Notes for Java(Part b)

三、Program control: Decisions and operators

Formatting output

•         Define a pattern that represents how the output should look

•         # represents a character where no leading or trailing zeroes are printed, and decimals are rounded

–        for the pattern “###.##”  2.100000000000 will print as 2.1

•         0 represents a character where leading or trailing zeros are printed

–        for the pattern “ 000.00”   2.100000000000 will print as 002.10

•         , represents a comma inserted for a number > 999

–        for the pattern “,### .00”   555212.0 will print as 555,212.00

Creating objects

•         Last week you created objects of the String class

                        String title = “hello”;

•         Now we need to learn to create other objects

•         The usual way is:

Class object = new contructor(parameters)

•         (note the constuctor has the same name as the Class)

Formatting Output

•       DecimalFormat class is imported from java.text

            DecimalFormat object = new DecimalFormat (String pattern)

DecimalFormat fmt = new DecimalFormat(“ 0.00” );

The format method

•         The DecimalFormat class has a method called format()

•         This is applied to the data that we want to format eg area and returns a String containing the formatted number

                        String format (double number)

DecimalFormat fmt = new DecimalFormat(“ 0.00” );

System.out.println ("The circle area: " +  fmt.format(area));

 

Flaow of Control

•         Unless indicated otherwise, the order of statement execution through a method is linear:

–        one after the other in the order they are written

•         Some programming statements modify that order, allowing us to:

–        decide whether or not to execute a particular statement (this week)

–        perform a statement over and over repetitively (next week)

Boolean Expressions

•         A condition often uses one of Java's equality operators or relational operators, which all return boolean results:

==                    equal to

!=                     not equal to

<                                  less than

>                                  greater than

<=                    less than or equal to

>=                    greater than or equal to

•         Note the difference between the equality operator (==) and the assignment operator (=)

Conditional Statements

•         A conditional statement lets us choose which statement will be executed next

–        ie give us the power to make decisions

•         Java's conditional statements are

–        the if statement,

–        the if-else statement,

–        the switch statement

if ( condition )  statement;

if (testResult > 0)

   total = total + testResult;

System.out.println ("The final mark  is " + total);

Common Errors

•         Assignment and equals

            if (total = 100)                                                                          System.out.println(“congratulations!”);

•         This is not a condition

•         It is an assignment and will not compile

•         The empty statement

            if (total > 100);

                           System.out.println(“congratulations!”);

•         In Java semicolons don’t go at the end of each line but

–        at the end of each complete declaration or statement

•         This does not give a compiler error

•         It is interpreted as “if true do nothing”

•         What about multiple true statements?

            if (total > 100)

                        System.out.println(“congratulations!”);

                        System.out.println(“you’re a genius!”);

•         The second print line will always print

•         For multiple statements we use a block

Block Statements

•         Several statements can be grouped into a block statement

•         A block is delimited by curly braces  { … }

•         A block statement can be used wherever a statement is called for in the Java syntax

            if (temp > 40)

            {

                        System.out.println(“get a drink”);

                        System.out.println(“get a book”);

                        System.out.println(“relax!”);

            }

•         For consistency a block can be used for a single statement

The if-else Statement

•         An else clause can be added to an if statement to make it an if-else statement:

if ( condition )

   statement1;

else

   statement2;

•         If the condition is true, statement1 is executed;  if the condition is false, statement2 is executed

•         One or the other will be executed, but not both

•         Align the else under the if

Comparing Strings for equality

•         As a String is an object not a primitive type

–        Use the equals(String object)  method to compare for equality

String myName = “Rumplestiltskin”;

String yourName = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(“Enter your name”);

if (yourName.equals(myName))

      System.out.println(“Our names are the same”);

else

      System.out.println(“Our names are different”);

•         Also see the method equalsIgnoreCase(String object)

String answer = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(“Do you want to continue? (y/n): ”);

if (answer.equalsIgnoreCase(“y”)

The switch Statement

•         A better means of comparing a variable (or an expression) against a set of possible values

•         Matches the result to one of several possible cases

•         The expression eg day must result in a data type char, byte, short or int;

•         it cannot be a floating point value

  switch (day)

    {

                 case 1: System.out.println("Sunday");

                 case 2: System.out.println("Monday");

                 case 3: System.out.println("Tuesday");

                 case 4: System.out.println("Wednesday");

                 case 5: System.out.println("Thursday");

                 case 6: System.out.println("Friday");

                 case 7: System.out.println("Saturday");

              }

•         A match is a start point for execution

•         Processing will continue into the following cases

•         A break statement causes control to transfer to the end of the switch statement

Logical Operators

•         Boolean expressions (ie expressions evaluating to true or false) can use the following logical operators :

                                    &&                  Logical AND

                                    ||                       Logical OR

                                    !                       Logical NOT

•         Logical operators have precedence relationships between themselves and other operators

•         Always use brackets to clearly show your intention

 

Highest                         *  /  %

                                                +  -

                                                >  <  >=  <=

                                                ==  !=

                                                &&

                                                ||

Lowest                                     =

 

四、Repetition, Program Design and Testing

Repetition Statements

•         Repetition statements or “loops” allow us to execute a statement or block multiple times

•         Like if statements, they are controlled by boolean expressions

–        ie. they cause a single statement or block to be executed repeatedly while an expression is true

•         Java has three kinds of repetition statements:

–        the while loop,

–        the do loop,

–        the for loop

 

•         The programmer needs to consider the right kind of loop for the situation

The while Statement

•         The while statement has the following syntax:

while ( condition )

   statement;

If the condition is true, the statement is executed.

Then the condition is evaluated again.

The statement is executed repetitively until

the condition becomes false.

•         The condition in a while statement must return a boolean

•         If the condition of a while statement is false initially, the statement is never executed

–        so the body of a while loop will execute zero or more times

•         Something in the body of a while loop must alter the value of the control condition to stop the loop iterations

•         The repetition of a loop can be

–        Count controlled or

–        Event controlled

Count controlled while loop

int   count ;

count  =  1;                                           // initialise loop variable

while ( count <= 3 )                              // test expression (loops 3 times)

{                                                                                                                                             

            System.out.println( “count is “ + count );            // repeated action

                        count = count + 1 ;                   // update loop variable

}

System.out.println( “Done” );

Event controlled loop

•         Used when the number of iterations is unknown

•         Again, something in the body of the loop causes the condition to be false

•         Often we use a variable called a sentinel

–        “one who keeps watch…a sentry”   Chambers Dictionary

•         Keep looping until the value of the sentinel indicates that processing should stop

 

•         Requires initialising the sentinel before entering the loop

 

•         Requires reviewing the sentinel as the last statement in the loop

 

•         The body of a while loop must eventually make the condition false

 

•         If not, it is an infinite loop, which will execute until the user interrupts the program

 

•         Ensure that your loops will terminate normally

The do Statement

•         The do statement has the following syntax:

do

{

   statement;

}

while ( condition )

The statement is executed once initially, then the condition is evaluated

The statement is repetitively executed until the condition becomes false

•         A do loop is similar to a while loop, except that the condition is evaluated after the body of the loop is executed

•         Therefore the body of a do loop will execute at least one time

Displaying a question

•         To display a dialog box containing a specified question and Yes/No/Cancel button options.

For example

again = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog (null, "Do Another?");

•         Returns constants YES_OPTION, NO_OPTION, CANCEL_OPTION,

The for Statement

•         The for statement has the following syntax:

for ( initialization ; condition ; increment )

   statement;

The initialization portion

is executed once

before the loop begins

The statement is

executed until the

condition becomes false

The increment portion is executed at the end of each iteration

•         A for loop is equivalent to the following while loop structure:

initialization;

while ( condition )

{

   statement;

   increment;

}

•         Therefore you never need to use a for loop - but programmers like them

Nested Loops

•         Similar to nested if statements, loops can be nested as well

•         That is, the body of a loop could contain another loop

•         For each single time through the outer loop, the inner loop will go through its entire set of iterations

 

while (outer loop condition)

{

                        . . .

                        while (inner loop condition)

                        {          

                                    . . .

                        }

                        . . .

}

 

Which Loop to use?

•       for loop

–        If the number of repetitions is known

•       while loop

–        If the number of repetitions is not known

•       do-while loop

–        Use instead of while if the loop body has to be executed before the continuation condition is tested

Finding logic errors

•         Be careful of one-off errors ie. the loop executes one to few or one too many times

 

•         If you are having problems debugging, insert  System.out.println() statements into your code

–        to print the value of a loop counter variable,

–        a sentinel

–        or any other relevant variables that will help you track each iteration

Using BlueJ Debugger

•         Demonstrate BlueJ debugger (eg OddEven)

•         A debugger is an essential tool for finding logic errors

•         What functions does it provide?

–        Setting breakpoints

•         This stops program execution at this point and displays the code

•         Click in the area to the left of the text in the text editor

–        Stepping through the code

•         Step line by line

•         Step into a method

–        Inspecting variables

•         These are automatically displayed

•         Carefully develop a variety of test cases, then

static test

•         Test the design (pseudocode) using the test cases

dynamic test

•         executing the compiled program using the test cases

•         Software is written by people – it is not perfect

•         Testing is far more complex than running a program to see if it works

•         Requires careful planning and discipline

•         A program should be executed multiple times with various input in an attempt to find errors

•         Document all test cases prior to testing including expected outputs

•         Compare expected to actual outputs after testing

•         eg to test an account code that is valid from 1 – 9999

•         What data might you use?

Pseudocode revisited

What does a computer program do?

•         Receive information

•         Do something to the information

–        Perform arithmetic

–        Assign a value to a variable

–        Compare 2 variables and select one of two alternative actions

–        Repeat a group of actions

•         Put out information

Receive information

When the information is being received from the keyboard we need to prompt the operator to enter the data

                        Prompt operator for studentName

•           When a program is required to supply information to an output device, use Display, Print, or Write

•         Display

–        if the output is to be written to the screen

                        Display studentGrade

•         For straightforward output it is sufficient to say

                        Display output as per specification

•         Use either the mathematical symbols

                        total = total + number

•         Or the words for those symbols

                         Add number to total

•         Use Initialise, Set,  =

                        Set assignmentMark to 0

                        Initialise customerCount to 0

    totalPrice = costPrice + profitMargin

•         Use IF for the condition

•         Use  ELSE for the false option

–        use separate lines and indentation

•         Use END to close the operation

IF (student is partTime)

                        add 1 to partTimeCount

ELSE

                        add 1 to fullTimeCount

END

•         WHILE

–        establishes the condition for the repetition of a group of statements (indented not using { })

•         END

–        closes the repeated statements

WHILE (patientID is valid)

              finalPatientExpense =  patientExpense + tax

              Display finalPatientExpense

END

•         Say we wanted to loop 12 times to collect monthly rainfall figures and accumulate them.

•         The following pseudocode would be acceptable

For i = 1 to 12 loop

Prompt operator for month i rainfall

total = total + rainfall

END

 

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