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Java

Posted by Joseph Wasden
Joseph Wasden
20,407 Points

Java Objects - Comparing Characters logic check

This challenge is to sort someone into the correct line based on their last name alphabetical order. As I understand it, This means to write code that checks first character of the lastName String and, if the position 0 char is less than or equal to m, they would be sorted into line 1, otherwise they would be sorted into line 2.

I keep getting an error that the last name Zimmerman doesn't result in line 2, and I can't imagine why. Did I miss something?

public class ConferenceRegistrationAssistant {

  public int getLineFor(String lastName) {
    /* If the last name is between A thru M send them to line 1
       Otherwise send them to line 2 */
    int line = 0;
    //start of my code
    if (lastName.charAt(0) <= 'm') {
line = 1;    
    } else {
    line = 2;
    }
    //end of my code
    return line;
  }

}

1 Answer

andren
andren
28,558 Points

The problem is that "m" and "M" are not the same character.

In ASCII (and Unicode) lower case letters come after uppercase letters, "M" is 77 and "m" is 109.

So when you compare the last names (which start with capital letters) to a lower case letter all of the name will be placed in line 1.

Joseph Wasden
Joseph Wasden
20,407 Points

Ahhh.... Thanks! Changed to 'M' and it checks out fine.