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Java Java Objects (Retired) Creating the MVP For Each Loop

Posted by izqcabvvli
izqcabvvli
4,111 Points

Help to solve code challenge!! Also please explain the logic and thanks in advance.

So back to that ScrabblePlayer. I found that it's not enough to know if they just have a tile of a specific character. We need to know how many they actually have. Can you please add a method called getTileCount that uses the for each loop you just learned to loop through the characters and increment a counter if it matches? Return the count, please, thanks!

ScrabblePlayer.java 
public class ScrabblePlayer {
  private String mHand;

  public ScrabblePlayer() {
    mHand = "";
  }

  public String getHand() {
   return mHand;
  }

  public void addTile(char tile) {
    // Adds the tile to the hand of the player
    mHand += tile;
  }

  public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
   return mHand.indexOf(tile) > -1;
  }
}

5 Answers

Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
STAFF
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Gratz on getting to the trickier stuff!

Let's say we want to know how many "R"s you have in your scrabble hand.

First, we're going to initialize a counter variable of type int to 0. Because we don't know yet how many "R"s you have in your hand we're going to say 0 to start with.

Second, we have a sequence of letters in your scrabble hand. However, that sequence is represented as a string. To compare a character against it we have to convert it to an array of individual letters. Right now the program sees that entire thing as one single word and can't really look at the individual characters. Now we're going to use our for each to start at the beginning of that array and go down the entire thing. Every time we hit an R we're going to increment our counter.

Third, when we get to the end we'll know how many "R"s we have. And that's the number we'll send back... or "return". Take a look at my solution:

public int getTileCount(char tile) {   //declare method and take a tile... return an int
    int tileCount = 0;     //initialize the counter
    for(char myTile: getHand().toCharArray()) { //convert the hand to a character array and start searching for a "R"
      if(myTile == tile) { //If it's an "R"
        tileCount++;     //increment counter
      }
    }
    return tileCount;  //return final number of "R"s
  }
Michael VanKlompenberg
Michael VanKlompenberg
2,292 Points

Excellent explanation much appreciated

izqcabvvli
izqcabvvli
4,111 Points
izqcabvvli
izqcabvvli
4,111 Points

Thanks a lot Jennifer:)!

Nicholas Olsen
Nicholas Olsen
1,698 Points
Nicholas Olsen
Nicholas Olsen
1,698 Points

You are a life saver! Thank you so much for the clear explanation!! I had wondered if we were supposed to declare the method as an "int" since it would be returning one. I hadn't seen it in the videos, unless I am totally blind and missed it. Again, thanks Jennifer!