Question

Hi i am doing my coursework and i have been given the task is to make an algorithm for a square that’s 5×5 using “*” but has to be filled in with “.” so like this:

*****
*...*
*...*
*...*
*****

I have used this code I know its probably very messy because im an absolute beginner to this stuff. I cant seem to get the “.” in i currently have:

*****
*****
*****
*****
*****

here is my code:

public static void main( String args[] )
{
    System.out.print ("#size of square");
    int stars=BIO.getInt();
    int j=1;
    while(j <= stars)
    {
        int starsNumber=1;
        while (starsNumber<= stars)
        {
            int i = 1;                        // Display trunk
            starsNumber=starsNumber+1;
            System.out.print('*');
        }
        System.out.println();

        j= j +1;
    }
}

p.s sorry for been so bad at coding 😀 and any help would be much appreciated thanks Gareth

Answer 1

Have you gotten the program to print an 5×5 square full of asterisks working?

I’d strongly recommend getting that working first. After that, you just need a minor modification to print the dots in between.

For that, instead of always printing an asterisk, you’ll need a conditional.

Pseudocode:

if(I'm currently on the edge)
  Print an asterisk
else
  Print a dot

I’ll leave it to you to figure out how to translate this into real code. Good luck!

Edit, hints on how to determine if you’re currently on the edge:

1. You are keeping track of the current row and current column (in order
   to print a square exactly 5×5 characters).
2. The edge consists of the first and last row, and the first and last column.
3. Given hint 1 and hint 2, can you now determine when you are on the edge and when you’re not? You’ll need to do variable comparison, so read your textbook if you’re not familiar with how to compare variables.

Hope that helps. There’s really not much more I can say without giving away the exact answer.

Finally, think about your solution before coding it. Immediately jumping into coding can be a roadblock, especially when you’re a beginner and not too familiar with the language so you get bogged down in the language syntax. Mentally put together the flow of your program, draw pictures, and maybe write pseudocode before you write the actual code. I find that doing this helps me write code easier and reduces the number of bugs that come up.