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Alternative to using return statement

I'm having trouble understanding what exactly the return statement does. What would be the difference in using:
public void run()
{
System.out.println(cube(5));
}
public int cube(int num)
{
int result = num*num*num;
System.out.println(result);
}
vs
public void run()
{
System.out.println(cube(5));
}
public int cube(int num)
{
return num*num*num;
}
Isn't it basically doing the same?

In your first example, the square function will print the cube of the provided number. However, if you wanted to do something more with it, like System.out.println(square(5) + 3), printing would not give you back 125 (did you mean to call it cube?) to add to the 3, it would only say "125" in the console. The return statement actually makes the function give back 125, so you can continue to work with it as a value.
Additionally, since you declared the square function as returning an int, if you do not have a return statement, then the program will fail to compile.

The return statement allows for more modular code with clear separation of concerns.
In your first example, your first System.out.println in the run() method calls another method that both calculates and then prints; therefore, the first System.out.println doesn't print anything itself, and could be simplified to just
public void run() {
square(5);
}
public void square(int num) {
System.out.println(num * num);
}
Which is nice and concise, but let's say you don't want to System.out.println every time you calculate a square, but only print if the result is divisible by 3. If you add the logic for that scenario to your square() method, it starts to exceed its responsibility. Additionally, your square() method is now only useful to that specific scenario. So the better practice would be something like this:
public void run() {
int result = square(5);
if (result % 3 == 0) {
System.out.println(result);
}
}
public int square(int num) {
return num * num;
}
Which now allows you to re-use the square() method for other scenarios, rather than just printing squares divisible by 3.
Unrelated to the code itself, but your square() method is actually calculating a cube (num*num*num) rather than a square (num*num)

The difference would be whether or not you want to do something with the product of the function. If you just want to print the result, you're good to go. If you want to store that value into a variable to use later, you'd want to return it, and you could then call a System.out.println on that variable too. I would say fin nailed it in his response. Hope this helped!

Increment the number by 1 whenever i call the funtion in java

I am trying to print the number increment by 1 whenever i call the function, but i am not able to get the solution, below is my code
The blow is the function
public class Functions<var> {
int i=0;
public int value()
{
i++;
return i;
}
}
I am calling the above function here
import Java.Functions;
public class Increment {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Functions EF = new Functions();
System.out.println(EF.value());
}
}
Whenever i run the program , i am getting only the output as 1 , but i want the output to be incremented by 1 . Could you please help. Thanks in Advance.

I believe your answer is with the scope of your variables and your understanding of them. You only call the method once in your given examples, so 1 is arguably the correct answer anyway. Below is a working example which will persist during runtime one variable and increment it every time a function is called. Your methods don't seem to follow the common Java patterns, so I'd recommend looking up some small example Hello, World snippets.
public class Example{
int persistedValue = 0; // Defined outside the scope of the method
public int increment(){
persistedValue++; // Increment the value by 1
return persistedValue; // Return the value of which you currently hold
// return persistedValue++;
}
}
This is due to the scope of "persistedValue". It exists within the class "Example" and so long as you hold that instance of "Example", it will hold a true value to your incremented value.
Test bases as follows:
public class TestBases {
static Example e; // Define the custom made class "Example"
public static void main(String[] args) {
e = new Example(); // Initialize "Example" with an instance of said class
System.out.println(e.increment()); // 1
System.out.println(e.increment()); // 2
System.out.println(e.increment()); // 3
}
}
If your desire is out of runtime persistence (the value persisting between application runs) then it would be best to investigate some method of file system saving (especially if this is for your Java practice!)

Your main problem is to increment the number value 1.
But you are calling your function only once. Even though you call the function many times you will get the value 1 only because it is not static variable so it will every time initialize to 0.
So please check below answer using static context.
Functions.java
public class Functions{
static int i=0;
public int value()
{
i++;
return i;
}
}
Increment.java
public class Increment{
public static void main(String []args){
Functions EF = new Functions();
System.out.println(EF.value());
System.out.println(EF.value());
System.out.println(EF.value());
}
}
Output:
1
2
3

If you design multi-threaded application, it will be better to use AtomicInteger.
The AtomicInteger class provides you an int variable which can be read and written atomically.
AtomicInteger atomicInteger = new AtomicInteger();
atomicInteger.incrementAndGet();

Am I returning the correct value from my method & am I writing it correctly?

I'll preface my question with the statement that I am very new to Java, so I apologise if my code is totally disgusting to read.
What I'm trying to do: I'm writing a program that takes two integers from the user, a low value and a high value, and sends both integers to two different methods. Method #1 has a simple for loop and should print out all of the numbers between the lowest number and the highest number that are multiples of 3 or 5, and Method #2 does the same except for numbers that are multiples of 3 or 5 it also checks if that number is also a multiple of 6 and, if so, it prints the number and an asterisk next to it.
What I'm having trouble with: I'm pretty stumped on what I need to return from my methods & how to return anything at all. This is the first time I've worked on a method properly (just moved up from "Hello World) and from what I can see I don't really need to return anything at all. All the code that I've put in my methods pretty much complete the program, so I thought maybe returning the integers I sent would be enough, apparently it's not. So, without further ado, here's my code.
The Error:
javac BonusQ.java
.\MethodOne.java:19: error: illegal start of type
return(int lowestRange, int highestRange);
^
.\MethodTwo.java:36: error: illegal start of type
return(int lowestRange, int highestRange);
^
The Main:
import java.util.Scanner;
public class BonusQ
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
int lowestRange = 0;
int highestRange = 0;
System.out.println("Enter the lowest integer in your range");
lowestRange = scan.nextInt();
System.out.println("Enter the highest integer in your range");
highestRange = scan.nextInt();
MethodOne.NoAsterisk(lowestRange, highestRange);
MethodTwo.Asterisk(lowestRange, highestRange);
}
}
MethodOne:
public class MethodOne
{
public static int NoAsterisk(int lowestRange, int highestRange)
{
for(int i = lowestRange; i <= highestRange; i++)
{
if (i%5 == 0)
{
System.out.println(i);
}
else if (i%3 == 0)
{
System.out.println(i);
}
}
}
return(int lowestRange, int highestRange);
}
MethodTwo:
public class MethodTwo
{
public static int Asterisk(int lowestRange, int highestRange)
{
for(int i = lowestRange; i <= highestRange; i++)
{
if (i%5 == 0)
{
if (i%5 == 0 && i%6 == 0)
{
System.out.println(i + "*");
}
else
{
System.out.println(i);
}
}
else if (i%3 == 0)
{
if (i%3 == 0 && i%6 == 0)
{
System.out.println(i + "*");
}
else
{
System.out.println(i);
}
}
}
}
return(int lowestRange, int highestRange);
}
Sorry if the post is a bit beefy to read, I just find that adding my thoughts on the code might help you explain to me what's going wrong, seeing as you may not know the extent of my incompetence :)
Thanks in advance.

Ok, Classes have members.
Members are either some variables or arrays of variables
and the methods of a class.
So you got
public class MyMethod
{
public static int Asterisk(int loRange, int hiRange)
{
// Do magic let's make a sum for this example
// You enter loRange and hiRange (you defined it above)
return loRange + hiRange // Here the method returns a result
}
}
// So then....
public static void main(String [] args)
{
// WHATEVER IS IN HERE RUNS ALWAYS FIRST.
z = Asterisk(1,2); // 1 and 2 is lo and hi range values ;)
// Z has a value of 3 now because Asterisk(1,2) returns 1 + 2
}
See how this works?
Now this works because you use the static definition (meaning there must not be an instance of MyMethod created first to use the method. It's not wrong, but if you can make a program do things with class instances, you better do it that way.
You make an instance of a class, this is called an object, using a special method. This method has the exact name of the Class and constructs an instance of it.
You should study now about constructors, abstract classes etc etc.
I can't say you do it wrong or right either. It is about what the program is all about and you should study the scope for variables and methods, and the encapsulation concept of Object Oriented Programming.
Using only static methods, goes against encapsulation principle, it is possibly wrong but I can't tell for sure.
I hope this helped you and gave you a good direction to go on with your study.
PS:
To return multiple results, you should return an array of variables, not just a variable.
You can also return nothing and just have it do the job to a needed array. This FORCES you though to make this array public. (Not a good practice)
Finally if multiple value returns are needed to just print them on the console... well, just do it in the method, no need to return anything really.

You don't need to return anything, being that the methods are printing out all the values.
You can change them into void methods, for example:
public static void asterisk(int lowest, int highest) {
//loops and if statements
//no return statement!
}
The code in the methods will run and voila, you are done!
EDIT: That being said, there's a lot more than can be done to make this code more Java-like, but for now this will work.

mmmmm...you can return types, and (int lowestRange, int highestRange) its not a type. Look at the method definition
public static int Asterisk(int lowestRange, int highestRange)
the return type is declared as int, so you should return an int value. You can do something like
return lowestRange;
return 1;
with that in consideration, the error should dissapear. The question is, why do you need to return a value? From what i've read, your methods are supose to print stuff, not to return stuff...

The return statements are out of the method. You have to put them before the close method brackets.
public class MyClass{
public int sum (int a, int b){
return a + b;
} // The return have to be before this brackets
}

Lexicographic quicksort algorithm

My professor gave me a code for the methods to be used in sorting an array of names lexicographically, but I have no idea how what to write inside the main class to show that the program works. I am very new to java, so please if you know how to do this could you write it as simple as possible for me to understand it. Thanks in advance.
This is are the classes
public class quicksort_class {
int[] array1 = new int[11];
public quicksort_class(int[] w)
{
array1 = w;
}
private static void sort(String[] string, int leftlimit, int rightlimit) {
if (rightlimit > leftlimit)
{
int midpoint = partitionstep(string, leftlimit, rightlimit);
sort(string, leftlimit, midpoint - 1);
sort(string, midpoint, rightlimit);
}
}
public static int partitionstep(String[] string, int leftlimit, int rightlimit)
{
String midpoint = string[rightlimit];
int lpointer = leftlimit;
int rpointer = rightlimit;
String temp = "";
while(string[lpointer].compareTo(midpoint) <= 0)
{
lpointer = lpointer ++;
}
while(string[rpointer].compareTo(midpoint) > 0)
{
rpointer = rpointer --;
}
if(lpointer > rpointer)
{
temp = string[lpointer];
string[lpointer] = string[rightlimit];
string[rpointer] = temp;
System.out.println(string);
}
while(lpointer < rpointer)
{
temp = string[lpointer];
string[lpointer] = string[rightlimit];
string[rightlimit] = temp;
}
return lpointer;
}
}
This is the main class (as you can see I have no idea what to write)
package quicksort;
public class Quicksort {
public static void main(String[] args) {
}
}

Write something that sets up an array of strings and calls sort against it, then prints out the results or checks them against a known good result.
Ideally, write something which does this repeatedly, with particular emphasis on checking unusual combinations (already sorted or sorted in reverse, null in the array, same value appearing several times or all values being identical...)
If you want to go beyond that, you need to dig into the code to understand its edge cases and specifically test those, and/or do a "code coverage" analysis (there are tools to help with that) to make sure all parts of the code have been exercised.

Assume the algorithm of sort method is correct:
1. If the main method is within the body of quicksort_class, you can directly call the sort method as sort(arrayToBeSorted, 0 , arrayToBeSorted.length-1). And the arrayToBeSorted should ordered lexicographically after your call. You can check that to confirm.
2. If the main method is in other class, as your main method currently, you need to at least change the private prefix of sort method to public, and call quicksort_class.sort(arrayToBeSorted, 0 , arrayToBeSorted.length-1).
Some tips:
1. Private prefix of method definition means this method can only be called inside current class body.
2. Static prefix of method definition means you should call this method via class name directly, instead of via a instance of class.
By the way, can you provide what the array1 attribute stands for? I don't get why it's there.

How to pass information through a method and returning a value

I'm new to Java, and need help. I have been asked to write a program that rolls dice and determines the chance of the player to get two "1s" on the top face of the dice. I have different functions such as role(), getTopFace() etc. I want to be get what the number on the dice is using these functions, but don't know how to call them in my main function. Here's my code:
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.util.Random;
public class SnakeEyes {
private final int sides;
private int topFace;
public static void main(String[]args)
{
String numberSides;
int n;
numberSides=JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter the number of sides on the dice:");
n = Integer.parseInt ( numberSides);
int[]die=new int[n];
for (int index=0; index<n;index++)
{
die[index]=index+1;
}
//Here is where I want to get information from my functions and calculate the ods of getting two 1's.
}
public void Die(int n)
{
if(n>0)
{
int sides=n;
topFace=(int)(Math.random()*sides)+1;
}
else{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, " Die : precondition voliated");
}
}
public int getTopFace(int topFace)
{
return topFace;
}
public int role(int[] die)
{
topFace=(int)(Math.random()*sides)+1;
return topFace;
}
}

Make an object of your class SnakeEyes in your main method, and call the required functions using that object.
Example:
SnakeEyes diceObj = new SnakeEyes();
int topFace = diceObj.role(n,....);

If you want to call this functions from main this functions must be "static", because main its a static function and static function can only call other static functions.
But... this is a very ugly design for a java program, before jumping to write java code you need to understand at least a little about object orientation. For example, why you can't call a non-static function from a static function?, the answer of this question requires knowledge about object orientation and its a knowledge you need if you want to write serious java code.