Introduction to Arrays code challenge

If you run

String bestFrog = "0";

you are literally setting the value of your String variable bestFrog to "0" - the character 0, not even the number 0. That's not what you want.

What you want is to set bestFrog to the first String in the array of Strings you declared for frogNames. For some reason programmers think 0 is the first number in an array*, so you want to set the value of bestFrog to element 0 of frogNames.

Here's a hint: If you wanted to set it to the third element of frogNames, you'd do

String bestFrog = frogNames[2];

and then if you were to print bestFrog to the screen you'd see "Harry".

Good luck!

• there's actually a very good reason why they think that.

Hi @Mark,

It looks like your syntax might be off: frogNames String[] bestFrog = { "Mark", "Mike", "John" }; will give you a Compilation Error. So step 1 is to fix your code:

1. Line 1 declares a String array named frogNames (i.e. String[] frogNames ...)
2. Line 2 declares a String named bestFrog (i.e String bestFrog ...)

Now, the code challenge task is asking for the first item in the array. Arrays start with an index of zero, so to get the first item, you need to use the correct index. The index of 1 actually gives you the second item.

You are so close! It can be so hard to get the syntax just right sometimes. Compare this line from Creede's response with yours:

String bestFrog = frogNames[2];

String bestFrog = "frogNames 1";

Creede's shows you how to get the 3rd element. Now if you're wondering why the 3rd element is number 2, that's because we're starting counting at zero with arrays. So for the first element we'll use 0, for the 2nd we'll use 1, and for the 3rd we'll use 2.

Every character, even the double quotes, the semicolon, and the capitalization, need to be exactly right. So take Creede's line and just make the one change required to get the 1st element instead of the 3rd.

Hope this does it for you!

ok, so i capitalized the string in the second line and now i have it as this:

String bestFrog = "0";

but its giving me an error: Make sure that bestFrog is the first element in the frogNames array. i've already tried every combination i can think of, butting it above the array and as the first line after i start the array and before the first name, i put it after the array ends, I'm just at a loss. but what you said did make sense to me, cant believed i missed that.

Thanks for answering, Creede! Also, for anyone interested in your notation about array's starting at zero for good reason, here's a decent programmers.stackexchange.com answer about that.

i feel so stupid right now. i swear everything looks right but its telling me to make sure that bestFrog is set to the first frog name. i've got it in there. String[] frogNames = { "Mike", "Ben", "Eddie"}; String bestFrog = "frogNames 1";

and i've even done it without putting frogNames in there and just having "1", i've watched the tutorial video more than once and i'm still not getting it.

i cant believe that i missed that. thank you so much. its really awesome that the guy teaching the material is on here helping out. it makes this site stand out from everything else.

Awesome! Glad you got it, and glad I could help! Stop back in the forum if you have any other trouble or questions. :)

frogNames String[] bestFrog = { "Mark", "Mike", "John" }; String bestFrog = frogNames [1]; Where is the problem?

The very first line of your code is incorrect. frogNames was not yet established and should go after the 'String[]' array. It should look more like this:

String[] frogNames = [ "Mark", "Mike", "John"}; String bestFrog = frogNames[0]; *Remember that the number '1' would actually be calling the second variable in your array, and '0' would be the first.