Question

The problem I’m trying to solve is composing a paragraph and when I say 1 my program says thumb on the second line of my song. When my program says 2 it should say shoe on my second line of my song. My program is not working as I planned and I’m not sure if I’m using the switch statement correctly inside the for loop or if the sequence of my program is wrong.

import acm.program.*;

public class SingChildSong extends ConsoleProgram {
    public void run() {
        for (int i = 1; i < 3; i++){
            println ("This old man, he played" + i);

            switch (i) {
                case 1: println("thumb"); break;
                case 2: println("shoe"); break;
                case 3: println("knee"); break;
            }

            println ("He played knick-knack on my"  + (i));
            println ("With a knick-knack, paddy-whack");
            println ("Give your dog a bone.");
            println ("This old man came rolling home.");

            println ( "" );
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

If I get it right you are intending to do:

...
for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++){
    System.out.println ("This old man, he played " + i);
    String word;

    switch (i) {
    case 1: word = "thumb"; break;
    case 2: word = "shoe"; break;
    case 3: word = "knee"; break;
    }

    System.out.println ("He played knick-knack on my "  + word);
    System.out.println ("With a knick-knack, paddy-whack");
    System.out.println ("Give your dog a bone.");
    System.out.println ("This old man came rolling home.");

    System.out.println ( "" );
 }
...

As you say Strings are not yet studied in your book, the correct answer, without Strings should be:

...
for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++){
    System.out.println ("This old man, he played " + i);

    switch (i) {
    case 1:
        System.out.println ("He played knick-knack on my thumb");
        break;
    case 2:
        System.out.println ("He played knick-knack on my shoe");
        break;
    case 3: 
        System.out.println ("He played knick-knack on my knee");
        break;
    }

    System.out.println ("With a knick-knack, paddy-whack");
    System.out.println ("Give your dog a bone.");
    System.out.println ("This old man came rolling home.");

    System.out.println ( "" );
 }
...