Random Class

An instance of the Random can be used to generate a stream of

random values

Typical process:
1. Create a Random object
2. Use the object to get random values. Use one of:
nextInt() returns a random integer
nextInt(max) returns an integer random value in [0, … max )
nextDouble() returns a random value in [0.0, 1.0 )
nextBoolean() returns a random value from {true, false}

Note: need an import statement

import java.util.Random;

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 Random Class

Examples

1. Simulate a 3-way choice: rock/paper/scissors – use nextInt(3)

2. Simulate coin toss – use nextInt(2)
3. Simulate coin toss – use nextBoolean()
4. Simulate tossing a coin 100 times counting number of heads

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 Random class – Rock/paper/scissors

Example 1. code to display a random Rock-Paper-Scissors:

// three outcomes, all equally likely

Random rand = new Random();
// nextInt(3) produces a value from {0, 1, 2}
switch( rand.nextInt(3) ) {
case 0:
System.out.println("Rock");
break;
case 1:
System.out.println("Paper");
break;
case 2:
System.out.println("Scissors");
break;
}

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 Random class – toss a coin

Example 2. code to display a random coin toss:

// two-sided coin: heads/tails

Random rand = new Random();
// nextInt(2) produces values from {0, 1}
switch( rand.nextInt(2) ) {
case 0:
System.out.println("Heads");
break;
case 1:
System.out.println("Tails");
break;}

Tossing coins using Booleans  next slide

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 Random class – toss a coin using booleans

Example 3. code to display a random coin toss:

// two-sided coin: heads/tails

Random rand = new Random();
// nextBoolean() produces values from {true, false}
// cannot switch on booleans  use if-else
if( rand.nextBoolean() )
System.out.println("Heads");
else
System.out.println("Tails");

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 Random class

Example 4: Simulate tossing a coin 100 times (page 117 in text)

public class TossCoin

{
public static void main ( String [] args )
{
int heads = 0; // counter for heads
System.out.print("\ n100 tosses : ");
Random g = new Random () ;

for (int i=0; i<100; i++)

if( g.nextBoolean() ) heads ++;

System.out.println("\ nHeads : "+ heads

+"\ nTails : "+(100 - heads ) ) ;
}
}

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 Random Number Generators

ASIDE: What does a random number generator look like?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_congruential_generator

nextValue  (a * previousValue + c) mod m

Java: next  (25214903917*previous + 11) mod 231

uses 48-bit values at each iteration but returns
the 32 most significant bits

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 Character class

An instance of the Character class is not required

Character contains many useful utility methods

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 Character class

Examples

Notice in the code how the Character class methods are specified
when there is no object … this may seem odd, but …

1. Detecting letters, digits

2. Getting a numeric value of a character that is a digit

3. Checking a control number for validity

• Suppose all characters must be numeric
• Consider exercise 6 on page 125

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 Character class
Example 1
public class CharacterTypes

A line of text is examined, character-by-character, to determine the

character’s type where type is one of {letter, digit, other}

Character methods used:

isLetter(…) returns true if the character is a letter
isDigit(…) returns true if the character is a digit

No instance of Character is used which means the methods are called

using statements of the form
If ( Character.isDigit(c) ) System.out.println(…

Prefix Character. Is needed The argument passed to isDigit is the character c

to reference a static method
of the Character class The method to execute is isDigit
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 Character class
Example 1
public class CharacterTypes {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("Enter a line: ");
String line = kb.nextLine();
// characters are examined one-by-one
for (int i = 0; i < line.length(); i++){
char c = line.charAt(i);
if( Character.isLetter(c) )
System.out.println(i+"\t"+c+"\t\tletter");
else if( Character.isDigit(c) )
System.out.println(i+"\t"+c+"\t\tdigit");
else
System.out.println(i+"\t"+c+"\t\tother");
}
}
}
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 Character class
Example 2
public class SumNumericValues

A line of text is examined, character-by-character, and the sum of the

numeric characters is calculated

Character methods used:

getNumericValue(…) returns the int value the character represents
isDigit(…) returns true if the character is a digit

No instance of Character is used which means the methods are called

using statements of the form
sum += Character.getNumericValue(c) ;

The argument passed to getNumericValue is c

The Character class
The method to execute is getNumericValue
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 Character class
Example 2
public class SumNumericValues
{
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.print("\nEnter a line: ");
String line = kb.nextLine();
int sum = 0;
// characters are examined one-by-one
for (int i = 0; i < line.length(); i++){
char c = line.charAt(i);
if( Character.isDigit(c) ){
sum += Character.getNumericValue(c);
}
}
System.out.println("sum = \t"+sum);
}
}

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 Character class
Example 3
public class ValidateStudentNumber

A student number, stored as a character string, is examined character-

by-character to determine if all characters are digits.

Character methods used:

isDigit(…) returns true if the character is a digit

No instance of Character is used which means the methods are called using
statements of the form
If ( ! Character.isDigit(c) ) valid = false ;

The argument passed to isDigit is c

The Character class
The method to execute is isDigit

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 Character class
Example 3
public class ValidateStudentNumber
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter a number: ");
String number = kb.next();
// characters are examined one-by-one
boolean valid = true;
for (int i = 0; i < number.length(); i++){
char c = number.charAt(i);
if(! Character.isDigit(c) ) valid = false;
}
if (valid) System.out.println("Valid");
else System.out.println("Invalid");
}
}

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 Scanner class

The Scanner class is useful when you need to parse some stream that
is said to contain tokens.

For ACS-1903 we are concerned with tokens that comprise a

sequence of characters delimited by whitespace (space, tab, line feed
characters)

We can easily create a Scanner object that is associated with one of:
– System.in
– a string Streams containing tokens

– a file

Examples
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
Scanner s = new Scanner(s); //s is of type String
Scanner s = new Scanner(f); //f is of type File
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 Scanner class

Scanner methods

next() get next token

nextBoolean() get next …
nextInt() get next …
nextDouble() get next …
nextLine() get next …
hasNext() returns true if there is a token available
hasNextLine() returns true if …
hasNextBoolean() returns true if …
hasNextInt() returns true if …
hasNextDouble() returns true if …

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 Scanner class
Examples

1. Read a file named Readme.txt … this file is in every BlueJ project.

Three import statements
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException
Exceptions are a topic in ACS-1904.
There is a throws clause – something can go wrong when reading and writing
files – a topic in ACS-1904

2. Scanning a string for tokens.

One import statement
import java.util.Scanner;

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 Scanner class

Example 1
public class DisplayReadme

The file Readme.txt is read, line-by-line, until there are no lines left.

Scanner methods used:

f.hasNext() returns true if there is another token in the stream f
f.nextLine()returns the next line in f

A Scanner object is needed to provide a reference to the file and the current
location in the file. Consider the statement:
Scanner f = new Scanner( new File("Readme.txt"));

The Scanner object is f The file Readme.txt

Create a Scanner object for a file

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 Scanner class

Example 1

public class DisplayReadme

{
public static void main(String[] args)
throws FileNotFoundException
{
Scanner f = new Scanner(new File("Readme.txt"));
int i=1;
System.out.println("<<<< File Readme.txt >>>>");
while ( f.hasNext() ){
String line = f.nextLine();
System.out.println((i++)+" "+line);
}
System.out.println("<<<< end of listing >>>>");
}
}

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 Scanner class

Example 2
public class ScanString

A string with whitespace separating the tokens is parsed

– each token is displayed on a separate line.

Scanner methods used:

s.hasNext() returns true if there is another token in the stream s
s.next() returns the next token in s

A Scanner object is needed that provides a reference to the file and the current
location in the file. Consider the statement:
String token = s.next() ;

The next token is assigned The method next()

to a variable of type String
The Scanner object named s

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 Scanner class

Example 2

public class ScanString

{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
String sample = "one two \tthree";
Scanner s = new Scanner(sample);
System.out.println("<<<<"+sample+">>>>");
while (s.hasNext()){
String token = s.next();
System.out.println(token);
}
System.out.println("<<<< end of tokens >>>>");
}
}

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 Math class

Math class is a utility class

•You cannot create an instance of Math

•All references to constants and methods will use the prefix Math.

•Contains constants, π and e

Names of these are PI and E
Java convention is to name constants using capital letters.

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 Math class

Methods
pow(…) Raise the first argument to the power
specified in second argument
e.g. Math.pow(x,3)
abs(…) Returns absolute value of its argument
max(…) Returns the larger of two int or
double arguments
min(…) Returns smaller …

…
many more

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 Math class

Example

1. Find the largest of 3 int values

As there is no object note the use of the prefix Math.

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 Math class

Example 1
public class FindMax

The larger of 3 integers is determined. The max method is used twice.

Scanner methods used:

Math.max() returns the larger of two values passed in as arguments

Math is a utility class with static methods.

Consider the statement:
Math.max(j,k)

Two arguments, j and k, passed in to max

The method max

The Math class

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 Math class

Example 1

public class FindMax

{
public static void main(String[] args){
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println(
"Please enter 3 int values");
int i = kb.nextInt(); Note how Math.max(…) is used twice
int j = kb.nextInt();
int k = kb.nextInt();
int mx = Math.max(i, Math.max(j,k));
System.out.println("largest is "+mx);
}
}

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 Integer class

Integer class is a utility class

•Many methods are static

you do not need an object of type Integer.
The prefix Integer. is used for these.

•Contains constants, MAX_VALUE and MIN_VALUE

Again … Java convention is to name constants using capital letters.

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 Integer class

Methods

max(…) Returns the larger of two int arguments

min(…) Returns smaller …
parseInt(…) Parses the string argument expecting that
argument to be a valid decimal integer.
Correction to notes: E.g. parseInt(" 23 ")
no spaces
Should be: E.g. parseInt("23")

to ensure there are no leading or trailing spaces

in a string one can use the trim() method
String xx = ...
xx = xx.trim();

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 Integer class

Example

Read lines of text from System.in

Each line is parsed according to the expected format:
<name of an item><comma><quantity as integer>

Examples of such lines:

monitor,45
laptop,55

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 Integer class

Example
public class TotalQuantity

Integer methods used:

parseInt(…) returns the integer represented by a character string

Integer is a utility class with static methods.

Consider the statement:
int qty = Integer.parseInt(qtyAsString);

Int variable String containing an integer

The method parseInt

The Integer class

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 Integer class

If qtyAsString does not have a

Example 1 valid integer value the program
will terminate with an error
public class TotalQuantity
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner kb = new Scanner(System.in);
int totalQty = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++){
System.out.print("Enter next line: ");
String line = kb.nextLine();
int commaAt = line.indexOf(",");
String qtyAsString = ine.substring(commaAt+1);
int qty = Integer.parseInt(qtyAsString);
totalQty += qty;
}
System.out.println("total = "+totalQty);
}
} 32
 Wrapper classes

With similarity to the Integer class, there are classes for other types
… these types of classes are called wrapper classes.

These are called wrapper classes because you instantiate an object and
wrap a primitive value inside

Double
Boolean
Byte
Character
Float
Long
Short

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 Aside: Hierarchy of classes

A topic in ACS-1904 is class hierarchies. For example:

All classes are subclasses of Object

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