1.

00 Lecture 3

Operators, Control

Reading for next time: Big Java: sections 6.1-6.4

Skip all the advanced topics, hints, etc.

Main()
• About main():
– In each Java program there is a just a single main()
method, no matter how many classes there are.
• The main() method is often in a class that has no other
methods, by convention. It can be in any class, though
some choices would seem unnatural.
– main() tells Java where to start the program; it’s just a
naming convention
• It could easily have been called “StartHere”
– In early examples we have only one class, so it will
seem there’s a main() method in each class. Nope.
– Main() at a later point will be minimalist:
• Main() does the least possible work to get the program
running and then hands off all the remaining work to
objects and their methods.
• For now, since we haven’t covered classes and objects,
we’ll do everything in main() for a little while longer.

1
 Logical Operators
• Produce results of type boolean
• Comparisons use 9 operators:
Equal == Not equal !=
Less than < Less than or <=
equal
Greater than > Greater than or >=
equal
Logical and && Logical or ||
Not !

// Example
int c= 0, b= 3;
if (c != 0 && b/c > 5) System.out.println(“Buy this stock”);
// Short circuit evaluation: quit after answer determined
boolean buy= true;
if (!buy || c == 0) System.out.println(“Nah, don’t buy”);

Assignment Operators
• Assignment is not the same as equality
• = is not the same as ==
• Assignments are expressions:
int x, y;

x= y= 5; // Same as x = (y= 5); assoc from R to L

• Shortcut forms exist:

int x= 5, y= 3;

x += y; // Same as x= x + y;

// This means take current value of x (5), add y (3), and

// set x to a new value of 8

• Shortcut forms include +=, -=, *=, /=, %= :

x /= y; // Same as x= x / y;

x %= y; // Same as x= x % y;

• Other shortcut forms are ++ and -- :

x++; // Same as x= x + 1;
y= --x; // Same as x= x-1; y = x; (More later)

2
 Operator exercise
• Create a new class VelocityTest
– Your main program will compute train velocities from
Boston to New York with various improvements
– On the very first line of your program write:
import javax.swing.*; // Allow GUI input
– Accept an int input from the user, in main():
String input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter time");
int time= Integer.parseInt(input); // Enter 4 (hrs)
– Define double d= 225; // miles
– Decrease d by 25
– Compute velocity v
– Print whether v > 60: System.out.println(logical expr);
– If you have time:
– Decrement time by 1
– Print whether v > 60 and d < 225
– Print whether v > 70 or d < 175 or time <= 3

Control Structures: Branch

General form Example

if (boolean) if ( psgrs == seats)
statement; carFull= true;
if (psgrs >= seats) {
carFull= true;
excess= psgrs - seats; }

if (boolean) if ( psgrs >= seats ) {

statement1; carFull= true;
else excess= psgrs - seats; }
statement2; else
carFull= false;
if (boolean1) if ( psgrs < seats)
statement1; carFull= false;
… else if (psgrs == seats) {
else if (booleanN) carFull= true;
statementN; excess= 0; }
else else {
statement; carFull= true;
excess= psgrs - seats; }

3
 Control exercise
• Create a class ControlTest
• Write in main():
– Declare and initialize five double variables d, s, p, a and b
• d= 100
• s= 50
• p = 10
• a= .1
• b= .2
– Then write code so that:
• If demand d > supply s, raise price p by a(d-s)
• If demand == supply, do nothing
• If demand d < supply s, lower price p by b(d-s)
– If you have extra time, read s from a JOptionPane

Control structure: Iteration

General form Example

while (boolean) while (balance < richEnough) {

statement; years++;
balance *= (1+ interestRate);
}

do do {
statement; years++;
while (boolean); balance *= (1+ interestRate);
// Always executes stmt at least once } while (balance < richEnough)

for (start_expr; end_bool; cont_expr) for ( years= 0; years< 20; years++) {

statement; balance += (1+ interestRate);
if (balance >= richEnough) break;
}

4
 For loops

for (start_expr; end_bool; cont_expr) for (yrs= 0; yrs < 20; yrs++)
statement; balance *= (1 + rate);

is equivalent to:

start_expr; yrs= 0;
while (end_bool) { while (yrs < 20) {
statement; balance *= (1+rate);
cont_expr; yrs++;
} }

Iteration Exercises
• Create a class IterationTest
– Exercise 1: Write code in main() that prints out every
third number between 11 and 47, including 11 and 47.
– Exercise 2: Also print out whether each number output
is odd or even.
– Remember to declare the variables you use in your
loops before you loop (e.g., int i;)
• If you finish, look at the next example
– Find the bug

5
 Control example
Solve ax2 + bx + c= 0
Input a, b and c

discriminant = b*b - 4.0*a*c

No No
discriminant < 0 discriminant ≅ 0

Yes Yes

Print “Sorry, no real root” root = - 0.5 * b / a root = (-b + √discriminant) / 2*a
root2 = (-b - √discriminant) / 2*a

Print root Print root

Print root2

System.exit(0)

Control example
import javax.swing.*; // To support simple input
public class Control { // Quadratic formula
public static void main(String[] args) {
final double TOL= 1E-15; // Constant (use ‘final’)
String input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a");
double a= Double.parseDouble(input);
input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter b");
double b= Double.parseDouble(input);
input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter c");
double c= Double.parseDouble(input);
double discriminant= b*b - 4.0*a*c;
if ( discriminant < 0)
System.out.println("Sorry, no real root");
else if (Math.abs(discriminant) <= TOL) {
double root= -0.5 * b / a;
System.out.println("Root is " + root); }
else { // Redefine ‘root’; blocks have own scopes
double root=(-b + Math.sqrt(discriminant))/ (2.0*a);
double root2=(-b- Math.sqrt(discriminant))/ (2.0*a);
System.out.println("Roots: " + root + “ , " + root2); }
System.exit(0); } }

6
 Control example
• The previous program has a deliberate, subtle
bug
– Can you see it?
– Is it likely that you’d find it by testing?
– Is it likely you’d find it by using the debugger and
reading the code?
• Fix the error by rearranging the order of the if-
else clauses
• By the way, this is a terrible way to solve a
quadratic equation—see Numerical Recipes,
section 5.6

Example Method-Computing
ln(x)
• The natural logarithm of any number x can be
approximated by the formula

ln(x) = (x-1) – (x-1)2 /2 + (x-1)3 /3

- (x-1)4 /4 + (x-1)5 /5 + ……

• The next two examples show computing this

series with a for loop and a do loop
– This is also a terrible way to compute a logarithm!

7
 Iteration Example 1: Ln x

import javax.swing.*;

public class Iteration {

public static void main(String[] args) {
String input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter x (0-2)");
double x= Double.parseDouble(input);
// Compute 20 terms of

// ln x= (x-1) - (x-1)^2/2 + (x-1)^3/3 - ...

final int ITERATIONS= 20; // Fixed no of iterations

double logx= 0.0;

double x1= x-1;

for (int i= 1; i <= ITERATIONS; i++) {

if (i % 2 == 0) // i even
logx -= Math.pow(x1, i)/i;
else
logx += Math.pow(x1, i)/i; }
System.out.println("Ln x= " + logx); } }

Iteration Example 2: Ln x
import javax.swing.*; // Same series as example 1
public class Iteration2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String input= JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter x (0-2)");
double x= Double.parseDouble(input);
final double TOLERANCE= 0.00001; // Tol sets no of terms
double logx= 0.0;
double x1= x-1;
int i= 1;
double term= 0.0; // Define outside do {}
do {
term= Math.pow(x1, i)/i;
if (i % 2 == 0) // i even
logx -= term;
else
logx += term;
i++;
} while (Math.abs(term) > TOLERANCE);
System.out.println("Ln x= " + logx);
System.out.println("Found in " + i + " iterations"); } }