Question

I’m new to Java, I’ve been learning for about a month. One of the projects in class is to write a program where you bet on “horse” “races.” Here’s the code:

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Random;
public class horsies {
    public static void main (String[] args) 
    {
        Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        int money = 1000; //Set original $ to 1000
        int r; //Declare variable for random number of horse to proceed
        int races = 0; //Set total races to 0
        int garfwins = 0; //Set Garfield's score to 0
        int shaunwins = 0; //Set Shaun's score to 0
        int chestwins = 0; //Set Chester's score to 0
        int garf; //Declare Garfield's progress variable
        int shaun; //Declare Shaun's progress variable
        int chest; //Declare Chester's progress variable
        String response; //Declare variable to get input on continuing game
        String horse; //Declare variable to get input on horse
        String track = "------------";
        String trackgarf;
        String trackshaun;
        String trackchest;
        int bet = 0;
        do {
            garf = 0;
            shaun = 0;
            chest = 0;
            System.out.print ("You have $"+money+"\n");
            System.out.print ("Hi, which horse would you like to bet on?\n");
            System.out.print ("a. Garfield ("+garfwins+"/"+races+")\n");
            System.out.print ("b. Shaun ("+shaunwins+"/"+races+")\n");
            System.out.print ("c. Chester ("+chestwins+"/"+races+")\n");        
            horse = input.next();
            System.out.print ("How much do you want to bet?\n");
            bet = input.nextInt();
            if (bet <= 0) {
                System.out.print ("Invalid bet.\n");
            }
            else {
                while (garf<12 && shaun<12 && chest<12){
                    r = (int) (Math.random()*3+1);
                    if (r == 1) {
                        garf++;
                    } else if (r == 2) {
                        shaun++;
                    } else if (r == 3) {
                        chest++;
                    }
                    System.out.print ("\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n");
                    trackgarf = track.substring(0, garf)+"1"; //Get Garf's progress on track
                    trackshaun = track.substring(0, shaun)+"1"; //Get Shaun's progress on track
                    trackchest = track.substring(0, chest)+"1"; //Get Chester's progress on track
                    System.out.print (trackgarf+"\n");
                    System.out.print (trackshaun+"\n");
                    System.out.print (trackchest+"\n");
                    System.out.print ("GAR:"+garf+"\nSHA:"+shaun+"\nCHE:"+chest+"\n");
                    try {
                          Thread.sleep(1000L);
                            }
                        catch (Exception j) {}
                }
            }
            if (garf == 12 && horse == "a") {
                System.out.print ("You earned $"+(2*bet));
                money = money + (2 * bet);
                System.out.print ("Total balance: $"+money);
            } else if (shaun == 12 && horse == "b") {
                System.out.print ("You earned $"+(2*bet));
                money = money + (2 * bet);
                System.out.print ("Total balance: $"+money);
            } else if (chest == 12 && horse == "c") {
                System.out.print ("You earned $"+(2*bet));
                money = money + (2 * bet);
                System.out.print ("Total balance: $"+money);
            }
            System.out.print ("Play again?\n");
            response = input.next();

        } while (money >= 0 && (response.equals("Yes")||response.equals("yes")));
        input.close();
        }
}

The program seems to work well, except for the fact that the money value seems to remain stuck at 1000. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

The problem you have that all of your conditions return false and you do not have any else clause.

The reason why they are false is that you perfrom invalid compare over String type.

so instead having

horse == "a", you should have "a".equals(horse).

Or you can switch to primitive type char then horse == 'a' will be correct.

In Java operator == compare the reference for Object type and value for primitive.

So every ware you are using Object types you should keep in mind to use equals method instead of ==