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

Posted by Admire Dhodho
Admire Dhodho
5,411 Points

where am i wrong? getTileCount

help

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;
  }

  public int getTileCount() {
  int count = 0;
      for (char tile: mHand.toCharArray()) {
        if(mHand.indexOf(tile) >-1) {
        count++;
        }
      }
    return count;
   }
}

1 Answer

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

I had to read this a couple of times. You don't want to count how many tiles the player has - there's no need to use a for:each loop to do that.

The getTileCount method is badly named, in my opinion, but that's irrelevant. The method needs to take a char as a parameter. The for:each loop then iterates through the mHand string and counts how many instances of that char occur. So, if the player's hand was H E L L O, the method would be called like: getTileCount('L'); and it would return 2, the number of Ls in the hand.

My solution looks like:

  public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for (char letter : mHand.toCharArray()) {
      if(letter == tile){
        count++;
      }
    }
   return count;
 }

I hope that makes sense!

Steve.

micahgreen
micahgreen
1,027 Points

That makes more sense. I think they need to reword the question (because sometimes we don't do these exercises back-to-back and forget things).

I think it should be worded: "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 tiles of the same character 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!"

Simple change but makes a world of difference. Initially, I read the instructions as though they were asking us to find out how many total tiles the scrabble player has. Thanks for the clarification! Micah

eric Crawford
eric Crawford
2,381 Points
eric Crawford
eric Crawford
2,381 Points

Just brushing up on some review, and this questions wording definitely made me over do it. K.I.S.S. right? Maybe i should tell my self that when things seem over complex.

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

Yeah, this one catches a lot of people out. Breaking the problem down is a key part of understanding the solution, that's for sure.