Question

I’m trying to implement a dictionary with a hash table (not using Java’s provided hash table classes, but rather made from scratch). Below is the find() method from my Dictionary class, used to detect whether or not a key is in the table when inserting/removing. If the key is already in the table, it returns a score associated with the key (elements in the table are inserted as pairs of key/score into LinkedLists in each table position). If not, it returns -1.

I am running a supplied test program to determine if my Dictionary class works, but I am encountering a NullPointerException when reaching a certain point. Included below is the particular test. Why would this exception be coming up? (I can provide more code if needed!)

Find:

public int find(String config) {
    for (int i = 0; i < dictSize; i++) {
        if (dict[i] != null) {
            LinkedList<DictEntry> current = dict[i];
            String currentConfig = current.peek().getConfig(); //Dictionary.java:66

            if (currentConfig.equals(config)) {
                int currentScore = current.peek().getScore();
                return currentScore;
            }
        }
    }

    return -1;
}

Insert:

public int insert(DictEntry pair) throws DictionaryException {
    String entryConfig = pair.getConfig();
    int found = find(entryConfig); //Dictionary.java:27

    if (found != -1) {
        throw new DictionaryException("Pair already in dictionary.");
    }

    int entryPosition = hash(entryConfig);

    if (dict[entryPosition] == null) { //Dictionary.java:35
        LinkedList<DictEntry> list = new LinkedList<DictEntry>();
        dict[entryPosition] = list;
        list.add(pair);
        return 0;
    } else {
        LinkedList<DictEntry> list = dict[entryPosition];
        list.addLast(pair);
        return 1;
    }
}

The test:

    // Test 7: insert 10000 different values into the Dictionary
        // NOTE: Dictionary is of size 9901
    try {
        for (int i = 0; i < 10000; ++i) {
            s = (new Integer(i)).toString();
            for (int j = 0; j < 5; ++j) s += s;
            collisions += dict.insert(new DictEntry(s,i)); //TestDict.java:69
        }
        System.out.println("   Test 7 succeeded");
    } catch (DictionaryException e) {
        System.out.println("***Test 7 failed");
    }

Exception stack trace:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
    at Dictionary.find(Dictionary.java:66)
    at Dictionary.insert(Dictionary.java:27)
    at TestDict.main(TestDict.java:69)

Answer 1

peek() returns null that’s why. You can have a nullity check prior to getConfig() call.