Question

hi i would like to draw a square with * as an outline and dot in the middle with size range 4 -20.

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

i’m having a trouble to make the height equal with the length.
this is my code, could you please help.. thanks

class Main
{
  public static void printSquare( int size )
  {
    if ( size >= 20 && size >= 4) 
    { size = 4; }

    int squareLenght = size;
    int i = 1; 
    int p = 1;

    if ( p <= size )
    {
       int t = 1;

       while ( t <= squareLenght  )
       {
        System.out.print( "*" );
        t = t + 1;
       }
    }
       System.out.println();           //  Newline
       i = i + 1;


    while ( i <= squareLenght )
    {

       int d = 1; 
       int s = 1;


       if ( s < squareLenght  );{
       System.out.print( "*" ); 
       s = s + 1;
       }

       while ( d < size-1  )
       {
        System.out.print( "." );
        d = d + 1;

       }


       System.out.println( "*" );
        i = i + 1;


    }

    if ( p <= size )
    {
       int t = 1;

       while ( t <= squareLenght  )
       {
        System.out.print( "*" );
        t = t + 1;
       }
    }

    System.out.println();           
       i = i + 1;

}
}

Answer 1

You’re printing 1 too many lines in the body (in between the borders) because of this line:

while ( i <= squareLenght )

It should be while ( i < squareLenght) OR while ( i <= squareLenght - 1 ) since there should be 2 borders and size - 2 rows in the middle that make up the height.

Also, this doesn’t make any sense:

if ( size >= 20 && size >= 4) 
{ size = 4; }

Perhaps for the range you want:

if (size > 20) size = 20;
else if (size < 4) size = 4;

Anyway your code’s a bit of a mess with unnecessary if statements and just the whole structure of things. for loops would also be a good idea where you have while loops with an initialization, a condition and a modifier/increment. I’m not going to change it for you because it sounds like homework.

Anyway if you wanted to neaten it up, think about the actual structure and pattern of what you’re doing, because it’s fairly simple:

• Print size amount of asterisks ('*') and a new line (top border)
• Loop size - 2 times: (if size is 5, there are 3 lines in between the borders, ie. size - 2)
  • Print '*'
  • Print '.' size - 2 times
  • Print '*'
  • Print a new line
• Print size amount of asterisks ('*') and a new line (bottom border)

EDIT: I know you’ve already marked the question as answered, but just wanted to suggest you have a function like printRepeatedly(char c, int count) to reduce the amount of loops that you’re repeating (it’ll just be a for loop and a print statement).

I just rewrote your code and I only required 11 lines of code in printSquare, plus the 2 in printRepeatedly). If you’re going to repeat code you should nearly always use functions/methods instead.