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Java Java Arrays Gotchas and Wins Array Usage in Method Declarations

Posted by lukej
lukej
34,222 Points

Error Creating the pickLunchSpot Function

Hi, I can not recreate the pickLunchSpot function, that Craig demonstrated in JShell. "Illegal start of expression error keeps coming up. Can someone help me out?

import java.util.Random;

public class RandomlyPickLunchSpot {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // method takes varargs: an indefinite number of parameters of type String
        // and turns them into an array
        // randomly pick one item of the array
        public static String pickLunchSpot(String... spots) {
            System.out.printf("Randomly picking %d lunch spots. %n",
                        spots.length);
            Random random = new Random();
            return spots[random.nextInt(spots.length)];
        }
        String lunchSpot = pickLunchSpot("Que Sabrosa", "Las Primas", "Life of Pie");
        System.out.printf("%s %n", lunchSpot);
    }

}

The following error comes up:

RandomlyPickLunchSpot.java:10: error: illegal start of expression
        public static String pickLunchSpot(String... spots) {
        ^
RandomlyPickLunchSpot.java:17: error: <identifier> expected
        System.out.printf("%s %n", lunchSpot);
                         ^
RandomlyPickLunchSpot.java:17: error: illegal start of type
        System.out.printf("%s %n", lunchSpot);
                          ^
RandomlyPickLunchSpot.java:20: error: class, interface, or enum expected
}
^
4 errors

1 Answer

Brendon Butler
Brendon Butler
4,254 Points
Brendon Butler
Brendon Butler
4,254 Points

The problem is that you can't encapsulate one java method within another. Your pickLunchSpot method is inside your main method. Instead, you need to close your main method, and put the pickLunchSpot method outside of the braces. Like this:

RandomlyPickLunchSpot.java 
import java.util.Random;

public class RandomlyPickLunchSpot {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    String lunchSpot = pickLunchSpot("Que Sabrosa", "Las Primas", "Life of Pie");
    System.out.printf("%s %n", lunchSpot);
  } /* close main method here */

  /* start pickLunchSpot method here (EDIT: removed default comments for visual clarity) */
  public static String pickLunchSpot(String... spots) {
    System.out.printf("Randomly picking %d lunch spots. %n",
                spots.length);
    Random random = new Random();
    return spots[random.nextInt(spots.length)];
  }
}