Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Java Java Objects (Retired) Delivering the MVP Wrapping up

Daniel Schwemmlein
Daniel Schwemmlein
4,960 Points
Posted by Daniel Schwemmlein
Daniel Schwemmlein
4,960 Points

java objects wrapping up challenge 3/4 got stuck

in task 3 they are asking: about a "ForumPost. It's going to need a constructor that takes a User author a String title and a String description. Don't forget to initialize the member fields in the constructor. Also please add the getter for mDescription." -ok. I know how a constructor works. However, the first sentence confuses me. It says it takes a user author a String title and a String description. When it then says "Don't forget to initialize the member fields" I don't know what to do at all. Can someone please help? Thanks

ForumPost.java 
public class ForumPost {
  private User mAuthor;
  private String mTitle;
  private String mDescription;

  public User getAuthor() {
    return mAuthor;
  }

  public String getTitle() {
    return mTitle;
  }

  // TODO: We need to expose the description
}
User.java 
public class User {

      private String mFirstName;  //we make it a String type : TYPE and mSomeName was a hint
      private String mLastName;

  public User(String firstName, String lastName) {
      mFirstName = firstName;  //we are assigning firstName to mFirstName
      mLastName = lastName;   
// TODO:  Set the private fields here
  }

  public String getFirstName() {
           return mFirstName;
       }
 public String getLastName() {
           return mLastName;
       } 

}
Forum.java 
public class Forum {
  private String mTopic;

  public String getTopic() {
      return mTopic;
  }

  public Forum(String topic) {
    mTopic = topic;
  }

  public void addPost(ForumPost post) {
      /* When all is ready uncomment this...
      System.out.printf("New post from %s %s about %s.\n",
                         post.getAuthor().getFirstName(),
                         post.getAuthor().getLastName(),
                         post.getTitle());
      */
  }
}
Example.java 
public class Example {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Starting forum example...");
    if (args.length < 2) {
       System.out.println("first and last name are required. eg:  java Example Craig Dennis");
    }
    // Forum forum = new Forum("Java");
    // Take the first two elements passed args
    // User author = new User();
    // Add the author, title and description
    // ForumPost post = new ForumPost();
    // forum.addPost(post);
  }
}

1 Answer

Oktay Altay
Oktay Altay
2,329 Points
Oktay Altay
Oktay Altay
2,329 Points

What they mean with initialize the member fields is, Give the member fields a value. The variables that starts with (m) like "mAuthor" are called member fields.

I hope this helps,