Objective

• Gain experience using classes and methods as a precursor to developing our own classes and methods.

Means

• Conduct a series of experiments using the String class..

Task 1 -- Make use of what is out there

• One of the great resources for the Java program language is the website java.sun.com. Part of this website is documentation for the standard Java classes.
• A good starting point for that documentation is java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/search.html. This page allows you to search for information on particular classes.
• Go to the Java documentation search page and lookup the class String. Using the resulting String documentation to record the purpose of the String method charAt().
• Another great resource at java.sun.com is its tutorials. The starting point for tutorials is java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial. In particular, you might the find its tutorial Learning the Java Language helpful.

Task 2 -- String familiarity

• Download the file StringFun.java to your home directory. If you do not remember the process, you can review the instructions here. Use that file to enter the code segments of interest in this lab task. Open the file using the JCreator Java programming IDE. What values do String variables a, b, and c initially represent? Record your answer. Discuss your answer with your partner.
• Add the following statements to method main().
  • System.out.println("a = " + a);
  • System.out.println("b = " + b);
  • System.out.println("c = " + c);
• Run the revised program to determine the actual values of the variables. If the program output is different from your answer, figure out with your partner why.
• The class String  provides two instance methods named substring() for determining whether one string is a substring of a given string. They have the following descriptions.
  • String substring(int m)
    • Returns a substring of the given string equal to the characters found at locations m through n-1, where n is the length of the string If m is non-sensible then an exception is thrown. In this case, no string is returned..
  • String substring(int m, int n)
    • Returns a substring of the given string equal to the characters found at locations m through n-1. If  one or both of m or n is non-sensible then an exception is thrown. In this case, no string is returned.
  • Write down what you expect the output of the following code segment to be. Discuss your answers with your lab partner.
    • String s = "perseverance";
    • System.out.println( s.substring(4,6) );
    • System.out.println( s.substring(0,5) );
    • System.out.println( s.substring(4) );
    • System.out.println( s.substring(8, 3) );
  • Enter the statements into StringFun.java. Run the revised program to see whether your answers agree with the actual output. If they differ, figure out why and discuss your results with your partner.
  • Java overloads the + operator to perform different tasks depending upon the types of its operands. It performs concatenation when at least one operand is a string. Otherwise, it performs arithmetic. For example,
    • 5 + 3 produces the number 8
    • 5 + "3" produces the string "53"
    • "5" + 3 produces the string "53"
    • 5 + '3' produces the number corresponding to the character '8'
    • "5" + '3' produces the string "53"
  • Write down what you expect the output of the following code segment to be. Discuss your answers with your lab partner.
    • System.out.println( 1 + 2 + " buckle my shoe" );
    • System.out.println( "buckle my shoe" + 1 + 2 );
    • System.out.println( "one-" + "two"+ " buckle my shoe" );
    • System.out.println( "" + 1 + 2 + " buckle my shoe" );
    • System.out.println( '1' + 2 + " buckle my shoe" );
  • Enter the statements into StringFun.java. Run the revised program to see whether your answers agree with the actual output. If they differ, figure out why and discuss your results with your partner.
  • Use the Java online documentation to gain familiarity with method indexOf(). After examining the documentation write down what you expect the output of the following code segment to be. Discuss your answers with your lab partner.
    • String t = "deadheaded";
    • System.out.println( t.indexOf("ead") );
    • System.out.println( t.indexOf("dh", 2) );
    • System.out.println( t.indexOf("d", 5) );
    • System.out.println( t.indexOf("d", 10) );
  • Enter the statements into StringFun.java. Run the revised program to see whether your answers agree with the actual output. If they differ, figure out why and discuss your results with your partner or with a lab assistant. Show the completed program to a lab assistant and submit it.

  Task 3 -- A simple String program

  • Download the file PhoneNumberFun.java. Examine the comments of the program to see a possible problem-solving solution. The purpose of this program is to prompt a user for a telephone number of the form ddd–ddd–dddd, where d is a digit. The program then displays the phone number in the following format: (ddd) ddd–dddd.
  • Complete the program.
  • Show the completed program to a lab assistant and submit it.