a Java n00b I are - help please

Freqm0n

I'm 3 weeks into the OCJA course and for fear I've missed something really silly I'd like to ask here first if I may:

In my main method I am trying to create 5 objects (Players).
I am using a String array to hold their names.
I wish to iterate through 5 times and on each iteration have the counter in the 'for loop' assign the name.

//create 5 cpu players
String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};
for(int i = 0;i <= 4;++i){
String tmpName = cpuNames;

Player tmpName= new Player();

}
eclipse is complaining that indeed there's a duplicate variable 'tmpName'

This also won't work:

//create 5 cpu players
String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};
for(int i = 0;i <= 4;++i){
Player cpuNames= new Player();

}

help please?

bpmurray

Freqm0n wrote: »

eclipse is complaining that indeed there's a duplicate variable 'tmpName'

As indeed there is! You have

String tmpName = cpuNames[i];

and

Player tmpName= new Player();

As you can see, you have two variables called "tmpName", the first is a String and the second is a Player. The way I'd do it is (note the white space - it costs nothing to put in blank lines & spaces and makes it infinitely easier to read):

static final int PLAYERCOUNT = 5; 

//create 5 cpu players
String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};

for (int i=0; i<PLAYERCOUNT; i++) { // NOT ++i since you'll miss the first one!

// You don't need to copy the string to a variable!
Player tmpPlayer = new Player(cpuNames[i]); 

// Do whatever you have to with the new player ....

}

NeutralHandle

Freqm0n wrote: »

This also won't work:

//create 5 cpu players
String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};
for(int i = 0;i <= 4;++i){
Player cpuNames= new Player();

}

help please?

cpuNames[] is an array of strings. You cannot initialise an element of it to be a Player object.
You are also trying to declare elements of the array as Players in the last line, which doesn't make sense.
You should use a post-increment for i also (i++), not a pre-increment (++i). Pre-increments increment the value before evaluating it. So in this case the firs iteration of the loop would be using the second element of the array instead of the first (index 1 not 0).

Freqm0n

//create 5 cpu players
final int PLAYERCOUNT = 5;

String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};

for(int i=0;i<PLAYERCOUNT;i++){

Player tmpPlayer = new Player(cpuNames); //error here


}

it's not allowing me to create a static final - is that the reason I have a "the constructor Player(String) is undefined" error now?

...we have not covered constructors yet but have covered renaming of the object reference variable...could I not simply create the object as normal(Player tmpName = new Player;) first on each iteration and next line would simply rename the reference from and element of String from the array?

Freqm0n

//create 5 cpu players
final int PLAYERCOUNT = 5;

String[] cpuNames = {"A","B","C","D","E"};

for(int i=0;i<PLAYERCOUNT;i++){

Player tmpPlayer = new Player(cpuNames); //error here


}

it's not allowing me to create a static final - is that the reason I have a "the constructor Player(String) is undefined" error now?

...we have not covered constructors yet but have covered renaming of the object reference variable...could I not simply create the object as normal(Player tmpName = new Player;) first on each iteration and next line would simply rename the reference from an element of String from the array?

Freqm0n

NeutralHandle wrote: »

cpuNames[] is an array of strings. You cannot initialise an element of it to be a Player object.

So in any object creation I cant name the object reference variable from any stored variable???

NeutralHandle wrote: »

You are also trying to declare elements of the array as Players in the last line, which doesn't make sense.

I may be missing the logic, the idea is to get a stored array of player names and then go about creating the player objects - how would you suggest I name these objects?

NeutralHandle wrote: »

You should use a post-increment for i also (i++), not a pre-increment (++i). Pre-increments increment the value before evaluating it. So in this case the firs iteration of the loop would be using the second element of the array instead of the first (index 1 not 0).

Noted, thanks

NeutralHandle

You need to create a class called Player if you haven't already done so.
Simplest approach would be to provide a constructor that accepts the name as the parameter.
You might want to use an array of Player objects instead of an array of strings.