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I am trying to create a parallel implementation for selection sort but it ends up slower than serial

For my parallel computing class I have to think and create a parallel implementation of the selection sort algorithm. The idea is to be able to scale it to multiple threads so that it becomes faster than the serial implementation.
My idea was as follows:
Parallel selection sort idea
I have created the following implementation over the last few days but it is much slower than the serial algorithm. Whenever I use more threads it is also much slower vs when I use one thread. This is the first time I am working with threads as well so I am not sure if I implemented that correctly.
SelectionSort.java
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
public class SelectionSort {
private static final int availableProcessors = Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors();
private static final int NUMBER_COUNT = 10000;
private static List<Integer> sortedList = new ArrayList<>();
private static int[][] splitArray;
private static List<Integer> lowestNumbers = new ArrayList<>();
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
List<Integer> numbers = Numbers.GenerateNumber(NUMBER_COUNT);
class Lowest {
synchronized int getLowest(int index) {
int lowestInArray = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
for (int i = 0; i < splitArray[index].length; i++) {
if (splitArray[index][i] < lowestInArray) {
lowestInArray = splitArray[index][i];
}
}
return lowestInArray;
}
}
Lowest lowest = new Lowest();
class SelectionSortThread extends Thread {
private int splitArrayIndex;
private SelectionSortThread(int splitArrayIndex) {
this.splitArrayIndex = splitArrayIndex;
}
public void run() {
lowestNumbers.add(lowest.getLowest(splitArrayIndex));
}
}
long startingTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
for (int i = 0; i < NUMBER_COUNT; i++) {
List<Thread> threads = new ArrayList<>();
splitArray = fillSplitArray(availableProcessors, numbers);
lowestNumbers.clear();
for (int j = 0; j < availableProcessors; j++) {
if(splitArray[j] != null) {
threads.add(new SelectionSortThread(j));
}
}
for (Thread thread : threads) {
thread.start();
}
for (Thread thread : threads) {
thread.join();
}
int lowestInArray = getLowest(lowestNumbers);
numbers = swap(numbers, lowestInArray);
sortedList.add(numbers.get(0));
numbers.remove(0);
}
System.out.println("Sorted list: " + Arrays.toString(sortedList.toArray()));
System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() - startingTime);
}
private static int getLowest(List<Integer> lowestNumbers) {
int lowestInArray = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
for (Integer lowestNumber : lowestNumbers) {
if (lowestNumber < lowestInArray) {
lowestInArray = lowestNumber;
}
}
return lowestInArray;
}
private static List<Integer> swap(List<Integer> list, int lowest)
{
int n = list.size();
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
if(list.get(i) == lowest) {
Collections.swap(list, 0, i);
return list;
}
}
return null;
}
static int[][] fillSplitArray(int arrayAmount, List<Integer> listToUse) {
if (listToUse.size() == 0) {
return new int[0][0];
}
int splitLength = (int) Math.ceil((double) listToUse.size() / (double) arrayAmount);
int[][] splits = new int[arrayAmount][];
int j = 0;
int k = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < listToUse.size(); i++) {
if (k == splitLength) {
k = 0;
j++;
}
if (splits[j] == null) {
int remainingNumbers = listToUse.size() - i;
splits[j] = new int[Math.min(remainingNumbers, splitLength)];
}
splits[j][k++] = listToUse.get(i);
}
return splits;
};
}
Numbers.java
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
class Numbers {
static List<Integer> GenerateNumber(int numberCount) {
List<Integer> temp = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = numberCount; i > 0; i--) {
temp.add(i);
}
return temp;
}
}
Is there anything I am doing totally wrong or that I could improve? I am expecting the parallel implementation to be faster than the serial one but so far this is not the case. It is currently a lot slower.

Altering the value of k in kNN algorithm - Java

I have applied the KNN algorithm for classifying handwritten digits. the digits are in vector format initially 8*8, and stretched to form a vector 1*64..
As it stands my code applies the kNN algorithm but only using k = 1. I'm not entirely sure how to alter the value k after attempting a couple of things I kept getting thrown errors. If anyone could help push me in the right direction it would be really appreciated. The training dataset can be found here and the validation set here.
ImageMatrix.java
import java.util.*;
public class ImageMatrix {
private int[] data;
private int classCode;
private int curData;
public ImageMatrix(int[] data, int classCode) {
assert data.length == 64; //maximum array length of 64
this.data = data;
this.classCode = classCode;
}
public String toString() {
return "Class Code: " + classCode + " Data :" + Arrays.toString(data) + "\n"; //outputs readable
}
public int[] getData() {
return data;
}
public int getClassCode() {
return classCode;
}
public int getCurData() {
return curData;
}
}
ImageMatrixDB.java
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class ImageMatrixDB implements Iterable<ImageMatrix> {
private List<ImageMatrix> list = new ArrayList<ImageMatrix>();
public ImageMatrixDB load(String f) throws IOException {
try (
FileReader fr = new FileReader(f);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr)) {
String line = null;
while((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
int lastComma = line.lastIndexOf(',');
int classCode = Integer.parseInt(line.substring(1 + lastComma));
int[] data = Arrays.stream(line.substring(0, lastComma).split(","))
.mapToInt(Integer::parseInt)
.toArray();
ImageMatrix matrix = new ImageMatrix(data, classCode); // Classcode->100% when 0 -> 0% when 1 - 9..
list.add(matrix);
}
}
return this;
}
public void printResults(){ //output results
for(ImageMatrix matrix: list){
System.out.println(matrix);
}
}
public Iterator<ImageMatrix> iterator() {
return this.list.iterator();
}
/// kNN implementation ///
public static int distance(int[] a, int[] b) {
int sum = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
sum += (a[i] - b[i]) * (a[i] - b[i]);
}
return (int)Math.sqrt(sum);
}
public static int classify(ImageMatrixDB trainingSet, int[] curData) {
int label = 0, bestDistance = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
for(ImageMatrix matrix: trainingSet) {
int dist = distance(matrix.getData(), curData);
if(dist < bestDistance) {
bestDistance = dist;
label = matrix.getClassCode();
}
}
return label;
}
public int size() {
return list.size(); //returns size of the list
}
public static void main(String[] argv) throws IOException {
ImageMatrixDB trainingSet = new ImageMatrixDB();
ImageMatrixDB validationSet = new ImageMatrixDB();
trainingSet.load("cw2DataSet1.csv");
validationSet.load("cw2DataSet2.csv");
int numCorrect = 0;
for(ImageMatrix matrix:validationSet) {
if(classify(trainingSet, matrix.getData()) == matrix.getClassCode()) numCorrect++;
} //285 correct
System.out.println("Accuracy: " + (double)numCorrect / validationSet.size() * 100 + "%");
System.out.println();
}

In the for loop of classify you are trying to find the training example that is closest to a test point. You need to switch that with a code that finds K of the training points that is the closest to the test data. Then you should call getClassCode for each of those K points and find the majority(i.e. the most frequent) of the class codes among them. classify will then return the major class code you found.
You may break the ties (i.e. having 2+ most frequent class codes assigned to equal number of training data) in any way that suits your need.
I am really inexperienced in Java, but just by looking around the language reference, I came up with the implementation below.
public static int classify(ImageMatrixDB trainingSet, int[] curData, int k) {
int label = 0, bestDistance = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
int[][] distances = new int[trainingSet.size()][2];
int i=0;
// Place distances in an array to be sorted
for(ImageMatrix matrix: trainingSet) {
distances[i][0] = distance(matrix.getData(), curData);
distances[i][1] = matrix.getClassCode();
i++;
}
Arrays.sort(distances, (int[] lhs, int[] rhs) -> lhs[0]-rhs[0]);
// Find frequencies of each class code
i = 0;
Map<Integer,Integer> majorityMap;
majorityMap = new HashMap<Integer,Integer>();
while(i < k) {
if( majorityMap.containsKey( distances[i][1] ) ) {
int currentValue = majorityMap.get(distances[i][1]);
majorityMap.put(distances[i][1], currentValue + 1);
}
else {
majorityMap.put(distances[i][1], 1);
}
++i;
}
// Find the class code with the highest frequency
int maxVal = -1;
for (Entry<Integer, Integer> entry: majorityMap.entrySet()) {
int entryVal = entry.getValue();
if(entryVal > maxVal) {
maxVal = entryVal;
label = entry.getKey();
}
}
return label;
}
All you need to do is adding K as a parameter. Keep in mind, however, that the code above does not handle ties in a particular way.

recursive method not properly executing

I have a programming assignment for an introductory level Java class (the subset sum problem) - for some reason, my recursive method isn't executing properly (it just goes straight to the end of the method and prints out the sorted list). Any help would be appreciated - I'm a newbie and recursive functions are really confusing to me.
package programmingassignment3;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class ProgrammingAssignment3 {
static int TARGET = 10;
static ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>();
static int SIZE = list.size();
public static void main(String[] args) {
populateSortSet();
sumInt(list);
recursiveSS(list);
}//main
public static void populateSortSet() {
try {
File f = new File("set0.txt");
Scanner input = new Scanner(f);
while (input.hasNext()) {
int ele = input.nextInt();
if (ele < TARGET && !list.contains(ele)) {
list.add(ele);
}//if
}//while
Collections.sort(list);
}//try
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}//catch
}//populateSet
public static void recursiveSS(ArrayList<Integer> Alist) {
if (Alist.size() == SIZE) {
if (sumInt(Alist) == TARGET) {
System.out.println("The integers that equal " + TARGET + "are: " + Alist);
} //if==TARGET
}//if==SIZE
else {
for (int i = 0; i < SIZE; i++) {
ArrayList<Integer> list1 = new ArrayList<>(Alist);
ArrayList<Integer> list0 = new ArrayList<>(Alist);
list1.add(1);
list0.add(0);
if (sumInt(list0) < TARGET) {
recursiveSS(list0);
}//if
if (sumInt(list1) < TARGET) {
recursiveSS(list1);
}//if
}//for
}//else
System.out.println("echo" + Alist);
}//recursiveSS
public static int sumInt(ArrayList<Integer> Alist) {
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < SIZE - 1; i++) {
sum += Alist.get(i);
}//for
if (Alist.size() == TARGET) {
sum += Alist.get(Alist.size() - 1);
}//if
return sum;
}//sumInt
}//class

This thing that you do at class level:
static ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>();
static int SIZE = list.size();
means that SIZE will be initiated to 0, and stay 0 (even if you add elements to the list.)
This means that the code inside the for-loop will be executed 0 times.
Try something like:
public class ProgrammingAssignment3 {
private static int initialSize;
//...
public static void populateSortSet() {
//populate the list
initialSize = list.size();
}
So you don't set the value of the size variable until the list is actually populated.
That being said, there a quite a few other strange things in your code, so I think you need to specify exactly what you are trying to solve here.

Here's how I'd do it. I hope it clarifies the stopping condition and the recursion. As you can see, static methods are not an issue:
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
/**
* Demo of recursion
* User: mduffy
* Date: 10/3/2014
* Time: 10:56 AM
* #link http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26179574/recursive-method-not-properly-executing?noredirect=1#comment41047653_26179574
*/
public class RecursionDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> values = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (String arg : args) {
values.add(Integer.valueOf(arg));
}
System.out.println(String.format("input values : %s", values));
System.out.println(String.format("iterative sum: %d", getSumUsingIteration(values)));
System.out.println(String.format("recursive sum: %d", getSumUsingRecursion(values)));
}
public static int getSumUsingIteration(List<Integer> values) {
int sum = 0;
if (values != null) {
for (int value : values) {
sum += value;
}
}
return sum;
}
public static int getSumUsingRecursion(List<Integer> values) {
if ((values == null) || (values.size() == 0)) {
return 0;
} else {
if (values.size() == 1) { // This is the stopping condition
return values.get(0);
} else {
return values.get(0) + getSumUsingRecursion(values.subList(1, values.size())); // Here is recursion
}
}
}
}
Here is the case I used to test it:
input values : [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
iterative sum: 21
recursive sum: 21
Process finished with exit code 0

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help. I did figure out the problem and the solution is as follows (closing brace comments removed for the reading pleasure of #duffymo ):
public class ProgrammingAssignment3 {
static int TARGET = 6233;
static ArrayList<Integer> set = new ArrayList<>();
static int SIZE;
static int count = 0;
public static void populateSortSet() {
try {
File f = new File("set3.txt");
Scanner input = new Scanner(f);
while (input.hasNext()) {
int ele = input.nextInt();
if (ele < TARGET && !set.contains(ele)) {
set.add(ele);
}
}
Collections.sort(set);
SIZE = set.size();
System.out.println("The original sorted set: " + set + "\t subset sum = " + TARGET);
}
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void recursiveSS(ArrayList<Integer> list) {
if (list.size() == SIZE) {
if (sumInt(list) == TARGET) {
System.out.print("The Bit subset is: " + list + "\t");
System.out.println("The subset is: " + getSubset(list));
count++;
}
}
else {
ArrayList<Integer> list1 = new ArrayList<>(list);//instantiate list1
ArrayList<Integer> list0 = new ArrayList<>(list);//instantiate list0
list1.add(1);
list0.add(0);
if (sumInt(list0) <= TARGET) {
recursiveSS(list0);
}
if (sumInt(list1) <= TARGET) {
recursiveSS(list1);
}
}
}
public static int sumInt(ArrayList<Integer> list) {
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
if (list.get(i) == 1) {
sum += set.get(i);
}
}
return sum;
}
public static ArrayList<Integer> getSubset(ArrayList<Integer> list) {
ArrayList<Integer> l = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
if (list.get(i) == 1) {
l.add(set.get(i));
}
}
return l;
}
}

Algorithm course: Output of int sort and method to sort Strings

My assignment asks me to make a TV show program, where I can input shows, delete, modify and sort them. What I'm stuck on is the sorting part. With the show, it asks for the name, day a new episode premieres, and time. Those are the keys I need to sort it by.
The program prompts the user to input one of those keys, then the program needs to sort (sorting by day will sort alphabetically).
I made a class and used an array. Here is the class:
public class showInfo
{
String name;
String day;
int time;
}
And the method to sort by time in the code:
public static void intSort()
{
int min;
for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
{
// Assume first element is min
min = i;
for (int j = i+1; j < arr.length; j++)
{
if (arr[j].time < arr[min].time)
{
min = j;
}
}
if (min != i)
{
int temp = arr[i].time;
arr[i].time = arr[min].time;
arr[min].time = temp;
}
}
System.out.println("TV Shows by Time");
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
{
System.out.println(arr[i].name + " - " + arr[i].day + " - " + arr[i].time + " hours");
}
}
When I call it and output it in the main, it only shows "TV Shows by Time" and not the list. Why is this?
Also, I need to make ONE method that I will be able to use to sort both the day AND the name (both Strings). How can I do this without using those specific arrays (arr[i].name, arr[i].day) in the method?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

In this part of your code
if (min != i) {
int temp = arr[i].time;
arr[i].time = arr[min].time;
arr[min].time = temp;
}
You're just changing the time when you should move the whole object instead. To fix it, the code must behave like this:
if (min != i) {
//saving the object reference from arr[i] in a temp variable
showInfo temp = arr[i];
//swapping the elements
arr[i] = arr[min];
arr[min] = temp;
}
I̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶ Arrays#sort ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶v̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ ̶̶C̶o̶m̶p̶a̶r̶a̶t̶o̶r̶̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶(̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶a̶c̶h̶)̶.̶ ̶S̶h̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶:̶
showInfo[] showInfoArray = ...
//your array declared and filled with data
//sorting the array
Arrays.sort(showInfoArray, new Comparator<showInfo>() {
#Override
public int compare(showInfo showInfo1, showInfo showInfo2) {
//write the comparison logic
//basic implementation
if (showInfo1.getTime() == showInfo2.getTime()) {
return showInfo1.getName().compareTo(showInfo2.getName());
}
return Integer.compare(showInfo1.getTime(), showInfo2.getTime());
}
});
//showInfoArray will be sorted...
Since you have to use a custom made sorting algorithm and support different ways to sort the data, then you just have to change the way you compare your data. This mean, in your current code, change this part
if (arr[j].time < arr[min].time) {
min = j;
}
To something more generic like
if (compare(arr[j], arr[min]) < 0) {
min = j;
}
Where you only need to change the implementation of the compare method by the one you need. Still, it will be too complex to create and maintain a method that can support different ways to compare the data. So the best option seems to be a Comparator<showInfo>, making your code look like this:
if (showInfoComparator.compare(arr[j], arr[min]) < 0) {
min = j;
}
where the showInfoComparator holds the logic to compare the elements. Now your intSort would become into something more generic:
public static void genericSort(Comparator<showInfo> showInfoComparator) {
//your current implementation with few modifications
//...
//using the comparator to find the minimum element
if (showInfoComparator.compare(arr[j], arr[min]) < 0) {
min = j;
}
//...
//swapping the elements directly in the array instead of swapping part of the data
if (min != i) {
int temp = arr[i].time;
arr[i].time = arr[min].time;
arr[min].time = temp;
}
//...
}
Now, you just have to write a set of Comparator<showInfo> implementations that supports your custom criteria. For example, here's one that compares showInfo instances using the time field:
public class ShowInfoTimeComparator implements Comparator<showInfo> {
#Override
public int compare(showInfo showInfo1, showInfo showInfo2) {
//write the comparison logic
return Integer.compare(showInfo1.getTime(), showInfo2.getTime());
}
}
Another comparator that uses the name field:
public class ShowInfoNameComparator implements Comparator<showInfo> {
#Override
public int compare(showInfo showInfo1, showInfo showInfo2) {
//write the comparison logic
return showInfo1.getName().compareTo(showInfo2.getName());
}
}
Now in your code you can call it like this1:
if (*compare by time*) {
genericSort(showInfoArray, new ShowInfoTimeComparator());
}
if (*compare by name*) {
genericSort(showInfoArray, new ShowInfoNameComparator());
}
if (*another custom rule*) {
genericSort(showInfoArray, new ShowInfoAnotherCustomRuleComparator());
}
where now you can implement a custom rule like compare showInfo objects using two or more fields. Taking as example your name and day fields (as stated in the question):
public class ShowInfoNameAndDayComparator implements Comparator<showInfo> {
#Override
public int compare(showInfo showInfo1, showInfo showInfo2) {
//write the comparison logic
int nameComparisonResult = showInfo1.getName().compareTo(showInfo2.getName());
if (nameComparisonResult == 0) {
return showInfo1.getDay().compareTo(showInfo2.getDay());
}
return nameComparisonResult;
}
}
1: There are other ways to solve this instead using lot of if statements, but looks like that's outside the question scope. If not, edit the question and add it to show another ways to solve this.
Other tips for your current code:
Declare the names of the classes using CamelCase, where the first letter of the class name is Upper Case, so your showInfo class must be renamed to ShowInfo.
To access to the fields of a class, use proper getters and setters instead of marking the fields as public or leaving the with default scope. This mean, your ShowInfo class should become into:
public class ShowInfo {
private String name;
private String day;
private int time;
public String getName() {
return this.name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
//similar for other fields in the class
}

Use selection sort algorithm which is easy to implement,
for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
{
for (int j = i + 1; j < arr.length; j++)
{
if (arr[i].time > arr[j].time) // Here ur code that which should be compare
{
ShowInfo temp = arr[i];
arr[i] = arr[j];
arr[j] = temp;
}
}
}
no need to check min element. go through this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_sort

Why not you use a Collection for this sort of a thingy to work. Moreover, in your added example, you are simply changing one attribute of a given object, while sorting, though you not changing the position of the object as a whole, inside the given list.
Create a List which will contain the references of all the Shows, now compare each attribute of one Show with another, in the List. Once the algorithm feels like, that swapping needs to be done, simply pick the reference from the List, save it in a temp variable, replace it with a new reference at this location, and set duplicate to the one stored in the temp variable. You are done, List is sorted :-)
Here is one small example for the same, for help :
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Sorter {
private BufferedReader input;
private List<ShowInfo> showList;
public Sorter() {
showList = new ArrayList<ShowInfo>();
input = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader((System.in)));
}
private void createList() throws IOException {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.format("Enter Show Name :");
String name = input.readLine();
System.out.format("Enter Time of the Show : ");
int time = Integer.parseInt(input.readLine());
ShowInfo show = new ShowInfo(name, time);
showList.add(show);
}
}
private void performTask() {
try {
createList();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
sortByTime(showList);
}
private void sortByTime(List<ShowInfo> showList) {
int min;
for (int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
// Assume first element is min
min = i;
for (int j = i+1; j < showList.size(); j++) {
if (showList.get(j).getTime() <
showList.get(min).getTime()) {
min = j;
}
}
if (min != i) {
ShowInfo temp = showList.get(i);
showList.set(i, showList.get(min));
showList.set(min, temp);
}
}
System.out.println("TV Shows by Time");
for(int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(showList.get(i).getName() +
" - " + showList.get(i).getTime());
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Sorter().performTask();
}
}
class ShowInfo {
private String name;
int time;
public ShowInfo(String n, int t) {
name = n;
time = t;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public int getTime() {
return time;
}
}
EDIT 2 :
For sorting By Name you can use this function :
private void sortByName(List<ShowInfo> showList) {
int min;
for (int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
// Assume first element is min
min = i;
for (int j = i+1; j < showList.size(); j++) {
int value = (showList.get(j).getName()).compareToIgnoreCase(
showList.get(min).getName());
if (value < 0)
min = j;
}
if (min != i) {
ShowInfo temp = showList.get(i);
showList.set(i, showList.get(min));
showList.set(min, temp);
}
}
System.out.println("TV Shows by Time");
for(int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(showList.get(i).getName() +
" - " + showList.get(i).getTime());
}
}
EDIT 3 :
Added Comparable<?> Interface, to the existing class to perform sorting based on specified input. Though one can improve on the logic, by using Enumeration, though leaving it for the OP to try his/her hands on :-)
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Sorter {
private BufferedReader input;
private List<ShowInfo> showList;
private int command;
public Sorter() {
showList = new ArrayList<ShowInfo>();
input = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader((System.in)));
command = -1;
}
private void createList() throws IOException {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
System.out.format("Enter Show Name :");
String name = input.readLine();
System.out.format("Enter Time of the Show : ");
int time = Integer.parseInt(input.readLine());
ShowInfo show = new ShowInfo(name, time);
showList.add(show);
}
}
private void performTask() {
try {
createList();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.format("How would you like to sort : %n");
System.out.format("Press 0 : By Name%n");
System.out.format("Press 1 : By Time%n");
try {
command = Integer.parseInt(input.readLine());
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
sortList(showList);
}
private void sortList(List<ShowInfo> showList) {
int min;
for (int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
// Assume first element is min
min = i;
for (int j = i+1; j < showList.size(); j++) {
showList.get(j).setValues(command);
int value = showList.get(j).compareTo(showList.get(min));
if (value < 0) {
min = j;
}
}
if (min != i) {
Collections.swap(showList, i, min);
}
}
System.out.println("TV Shows by Time");
for(int i = 0; i < showList.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(showList.get(i).getName() +
" - " + showList.get(i).getTime());
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Sorter().performTask();
}
}
class ShowInfo implements Comparable<ShowInfo> {
private String name;
private int time;
private int command;
public ShowInfo(String n, int t) {
name = n;
time = t;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public int getTime() {
return time;
}
public void setValues(int cmd) {
command = cmd;
}
public int compareTo(ShowInfo show) {
int lastCmp = 1;
if (command == 0) {
lastCmp = name.compareTo(show.name);
} else if (command == 1) {
if (time < show.time) {
lastCmp = -1;
} else if (time == show.time) {
lastCmp = 0;
} else if (time > show.time) {
lastCmp = 1;
}
}
return lastCmp;
}
}

implementing a loop using final variables

Is there a way to implement a loop using final variables?
I mean a loop that would run for a specified number of iterations when you are not allowed to change anything after initialization!

Is recursion allowed, or do you literally need a loop construct like for or while? If you can use recursion, then:
void loop(final int n) {
if (n == 0) {
return;
} else {
System.out.println("Count: " + n);
loop(n-1);
}
}

One way is to create an Iterable<Integer> class representing an arbitrary range (without actually having to store all of the values in a list):
public static class FixedIntRange implements Iterable<Integer> {
private final int min;
private final int max;
public FixedIntRange(final int min, final int max) {
this.min = min;
this.max = max;
}
#Override
public Iterator<Integer> iterator() {
return new Iterator<Integer>() {
private Integer next = FixedIntRange.this.min;
#Override
public boolean hasNext() {
return next != null;
}
#Override
public Integer next() {
final Integer ret = next;
next = ret == max ? null : next + 1;
return ret;
}
#Override
public void remove() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
}
};
}
}
and then iterate over it normally:
for (final int i : new FixedIntRange(-10, 20)) {
// this will be run for each i in the range [-10, 20]
}

Create an array whose size is the required number of iterations, then use it in a for-each loop:
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final int N = 20;
final int[] control = new int[N];
for(final int i : control){
System.out.println(i);
}
}
}
The trick here is that the iteration indexing is generated by the compiler as part of the enhanced for statement, and does not use any user-declared variable.

Something like this -
final int max = 5;
for(int i=0; i<max; i++) {}
Or another interesting one-
final boolean flag = true;
while(flag) {
// keep doing your stuff and break after certain point
}
One more-
List<String> list = ......
for(final Iterator iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext(); ) {
}