping variable and just break out of the loop explicitly.
for (int i = 0; i < inv.length; i++)
{
if("0".equals(inv[i])
{
break;
}
}

inv = new String[10]; //The player's inventory
inv[0] = "0";
inv = addItem(inv, "Blarg");//GET RID OF THIS LATER
So you only initialize one index of your array but here:
for(i=0; stop = true; i++)
{
if(inv[i].equals("0"))
{
stop = true;
}
}
.. you loop through all of them. just kidding, didn't read the full problem. You should still read the rest of my answer, but the reason why you get the NPE is because your loop condition is broken. (by the way your for loop condition is broken, it should test for equivalence using the == operator, not the assignment = operator.)
So what you actually are doing with that code is this :
inv = new String[10];
At this point you have a new String array of capacity 10, with no values inside, something like this:
[null][null][null][null][null][null][null][null][null][null]
inv[0] = "0";
Now you set [0] to "0", so:
["0"][null][null][null][null][null][null][null][null][null]
Then your loop attempts to access all of those null references, that'll probably be why you have a null reference exception.
To fix it, simply every index position in your array to anything that is not-null:
Arrays.fill(inv, "");
I use Arrays.fill() because it's shorter.

In your for loop condition, which one do you prefer?
stop = true or stop == true

for(i=0; i<inv.length && !stop; i++)
{
if(inv[i]!=null && inv[i].equals("0"))
{
stop = true;
}
}

Java: EmptyQueueException being thrown before processing method

I'm working on a stock exchange program as a project and so far I've gotten about 98% of it done, the only issue I am having is when I am trying to sell more shares than a current day holds. So for example, I buy 20 shares for $30 each on day 1 and 40 shares for $20 each on day 2. I then input saying I want to sell 30 shares for $20 each. What the code is supposed to do is sell all the shares from day one, and then sell 10 shares from day 2. However, what I'm getting is an EmptyQueueException being thrown. I feel that my sellShares method might be having the error when it goes into the final else statement with the while loop. However I cannot wrap my mind around what might be the error. I've been staring the code down for quite some time and I can't seem to figure out a solution to this. Some assistance on this would greatly be appreciated. The following code is from my main class and the CircleArrayQueue class:
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.lang.Integer;
public class StockTran {
String command = "";
int gain = 0;
int totalPrice = 0; // totalPrice variable will keep of gain or loss of shares being sold
int shareTracker = 0; // shareTracker variable will keep track of shares being bought and sold
String[] stockParts = null;
CircleArrayQueue Q;
boolean quit = false;
public StockTran(String inputCommand) {
try {
Q = new CircleArrayQueue(32);
Scanner conReader = new Scanner(System.in);
this.command = inputCommand.toLowerCase();
this.stockParts = command.split("\\s"); // splits the input into three parts
while (quit == false) { // will loop until user says "q" to quit program
if (this.stockParts[0].equals("q")) { // ends transaction and terminates program
System.out.println("Share trading successfully terminated.");
quit = true;
System.exit(0); // exits the program
}
if (this.stockParts == null || this.stockParts.length > 3) {
System.out.println("That is an invalid input. Please try again.");
}
if (stockParts[0].equals("b")) { // checks to see if it is a buying of shares
int shares = Integer.parseInt(stockParts[1]); // stores share amount
int value = Integer.parseInt(stockParts[2]); // stores selling value
buyShares(shares, value); // calls buyShares method and adds share to queue
}
else if (stockParts[0].equals("s")) { // checks to see if it is a selling of shares
int shares = Integer.parseInt(stockParts[1]);
int value = Integer.parseInt(stockParts[2]);
sellShares(shares, value); // calls sellShares method
}
else if (stockParts[0].equals("c")) { // checks to see if it is capital gain
gain = capitalGain(); // calls capitalGain and calculates net gain
System.out.println("Capital gain is " + gain);
}
else {
System.out.println("That is an invalid input. Please try again."); // any other input is invalid
}
System.out.println("Enter your next command, or press 'q' to quit: ");
command = conReader.nextLine().toLowerCase();
stockParts = command.split("\\s");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void buyShares(int shareAmount, int sharePrice) { // takes in share total and values for each share
shareTracker = shareTracker + shareAmount; // adds to amount of shares bought
Node temp = new Node(shareAmount, sharePrice); // stores values into node
try {
Q.enqueue(temp); // enqueues the node into the CircularQueue
} catch (FullQueueException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void sellShares(int shareAmount, int sharePrice) throws Exception {
Node temp = new Node(); // stores values into node
int tempShare = 0;
try {
temp = Q.front(); // gets the first node from CircleArrayQueue and stores it in temporary node
int share = temp.getShare();
int price = temp.getPrice();
System.out.println(Q.size());
if (shareAmount > shareTracker) { // throws exception if trying to sell more shares than purchased
throw new Exception ("You don't have that many shares to sell.");
}
else if (share > shareAmount) { // checks to see if first node has a larger share amount or less
temp.setShare(share - shareAmount); // will decrease amount sold from the first days share
shareTracker = shareTracker - shareAmount;
totalPrice = shareAmount * (sharePrice - price) + totalPrice; // calculates total profit or loss
}
else if (share == shareAmount) {
Q.dequeue();
shareTracker = shareTracker - shareAmount; // updates shareTracker to show how many shares are remaining
totalPrice = shareAmount * (sharePrice - price) + totalPrice;
}
else {
while (shareAmount != tempShare) { // will loop until it sells total share amount user wanted
Node temp2 = Q.dequeue(); // removes another node from CircleArrayQueue
int newShare = temp2.getShare();
int newPrice = temp2.getPrice();
tempShare = tempShare + newShare; // adds the shares together to check if while loop condition still holds
totalPrice = shareAmount * (sharePrice - newPrice) + totalPrice;
sellShares(shareAmount - tempShare, sharePrice); // recursively calls sellShares on new amount of shares
}
}
} catch (EmptyQueueException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public int capitalGain() { // returns the total net gain or loss in share trading
return totalPrice;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String inputCommand = "";
Scanner mainReader = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter 'b' to purchase share, 's' to sell share, 'c' for capital gain, or 'q' to quit: ");
inputCommand = mainReader.nextLine();
StockTran tran = new StockTran(inputCommand);
}
}
public class CircleArrayQueue implements Queue {
protected Node Q[]; // initializes an empty array for any element type
private int MAX_CAP = 0; // initializes the value for the maximum array capacity
private int f, r;
public CircleArrayQueue(int maxCap) {
MAX_CAP = maxCap;
Q = new Node[MAX_CAP]; // sets Q to be a specific maximum size specified
f = 0; // sets front value to be 0
r = 0; // sets rear value to be 0;
}
public int size() {
return (MAX_CAP - f + r) % MAX_CAP; // returns the size of the CircularArrayQueue
}
public boolean isEmpty() { // if front and rear are of equal value, Queue is empty
return f == r;
}
public Node front() throws EmptyQueueException { // method to get the front value of the CircularArrayQueue
if (isEmpty()) throw new EmptyQueueException("Queue is empty.");
return Q[f]; // returns object at front of CircularArrayQueue
}
public Node dequeue() throws EmptyQueueException { // method to remove from the front of the CircularArrayQueue
if (isEmpty()) throw new EmptyQueueException("Queue is empty.");
Node temp = Q[f]; // stores front object in local variable
Q[f] = null; // sets the value to be null in the array
f = (f + 1) % MAX_CAP; // sets the new front value to be this
return temp; // returns the object that was originally in the front
}
public void enqueue(Node element) throws FullQueueException { // method to add to the end of the CircualarArrayQueue
if (size() == MAX_CAP - 1) throw new FullQueueException("Queue has reached maximum capacity.");
Q[r] = element; // stores the new element at the rear of array
r = (r + 1) % MAX_CAP; // sets the new rear value to be the location after element insertion
}
}

Your sellShares routine calls front() without checking to see if there is anything in the queue. If the queue is empty(), you get your exception.