Problem with trying to wrap my head around hashmap and get code - java

So I am having trouble trying to wrap my head around this coding problem: Here are four questions that they want me to answer:
How many times will 'getValue(…)' execute with the following inputs, and what will be the result?
(1) getValue("foo", 0);
(2) getValue("bar", 2);
(3) getValue("baz", 0);
(4) getValue("fubar", 1);
I know the first two answers:
1) will execute one time and return 1
2) will execute 1 time and return 3
But the last two problems (3,4) I don't understand. Can anyone help clarify what exactly this code is doing and hint to what the answers are?
Here is the code:
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
public class myClass {
private Map<String,Integer> map;
public myClass() {
map = new HashMap<>();
map.put("foo", 1);
map.put("bar", 3);
}
public int getValue(String input, int numRetries) throws Exception {
try {
return map.get(input);
}
catch (Exception e) {
if (numRetries > 3) {
throw e;
}
return getValue(input, numRetries + 1);
}
}
Thank you in advance.

The code as you rightly answered in (1) and (2) attempts to get a value from a HashMap given it's key.
The getValue() function is a recursive function, meaning it calls itself a number of times based on the 'numRetries' value
(3) the codes calls itself 4 times (where the numRetries progress from 0,1,2,3 before the '>3' clause becomes true and an Exception gets thrown)
(4) the codes calls itself 3 times (where the numRetries progress from 1,2,3 before the '>3' clause becomes true and an Exception gets thrown)

Related

ConcurrentHashMap throws recursive update exception

Here is my Java code:
static Map<BigInteger, Integer> cache = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
static Integer minFinder(BigInteger num) {
if (num.equals(BigInteger.ONE)) {
return 0;
}
if (num.mod(BigInteger.valueOf(2)).equals(BigInteger.ZERO)) {
//focus on stuff thats happening inside this block, since with given inputs it won't reach last return
return 1 + cache.computeIfAbsent(num.divide(BigInteger.valueOf(2)),
n -> minFinder(n));
}
return 1 + Math.min(cache.computeIfAbsent(num.subtract(BigInteger.ONE), n -> minFinder(n)),
cache.computeIfAbsent(num.add(BigInteger.ONE), n -> minFinder(n)));
}
I tried to memoize a function that returns a minimum number of actions such as division by 2, subtract by one or add one.
The problem I'm facing is when I call it with smaller inputs such as:
minFinder(new BigInteger("32"))
it works, but with bigger values like:
minFinder(new BigInteger("64"))
It throws a Recursive Update exception.
Is there any way to increase recursion size to prevent this exception or any other way to solve this?
From the API docs of Map.computeIfAbsent():
The mapping function should not modify this map during computation.
The API docs of ConcurrentHashMap.computeIfAbsent() make that stronger:
The mapping function must not modify this map during computation.
(Emphasis added)
You are violating that by using your minFinder() method as the mapping function. That it seems nevertheless to work for certain inputs is irrelevant. You need to find a different way to achieve what you're after.
Is there any way to increase recursion size to prevent this exception or any other way to solve this?
You could avoid computeIfAbsent() and instead do the same thing the old-school way:
BigInteger halfNum = num.divide(BigInteger.valueOf(2));
BigInteger cachedValue = cache.get(halfNum);
if (cachedValue == null) {
cachedValue = minFinder(halfNum);
cache.put(halfNum, cachedValue);
}
return 1 + cachedValue;
But that's not going to be sufficient if the computation loops. You could perhaps detect that by putting a sentinel value into the map before you recurse, so that you can recognize loops.

How to use correctly assertThrows on set of values?

I've been learning Java just for a bit, so please advise how exception throwing test should look like in this case?
I have following Gambling Machine Class. And then 2 tests for it. I do not really know what should follow the "Integer" in second method (shouldThrowWhenNumbersOutOfRange). Could you please advise as to the exact syntax?
public class GamblingMachine {
public int howManyWins(Set<Integer> userNumbers) throws InvalidNumbersException {
validateNumbers(userNumbers);
Set<Integer> computerNumbers = generateComputerNumbers();
int count = 0;
for (Integer number : userNumbers) {
if (computerNumbers.contains(number)) {
count++;
}
}
return count;
}
private void validateNumbers(Set<Integer> numbers) throws InvalidNumbersException {
if (numbers.size() != 6) {
throw new InvalidNumbersException();
}
if (numbers.stream().anyMatch(number -> number < 1 || number > 49)) { //anyMatch-function to check whether any element in list satisfy given condition
throw new InvalidNumbersException();
}
}
private Set<Integer> generateComputerNumbers() {
Set<Integer> numbers = new HashSet<>();
Random generator = new Random();
while(numbers.size() < 6) {
numbers.add(generator.nextInt(49) + 1);
}
return numbers;
}
}
private GamblingMachine machine = new GamblingMachine();
#ParameterizedTest
#NullAndEmptySource
public void shouldThrowWhenNumbersEmpty(Set<Integer> numbers) throws InvalidNumbersException {
Assertions.assertThrows(NumberFormatException.class, () -> {
Integer.parseInt(" ");
});
}
#ParameterizedTest
#CsvFileSource(resources ="/numbersOutOfRange.cvs", numLinesToSkip = 1)
public void shouldThrowWhenNumbersOutOfRange(Set<Integer> numbers) throws InvalidNumbersException {
Assertions.assertThrows(NumberFormatException.class, () -> {
Integer. //how code should look like here?
});
}
The point of a test is to, you know, test something. Your shouldThrowWhenNumbersEmpty test doesn't do that (well, it tests that Integer.parseInt(" ") throws something. It does, of course. You... don't have to test the core libraries).
In other words, your gambling machine tests need to be calling some stuff from your GamblingMachine class. The idea is to test GamblingMachine. Not to test Integer.parseInt.
It's also a bizarre test: Why in the blazes is shouldThrowWhenNumbersEmpty parameterized? I assume the point of that test is: "Ensure that the gambling machine works as designed when passing an empty set of numbers in, specifically, the part of the design that states that an InvalidNumbersException is thrown if you do that".
Which is done with something like:
#Test
public void shouldThrowWhenNumbersEmpty() {
Assertions.assertThrows(InvalidNumbersException.class, () -> {
Set<Integer> empty = Set.of();
machine.howManyWins(empty);
});
}
Parameterized tests are a fairly exotic concept. Your test setup appears to be falling into a trap: It appears to be set up that you repeat all the logic that is already in your gamblingmachine class, to then apply this logic to the incoming (parameterized) data, figure out what your gambling machine ought to be doing, and then double check its work.
That's not how you should write tests. Tests focus on a specific result. Parameterized tests can make sense, but only if the stuff you have to do for any given input is roughly the same. For example:
Good use of parameterized testing
You have a csv file containing a bunch of lines, each of which has 6 rolls + the correct answer. Your parameterized test treats each line the same: Call howManyWins using the 6 rolls as input, then check that howManyWins returns the expected value.
Bad use of parameterized testing
You have a csv file containing a bunch of lines, each of which has 6 rolls. Your parameterized test will calculate the right result for the rolls, then invoke gambling machine, and check that the gambling machine gives the same answer as what you calculated.
This is bad: You're just repeating the code. It also means your test code is itself doing more than the very basics (it's doing a bunch of business logic), thus raising the question: Who tests your test, then?
Both of your test methods seem like they should NOT be parameterized, unless that csv also contains results.

Issue with implementing custom Comparator for Priority Queue in Java

Please pardon my understanding towards priority Queue and Comparator in Java.
It seems ,I am able to implement basic comparator for Priority Queue based on some sort order.
But I am not able to come up with something for the below scenario :
1. Given a list of Files with name convention xx_yy_zz.dat .<br/>
2.xx,yy,zz can be from 00-50 <br/>
3.I need to process the files with xx=30 first,xx=35 second xx=40 third and then the rest.<br/>
Since I have limited knowledge with Priority Queue ,I tried to implement it which i was able to sort but only in asc or desc value of xx which was not the requirement.
My approach was
put the list of file names in priority Queue ,split the filename on regex "_"
then compare the first index of split array using comparator based on it values but as expected i failed miserably since my requirement was something different
Please share some ideas/approach.
It seems sadly ,I am not able to come up with the a required comparator for my case .
Nevertheless thanking you in anticipation
You can use simple if statements inside the compare() method to check if one string starts with "30" and the other does not. Then you know that this string must come before the other one. You run the following if statements like this on the first part of the filenames:
Are they the same?
Is the left one 30?
Is the right one 30?
Is the left one 35?
Is the right one 35?
Is the left one 40?
Is the right one 40?
The comparator might look like this:
public int compare(String a, String b) {
String[] splitA = a.split("_");
String[] splitB = b.split("_");
if (splitA[0].equals(splitB[0])) {
return 0;
}
if (splitA[0].equals("30")) {
return -1;
}
if (splitB[0].equals("30")) {
return 1;
}
if (splitA[0].equals("35")) {
return -1;
}
if (splitB[0].equals("35")) {
return 1;
}
if (splitA[0].equals("40")) {
return -1;
}
if (splitB[0].equals("40")) {
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
With the following test source code:
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(data));
Arrays.sort(data, new SpecialComparator());
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(data));
You might get an output like this (depending on the data array):
[30_45_35.dat, 00_12_34.dat, 35_50_20.dat, 40_03_05.dat, 33_28_14.dat,
30_16_31.dat, 20_29_23.dat, 24_41_29.dat, 30_49_18.dat, 40_12_13.dat]
[30_45_35.dat, 30_16_31.dat, 30_49_18.dat, 35_50_20.dat, 40_03_05.dat,
40_12_13.dat, 00_12_34.dat, 33_28_14.dat, 20_29_23.dat, 24_41_29.dat]
(new lines added for clarity)
As you see you have the 30s first, then the only 35 second, then the 40s third and after that all the remaining stuff. You might want to use compareTo() on the strings in case the compareTo method would return 0 to get better "sub sorting" of strings, which would be equal based on this basic sorting above.
May be I'm not understand what exactly you need... but simply try this code and it sort me all strings if they has two digits on the begining
public static void main(String[] args) {
PriorityQueue<String> q = new PriorityQueue<String>((first, second) -> {
return Integer.parseInt(first.substring(0, 2)) - Integer.parseInt(second.substring(0, 2));
//and if you want to reverse order, simply add "-" like this:
//return -(Integer.parseInt(first.substring(0, 2)) - Integer.parseInt(second.substring(0, 2)));
});
q.add("23lk");
q.add("22lkjl");
q.add("45ljl");
for(String str : q) {
System.out.println(str);
}
}
}
adn output
22lkjl
23lk
45ljl
If this not solution, please explain problem with more details, may be I or anybody else will help you.

How do I fix this stack overflow error in my code below?

I am trying to find the square of a number using the scanner method but keep getting a
stackflow error. I am new to programming will be glad if someone helps me out.
My code is as below
import java.util.Scanner;
interface Number {
int findSqr(int i); // Returns the square of n
}
//a class A which implements the interface Number.
class A implements Number {
public int findSqr(int i) {
return findSqr(i);
}
}
public class Question5_1{
public static void main (String[] args){
A a = new A(); // an object of class A
// Reading a number from the keyboard
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
int i = sc.nextInt();
System.out.print(a.findSqr(i));
}
}
Fix the line which invokes the function recursively return findSqr(i) with return i * i as follows --
public int findSqr(int i) {
return i * i;
}
What you did there is an infinite recursion. The bit where it says
public int findScr(int i) {
return findSqr(i)
}
essentially calls the very same method an infinite number of times in the return statement.
What happens is, that you execute the method, and it tries to return an integer. What you wrote though is a return statement that "returns" another call of the same method, so it gets executed again. Then the whole thing starts over again, so you get a StackOverflow.
Since there is no other code present, I have no idea what you are actually trying to do, but the return findSqr(i) line is what causes the problem.
Initially, recursion may be a rather complicated subject to really wrap you head around, I suggest you either avoid it for now (although it enables you to solve many problems in a really elegant way) or try to understand it a bit better maybe. I'd suggest the Wikipedia article about recursion, although it gets complicated quite fast, or any other tutorial on it, just look it up on Google.

Identify record that is culprit - coding practices

Is method chaining good?
I am not against functional programming that uses method chaining a lot, but against a herd mentality where people mindlessly run behind something that is new.
The example, if I am processing a list of items using stream programming and need to find out the exact row that resulted into throwing NullPointerException.
private void test() {
List<User> aList = new ArrayList<>();
// fill aList with some data
aList.stream().forEach(x -> doSomethingMeaningFul(x.getAddress()));
}
private void doSomethingMeaningFul(Address x) {
// Do something
}
So in the example above if any object in list is null, it will lead to NullPointerException while calling x.getAddress() and come out, without giving us a hook to identify a User record which has this problem.
I may be missing something that offers this feature in stream programming, any help is appreciated.
Edit 1:
NPE is just an example, but there are several other RuntimeExceptions that could occur. Writing filter would essentially mean checking for every RTE condition based on the operation I am performing. And checking for every operation will become a pain.
To give a better idea about what I mean following is the snippet using older methods; I couldn't find any equivalent with streams / functional programming methods.
List<User> aList = new ArrayList<>();
// Fill list with some data
int counter = 0;
User u = null;
try {
for (;counter < aList.size(); counter++) {
u = aList.get(counter);
u.doSomething();
int result = u.getX() / u.getY();
}
} catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println("Error processing at index:" + counter + " with User record:" + u);
System.out.println("Exception:" + e);
}
This will be a boon during the maintenance phase(longest phase) pointing exact data related issues which are difficult to reproduce.
**Benefits:**
- Find exact index causing issue, pointing to data
- Any RTE is recorded and analyzed against the user record
- Smaller stacktrace to look at
Is method chaining good?
As so often, the simple answer is: it depends.
When you
know what you are doing
are be very sure that elements will never be null, thus the chance for an NPE in such a construct is (close to) 0
and the chaining of calls leads to improved readability
then sure, chain calls.
If any of the above criteria isn't clearly fulfilled, then consider not doing that.
In any case, it might be helpful to distribute your method calls on new lines. Tools like IntelliJ actually give you advanced type information for each line, when you do that (well, not always, see my own question ;)
From a different perspective: to the compiler, it doesn't matter much if you chain call. That really only matters to humans. Either for readability, or during debugging.
There are a few aspects to this.
1) Nulls
It's best to avoid the problem of checking for nulls, by never assigning null. This applies whether you're doing functional programming or not. Unfortunately a lot of library code does expose the possibility of a null return value, but try to limit exposure to this by handling it in one place.
Regardless of whether you're doing FP or not, you'll find you get a lot less frustrated if you never have to write null checks when calling your own methods, because your own methods can never return null.
An alternative to variables that might be null, is to use Java 8's Optional class.
Instead of:
public String myMethod(int i) {
if(i>0) {
return "Hello";
} else {
return null;
}
}
Do:
public Optional<String> myMethod(int i) {
if(i>0) {
return Optional.of("Hello");
} else {
return Optional.empty();
}
Look at Optional Javadoc to see how this forces the caller to think about the possibility of an Optional.empty() response.
As a bridge between the worlds of "null represents absent" and "Optional.empty() represents absent", you can use Optional.ofNullable(val) which returns Empty when val == null. But do bear in mind that Optional.empty() and Optional.of(null) are different values.
2) Exceptions
It's true that throwing an exception in a stream handler doesn't work very well. Exceptions aren't a very FP-friendly mechanism. The FP-friendly alternative is Either -- which isn't a standard part of Java but is easy to write yourself or find in third party libraries: Is there an equivalent of Scala's Either in Java 8?
public Either<Exception, Result> meaningfulMethod(Value val) {
try {
return Either.right(methodThatMightThrow(val));
} catch (Exception e) {
return Either.left(e);
}
}
... then:
List<Either<Exception, Result>> results = listOfValues.stream().map(meaningfulMethod).collect(Collectors.toList());
3) Indexes
You want to know the index of the stream element, when you're using a stream made from a List? See Is there a concise way to iterate over a stream with indices in Java 8?
In your test() function you are creating an emptylist List<User> aList = new ArrayList<>();
And doing for each on it. First add some element to
aList
If you want to handle null values you can add .filter(x-> x != null) this before foreach it will filter out all null value
Below is code
private void test() {
List<User> aList = new ArrayList<>();
aList.stream().filter(x-> x != null).forEach(x -> doSomethingMeaningFul(x.getAddress()));
}
private void doSomethingMeaningFul(Address x) {
// Do something
}
You can write a black of code in streams. And you can find out the list item which might result in NullPointerException. I hope this code might help
private void test() {
List<User> aList = new ArrayList<>();
aList.stream().forEach(x -> {
if(x.getAddress() != null)
return doSomethingMeaningFul(x.getAddress())
else
system.out.println(x+ "doesn't have address");
});
}
private void doSomethingMeaningFul(Address x) {
// Do something
}
If you want you can throw NullPointerException or custom excption like AddressNotFoundException in the else part

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