This is my first post here, but I’m not new to the site (call me a lurker).
Unfortunately this time I cannot seem to find an answer to my question without asking.
Anyway, to the point.
I am writing a small snakes and ladders (aka chutes and ladders) program in java for a data structures course. I had to write my own Linked List (LL) class, (I know that there is a java util that does it better, but I have to learn about the workings of the data structure) and that is not a problem. My LL is ‘semi-Double linked’ as I like to call it, since it links forward, but has another pointer field for other links, which is not necessarily used in every node.
What I want to know is if it is possible to link a node from a list to another list, which is of a different type.
Poor example:
(eg.) How would one link a node of type to a node of type ? Let us say we have a LL of 7 int values [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], and a LL of 7 Strings [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday]. We want to link the node containing 1 to the node containing Monday.
To be exact the problem I am having is as follows:
I have 100 nodes forward-linked, forming the game board, and a circularly linked list of 4 . I want to link the player nodes to their respective positions on the board, so that as they traverse the board, they can also follow the “snakes” and “ladders” links.
Thanks in advance!
My LLNode.java and LL.java are attached.
// LLNode.java
// node in a generic linked list class, with a link
public class LLNode<T>
{
public T info;
public LLNode<T> next, link;
public LLNode()
{
next = null;
link= null;
}
public LLNode(T element)
{
info = element;
next = null;
link = null;
}
public LLNode(T element, LLNode<T> n)
{
info = element;
next = n;
link = null;
}
public T getInfo()
{
return info;
}
public void setInfo(T element)
{
info = element;
}
public LLNode<T> getNext()
{
return next;
}
public void setNext(LLNode<T> newNext)
{
next = newNext;
}
public LLNode<T> getLink()
{
return link;
}
public void setLink(LLNode<T> newLink)
{
link = newLink;
}
}
// SLL.java
// a generic linked list class
public class LL<T>
{
private LLNode<T> head, tail;
public LLNode<T> current = head;
public LL()
{
head = tail = null;
}
public boolean isEmpty()
{
return head == tail;
}
public void setToNull()
{
head = tail = null;
}
public boolean isNull()
{
if(head == tail)
if(head == null || tail == null)
return true;
else
return false;
else
return false;
}
public void addToHead(T element)
{
head = new LLNode<T>(element, head);
if (tail == null)
tail = head;
}
public void addNodeToHead(LLNode<T> newNode)
{
head = newNode;
if (tail == null)
tail = head;
}
public void addToTail(T element)
{
if (!isNull())
{
tail.next= new LLNode<T>(element);
tail = tail.next;
}
else head = tail = new LLNode<T>(element);
}
public void addNodeToTail(LLNode<T> newNode)
{
if (!isNull())
{
tail.next= newNode;
tail = tail.next;
}
else head = tail = newNode;
}
public void addBefore(T element, T X)
{
if (!isEmpty()) // Case 1
{
LLNode<T> temp, n;
temp = head;
while( temp.next != null )
{
if( temp.next.info == X )
{
n = new LLNode<T>(element, temp.next);
temp.next = n;
return;
}
else
temp = temp.next;
}
}
else // Case 2
head = new LLNode<T>(element, head);
}
public void addBefore(T element, LLNode<T> X)
{
if (!isEmpty()) // Case 1
{
LLNode<T> temp, n;
temp = head;
while( temp.next != null )
{
if( temp.next == X )
{
n = new LLNode<T>(element, X);
temp.next = n;
return;
}
else
temp = temp.next;
}
}
else // Case 2
head = new LLNode<T>(element, head);
}
public T deleteFromHead()
{
if (isEmpty())
return null;
T element = head.info;
if (head == tail)
head = tail = null;
else head = head.next;
return element;
}
public T deleteFromTail()
{
if (isEmpty())
return null;
T element = tail.info;
if (head == tail)
head = tail = null;
else
{
LLNode<T> temp;
for (temp = head; temp.next != tail; temp = temp.next);
tail = temp;
tail.next = null;
}
return element;
}
public void delete(T element)
{
if (!isEmpty())
if (head == tail && (element.toString()).equals(head.info.toString()))
head = tail = null;
else if ((element.toString()).equals(head.info.toString()))
head = head.next;
else
{
LLNode<T> pred, temp;
for (pred = head, temp = head.next; temp != null && !((temp.info.toString()).equals(element.toString())); pred = pred.next, temp = temp.next);
if (temp != null)
pred.next = temp.next;
if (temp == tail)
tail = pred;
}
}
public void listAll()
{
if(isNull())
System.out.println("\tEmpty");
else
{
for ( LLNode<T> temp = head; temp!= tail.next; temp = temp.next)
System.out.println(temp.info);
}
}
public LLNode<T> isInList(T element)
{
LLNode<T> temp;
for ( temp = head; temp != null && !((temp.info.toString()).equals(element.toString())); temp = temp.next);
return temp ;
}
public LLNode<T> getHead()
{
return head;
}
public LLNode<T> getTail()
{
return tail;
}
public LLNode<T> getCurrent()
{
return current;
}
public void incrementCurrent()
{
current = current.next;
}
public void followCurrentLink()
{
current = current.link;
}
}
Any specific reason you want to generics for the specific problem domain of the node objects?
If you want to have this effect, another way to do it might be have an interface for node object (maybe call it ILinkNode), have the getInfo and setInfo overridden in two different node classes. Then the nodeLink can point to interface object without special type casting everywhere in the code.