How do I define an integer constant in binary format?

By I Wayan Saryada in Basic, Core API 0 Comment

The JDK 7 add a small feature to work with a binary number. In the previous JDK we have to use the Integer.parseInt() method if we need to work with other base number. But with this new feature introduced in the Project Coin we can simplify the code when we work with the binary number.

To specify a binary literal in the code, add the prefix 0b or 0B to the number. The following code snippet show you how to write the binary literals:

package org.kodejava.basic;

public class BinaryLiteralExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // In JDK 6 and the previous version you must use the
        // Integer.parseInt() method to define a number using
        // a binary literal.
        int x = Integer.parseInt("00101010", 2);
        System.out.println("x = " + x);

        // In the new JDK 7 you can simply use the following
        // binary literal to define a number using a binary
        // literal.
        int y = 0b00101010;
        System.out.println("y = " + y);
    }
}

The result of our code snippet:

x = 42
y = 42

How do I pick a random value from an enum?

By I Wayan Saryada in Basic, Core API 6 Comments

The following code snippet will show you how to pick a random value from an enum. First we’ll create an enum called BaseColor which will have three valid value. These values are Red, Green and Blue.

To allow us to get random value of this BaseColor enum we define a getRandomColor() method in the enum. This method use the java.util.Random to create a random value. This random value then will be used to pick a random value from the enum.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.basic;

import java.util.Random;

public class EnumGetRandomValueExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Pick a random BaseColor for 10 times.
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            System.out.printf("color[%d] = %s%n", i,
                    BaseColor.getRandomColor());
        }
    }

    /**
     * BaseColor enum.
     */
    private enum BaseColor {
        Red,
        Green,
        Blue;

        /**
         * Pick a random value of the BaseColor enum.
         *
         * @return a random BaseColor.
         */
        public static BaseColor getRandomColor() {
            Random random = new Random();
            return values()[random.nextInt(values().length)];
        }
    }
}

The output of the code snippet:

color[0] = Green
color[1] = Green
color[2] = Blue
color[3] = Red
color[4] = Blue
color[5] = Blue
color[6] = Blue
color[7] = Blue
color[8] = Green
color[9] = Blue

How do I use the diamond syntax?

By I Wayan Saryada in Basic, Core API 0 Comment

In Java 7 a new feature called diamond syntax or diamond operator was introduced. This diamond syntax <> simplify how we instantiate generic type variables. In the previous version of Java when declaring and instantiating generic types we’ll do it like the snippet below:

List<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
Map<String, List<Integer>> map = new HashMap<String, List<Integer>>();

As you can see in the snippet, we were repeating our self by defining the generic type two times. We define the object type we’ll be stored in the List and the Map on both left and the right side. By using the diamond syntax the compiler will infer the type of the right side expression argument automatically. So in Java 7 we can write the above code snippet like this:

List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
Map<String, List<Integer>> map = new HashMap<>();

This make our code simpler and more readable, and by using the diamond syntax the compiler will ensure that we have the generic type-safe checking available in our code. This will make any error due to type incompatibility captured at compile time.

How do I copy a file in JDK 7?

By I Wayan Saryada in Core API, IO 0 Comment

In this example you’ll see how to copy a file using the new API provided in the JDK 7. The first step is to define the source and the target of the file to be copied. For this we can use the Path class. To create an instance of Path we use the Paths.get() method by passing the path information as the arguments.

Next we can configure the file copy operation option. For this we can define it as an array of CopyOtion. We can use copy option such as StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING and StandardCopyOption.COPY_ATTRIBUTES.

Finally, to copy the file we use the Files.copy() method. We give three arguments to this method, they are the source file, the target file and the copy options information.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.io;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class NioFileCopyDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Define the source and target of the file to be copied.
        Path source = Paths.get("D:/resources/data.txt");
        Path target = Paths.get("D:/resources/data.bak");

        // Define the options used in the file copy process.
        CopyOption[] options = new CopyOption[]{
                StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING,
                StandardCopyOption.COPY_ATTRIBUTES
        };

        try {
            // Copy file from source to target using the defined 
            // configuration.
            Files.copy(source, target, options);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

How do I validate input when using Scanner?

By I Wayan Saryada in Core API, Util Package 13 Comments

This example show you how to validate input when using java.util.Scanner. To validate input the Scanner class provides some hasNextXXX() method that can be use to validate input. For example if we want to check whether the input is a valid integer we can use the hasNextInt() method.

In the code snippet below will demonstrate how to validate whether the user provide a positive integer number. The program will repeat until the correct input is supplied.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ScannerValidateInput {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScannerValidateInput demo = new ScannerValidateInput();
        demo.validatePositiveNumber();
    }

    private void validatePositiveNumber() {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

        int number;
        do {
            System.out.print("Please enter a positive number: ");
            while (!scanner.hasNextInt()) {
                String input = scanner.next();
                System.out.printf("\"%s\" is not a valid number.%n", input);
            }
            number = scanner.nextInt();
        } while (number < 0);

        System.out.printf("You have entered a positive number %d.%n", number);
    }
}

The output produce by the snippet:

Please enter a positive number: qwerty
"qwerty" is not a valid number.
@@@
"@@@" is not a valid number.
-100
Please enter a positive number: 99
You have entered a positive number 99.

Another example is to validate if user correctly input letters to guest a secret word. In the code snippet below if the user does not enter a letter the code will keep asking for a valid letter. It loops until the length of the inputted letters equals to the length of secret word.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class ScannerValidateLetter {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScannerValidateLetter demo = new ScannerValidateLetter();
        demo.validateLetter();
    }

    private void validateLetter() {
        String secretWord = "Hello";
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);

        int length = 0;
        StringBuilder guess = new StringBuilder();
        do {
            System.out.print("Enter a letter to guess: ");
            char letter = scanner.next().charAt(0);
            if (Character.isLetter(letter)) {
                guess.append(letter);
                length++;
            }
        } while (length < secretWord.length());

        if (secretWord.equalsIgnoreCase(guess.toString())) {
            System.out.println("You are correct!");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Please try again!");
        }
    }
}

Enter a letter to guess: 1
Enter a letter to guess: 2
Enter a letter to guess: H
Enter a letter to guess: e
Enter a letter to guess: l
Enter a letter to guess: l
Enter a letter to guess: o
You are correct!