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while loop inside for loop, confused?

Completely new to programming, and I was doing a project and I am confused on how I can make it work. Please help me
boolean answer1 = true;
for (int i=0;i<q.questionbank.length;++i)
{ q.Question = input(q.questionbank[i]);
while(answer1 == true)
{
if (q.Question.equals(a.correctans) || (q.Question.equals(a.impossibleans) || (q.Question.equals(a.wrongans))))
{
score = printquiz(answer,score,q.Question);
answer1 = false;
}
else
{
print("Not a Valid Answer, please try again\n");
}
}
}
return score;
Over here, I have a class called questionbank and quiz. The correctans/impossibleans/wrongans are part of the quiz data type. whereas the q.question is part of questionbank. I have some question on an array in the questionbank data type. I want to use for loop to go through the questions and if the user input the correct answer, there score goes up. It works for the first question but doesnt for the second question. usually when they answer correctly, I have another method printquiz that has decision statements to tell the user if their answer is correct or wrong, and assign them points. but its not even going to that method after the first iteration of the loop. I am confused on what is going on. Please help me

This is how I would have set it up. Assume the answer to be false until you get one. Then set it to true to exit the loop.
for (int i = 0; i < q.questionbank.length; ++i) {
q.Question = input(q.questionbank[i]);
answer1 = false;
while (!answer1) {
if (q.Question.equals(a.correctans) || (q.Question.equals(a.impossibleans) || (q.Question.equals(a.wrongans)))) {
score = printquiz(answer, score, q.Question);
answer1 = true;
} else {
print("Not a Valid Answer, please try again\n");
}
}
}

The second time doesn't work, because you set answer1 to false and never set it back to true again. So the while loop is not being entered anymore (= doesn't evaluate to true anymore) after the answer1 = false line of code in the if statement has been reached the first time.
To fix this, try to put answer1 = true inside the for loop, before the while loop.

Count elements of a list using While loop in java

I am passing some parameters in the URL and then I add them in a list. My list has a limit of 5 elements. So if someone adds 6th element in the URL the list would simply ignore it. So I am trying to use a counter but the logic is not working as desired. I am using While loop to achieve this. So if list size is smaller than 5 set the agencyCds otherwise just return the list.
private List<IUiIntegrationDto> generateViewIntegrationReportData(ESignatureIntegrationConfig eSignConfig) throws Exception {
int counter = 1;
if(eSignConfig.getAdditionalAgencyCds() != null ) {
List<String> combinedAgencyCds = new ArrayList<String>();
for(String agencyCd : eSignConfig.getAgencyCd()) {
combinedAgencyCds.add(agencyCd);
}
StringTokenizer token = new StringTokenizer(eSignConfig.getAdditionalAgencyCds().toString(), StringConstants.COMMA);
while(token.hasMoreTokens()) {
combinedAgencyCds.add(token.nextToken());
}
while(combinedAgencyCds.size() < 5) {
counter = counter + 1;
eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds);
}
// eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds);
}
List<IUiIntegrationDto> intgList = getUiIntegrationManager().retrieveUiIntegrationReportData(eSignConfig.getAgencyCd(), eSignConfig.getCreatedDays(),
eSignConfig.getLob(), eSignConfig.getTransactionStatus(), eSignConfig.getAccounts(), eSignConfig.getSortKey(), eSignConfig.getSortOrder());
return intgList;
}
I am not completely sure about this logic if it is correct or if there is nay better approach.
Thanks

Try this instead of the last while in your code:
if(combinedAgencyCds.size() <= 5) {
eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds);
} else {
eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds.subList(0, 5));
}
The full combined list will then be used if it is less than 5 in size. Otherwise, only the first 5 elements are used.
Edit: Or even better:
eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds.subList(0, Math.min(5, combinedAgencyCds.size())));

Ok so let's break down what your code is currently doing.
int counter = 1;
while(combinedAgencyCds.size() < 5) {
counter = counter + 1;
eSignConfig.setAgencyCd(combinedAgencyCds);
}
This snippet of code has a couple things wrong best I can tell. First, this loop has the possibility of running forever or not at all. Because combinedAgencyCds is never being manipulated, the size won't ever change and the logic being checked in the while loop never does anything. Second, there's a more efficient loop for doing this, assuming you don't need the counter variable outside of its usage in the while loop and that is using for loops.
Example syntax is as follows:
for (int i = 0; i < combinedAgencyCds.size(); i++) {
if (i < 5) {
// Do your logic here.
}
else {
break; // Or handle extra values however you want.
}
}
Notice there is no need for the explicit declaration for a counter variable as "i" counts for you.
Now in your actual logic in the loop, I'm not sure what the setAgencyCd method does, but if it simply sets a list variable in the eSignConfig like it appears to, repeating it over and over isn't going to do anything. From what I can see in your code, you are setting a variable with the same value 5 times. If you need any more explanation just let me know and I will be happy to revise the answer.

Java help regarding looping (do loops)

I'm trying to make a very basic game where you guess a number between 1-1000 using a do loop. Everything works, except when I finally make the correct guess, I am still prompted to make another guess, and when I enter the same correct guess again, the program terminates like it's suppose to.
Why do I have to make that extra guess to finally get my program to work? Am I looping around an extra time? Also, if I make a correct guess (the compiler will say I am correct then still prompt me), then a wrong guess (the compiler will tell me I'm wrong), then the correct guess again, the program will only terminate after I make the correct guess a second time.
The second do loop at the bottom is what I put in my main method. Everything above is in a method I wrote called play.
public static boolean play()
{
boolean c;
int n = 0;
do {
String input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a number between 1-1000");
n = Integer.parseInt(input);
if (n == guess)
{
System.out.println("Correct");
c = true;
}
else if (n < guess)
{
System.out.println("Not Right");
c = false;
}
else
{
System.out.println("Not Right");
c = false;
}
guess++;
} while (c == false);
return c;
}
In main method:
do {
game1.play();
} while (game1.play() != true);

This loop runs the play method twice in each iteration of the loop :
do {
game1.play(); // first call
} while (game1.play()!=true); // second call
You are not testing the value returned by the first call, so even if it returns true, you would still call game1.play() again, which will display "Enter a number between 1-1000" again.
Replace it with:
boolean done = false;
do {
done = game1.play();
} while (!done);
This would only call play() one time in each iteration of the loop.
That said, I'm not sure why you need the outer loop.
You can just replace in with one call to game1.play(), since game1.play() will loop until the correct number is entered.

how to break the for loop with respect to other for loop

i saw how to break the loop (using label and break the label) .. but i want to break the first for loop depends on the second for loop :
for example :
public class HelloWorld {
static private int i;
public static void main(String[] args) {
int y = 20;
for (; y <= 30; y += 2)
{
System.out.printf("value of increamented y Value is %d\n", y);
increamentiValue();
}
}
private static void increamentiValue()
{
i = 0;
for (; i <= 5; i += 2) {
System.out.printf("value of i is %d\n", i);
}
}
}
for instance here i want to break the "y" loop depends on the number of iteration in "i" loop ..
for ex:
i want to break "y" for loop if the number iteriation in "i" loop is equal to 0 .. because in my program "i" checks the error ... in my ysytem error may occur any "i" .. if two times i dosnt have error (i==0) i want to break the "y" loop.
EX :
if
At y= 22 , i ==0; (no error occurs)
at y= 23 , i ==0; (no error occurs)
i dont want to proceed till 30. i want to break y loop .

Have increamenti_Value return a value that main uses to terminate the loop.
Separately, though, using an instance variable (i) in the for loop in increamenti_Value is a very suspect thing to do. It's also quite odd to use a for loop, leave out the initializer clause, and yet set the initial condition on the line above.

Have the incrementi_Value return the value of i and check that value in your y loop.
incrementi_Value == 0 ? break : continue;
Change private static void incrementi_Value -> private static int incrementi_Value
then place a return i; when you want to return the current value of i.

Instead of increamenti_Value() being void, make it return boolean - true if the caller should break, false otherwise:
private static boolean increamenti_Value() {
// return true if you want the caller to break
}
And instead of calling it like you are, call it like this:
if (increamenti_Value())
break;
Note that a called method having knowledge of when the caller should do something doesn't seem like a good design. You may want to reconsider your logic.

Whats wrong with my syntax and am i doing this efficiently?

I'm trying to make a method that will tell me weather or not it is true or false that a number is prime. here's the code:
class prime
{
public static boolean prime (int a, int b)
{
if (a == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (a%(b-1) == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (b>1)
{
prime (a, b-1) ;
}
else
{
return true;
}
}
public static void main (String[] arg)
{
System.out.println (prime (45, 45)) ;
}
}
when i try to compile this i get this error message:
prime.java:23: missing return statement
}
^
1 error
I could be misinterpreting what the error message is saying but it seems to me that there isn't a missing return statement since i have a return statement for every possible set of conditions. if a is 0 then it returns false, if it isn't then it checks to see if a is dividable by b if it is then it returns if not then if b is greater than 1 it starts over again. if b isn't greater than 1 it also returns.
Also it seems a bit messy to have to
make this method take two ints that
are the same int.
What is wrong with my syntax/ why am i getting the error message? Is there a way to make it so that the method that i use in main only has to take one int (perhaps another method splits that int into two clones that are then passed to public static boolean primeproper?
or is there a more effective way of
going about this that i'm missing
entirely?

In your prime function, there are four possible code paths, one of which doesn't return anything. That is what the error message is complaining about. You need to replace:
prime (a, b-1) ;
with:
return prime (a, b-1) ;
in the else if (b>1) case.
Having said that, this is actually not a good way to calculate if a number is prime. The problem is that every recursive call allocates a stack frame and you'll get into serious stack overflow problems if you're trying to work out whether 99,999,999 is a prime number?
Recursion is a very nice tool for a certain subset of problems but you need to be aware of the stack depth. As to more efficient solutions, the are many tests you can carry out to determine a number is not prime, then only check the others with a brute force test.
One thing you should be aware of is to check divisibility against smaller numbers first since this will reduce your search scope quicker. And don't use divide where multiply will do, multiplication is typically faster (though not always).
And some possibly sneaky tricks along the lines of:
every number other than 2 that ends in 2, 4, 6, 8 or 0 is non-prime.
every number other than 5 that ends in 5 is non-prime.
Those two rules alone will reduce your search space by 60%. Assuming you get your test number as a string, it's a simple matter to test the last digit of that string even before converting to an integral type.
There are some more complex rules for divisibility checks. If you take a multiple of 9 and sum all the digits to get a new number, then do it again to that number, then keep going until you have a single digit, you'll find that it's always 9.
That will give you another 10% reduction in search space albeit with a more time-expensive check. Keep in mind that these checks are only advantageous for really large numbers. The advantages are not so great for, say, 32-bit integers since a pre-calculated bitmap would be much more efficient there (see below).
For a simplistic start, I would use the following iterative solution:
public static boolean prime (int num) {
int t = 2;
while (t * t <= num) {
if ((num % t) == 0) {
return false;
}
t++;
}
return true;
}
If you want real speed in your code, don't calculate it each time at all. Calculate it once to create a bit array (one of the sieve methods will do it) of all primes across the range you're interested in, then simply check your values against that bit array.
If you don't even want the cost of calculating the array every time your program starts, do it once and save the bit array to a disk file, loading it as your program starts.
I actually have a list of the first 100 million primes in a file and it's easier and faster for me to use grep to find if a number is prime, than to run some code to calculate it :-)
As to why your algorithm (fixed with a return statement) insists that 7 is not prime, it will insist that every number is non-prime (haven't checked with negative numbers, I'm pretty sure they would cause some serious problems - your first check should probably be if (a < 1) ...).
Let's examine what happens when you call prime(3,3).
First time through, it hits the third condition so calls prime(3,2).
Then it hits the second condition since 3 % (2-1) == 0 is true (N % 1 is always 0).
So it returns false. This could probably be fixed by changing the third condition to else if (b>2) although I haven't tested that thoroughly since I don't think a recursive solution is a good idea anyway.
The following complete code snippet will do what you need although I appreciate your curiosity in wanting to know what you did wrong. That's the mark of someone who's actually going to end up a good code cutter.
public class prime
{
public static boolean isPrime (int num) {
int t = 2;
while (t * t <= num) {
if ((num % t) == 0) {
return false;
}
t++;
}
return true;
}
public static void main (String[] arg)
{
System.out.println (isPrime (7)) ;
}
}

You seem to be under the impression that because the recursion will eventually find a base-case which will hit a return statement, then that return will bubble up through all of the recursive calls. That's not true. Each recursive call must pass out the result like this:
return prime(a, b - 1);

If b is larger than 1, your function won't return anything.
May it be return prime (a, b-1) ; ?

To improve efficiency, think more about your conditions. Do you really need test every factor from 2 to N? Is there a different stopping point that will help tests of prime numbers complete more quickly?
To make a better API, consider making the recursive method private, with a public entry point that helps bootstrap the process. For example:
public static boolean prime(int n) {
return recurse(n, n);
}
private static boolean recurse(int a, int b) {
...
}
Making a method private means that it can't be called from another class. It's effectively invisible to users of the class. The intent here is to hide the "ugly" extra parameter by providing a public helper method.
Think about the factors of some composite numbers. 10 factors to 5×2. 12 factors to 6×2. 14 factors to 7×2. Now think about 25. 25 factors to 5×5. What about 9? Do you see a pattern? By the way, if this isn't homework, please let me know. Being this didactic is hard on me.

In answer to why 7 isn't working, pretend you're the computer and work through your logic. Here's what you wrote.
class prime
{
public static boolean prime (int a, int b)
{
if (a == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (a%(b-1) == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (b>1)
{
// Have to add the return statement
// here as others have pointed out!
return prime(a, b-1);
}
else
{
return true;
}
}
public static void main (String[] arg)
{
System.out.println (prime (45, 45)) ;
}
}
So let's start with 7.
if(7 == 0) // not true, don't enter this block
else if(7 % 6 == 0) // not true
else if(7 > 1) // true, call prime(7, 6)
if(7 == 0) // not true, don't enter this block
else if(7 % 5 == 0) // not true
else if(6 > 1) // true, call prime(7, 5)
if(7 == 0) // not true, don't enter this block
else if(7 % 4 == 0) // not true
else if(5 > 1) // true, call prime(7, 4)
... keep going down to calling prime(7, 2)
if(7 == 0) // not true, don't enter this block
else if(7 % 1 == 0) true, return false
When you get down to calling prime(n, 2), it will always return false because you have a logic error.

Your recursive method must return a value so it can unroll.
public static boolean prime (int a, int b)
{
if (a == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (a%(b-1) == 0)
{
return false;
}
else if (b>1)
{
return prime (a, b-1) ;
}
else
{
return true;
}
}
I might write it a different way, but that is the reason that you are not able to compile the code.

I think the original question was answered already - you need to insert return in the body of else if (b>1) - I just wanted to point out that your code still will crash when given 1 as the value for b, throwing an ArithmeticException since a%(b-1) will be evaluated to a%0, causing a division by zero.
You can avoid this by making the first if-statement if (a == 0 || b == 1) {}
This won't improve the way the program finds primes, it just makes sure there is one less way to crash it.

Similar to #paxdiblo's answer, but slightly more efficient.
public static boolean isPrime(int num) {
if (num <= 1 || (num & 1) == 0) return false;
for (int t = 3; t * t <= num; t += 2)
if (num % t == 0)
return false;
return true;
}
Once it is determined that the number is not even, all the even numbers can be skipped. This will halve the numbers which need to be checked.