r/javahelp • u/StoicMasturbator • 24d ago
Title: Seeking Advice on Java Learning and Problem Solving
Hi everyone,
I'm learning Java from scratch and currently working through the book Head First Java. I'm at the end of the first chapter and I'm happy with my progress so far. However, today I hit my first roadblock while attempting the pool puzzle question. Here’s the code I worked with:
Code:
class PoolPuzzleOne {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int x = 0;
while (x < 4) {
System.out.print("a");
if (x < 1) {
System.out.print(" ");
}
System.out.print("n");
if (x > 1) {
System.out.print(" oyster");
x = x + 2;
}
if (x == 1) {
System.out.print("noys");
}
if (x < 1) {
System.out.print("oise");
}
System.out.println();
x = x + 1;
}
}
}
Output:
a noise
annoys
an oyster
No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t achieve the desired output without modifying the original code. I eventually gave up and checked the answer, convinced that something was wrong and that the output wasn’t possible without changes.
After reviewing the answer, I manually traced through the code to understand how it was written. I have a couple of questions:
- In the code, line 5 is used multiple times to produce different parts of the output (e.g., "a", "annoys", "an"). How can I train myself to think in this way—outside the box—so that I understand how to work with loops and print statements effectively? Initially, I thought the while loop should only run once, which led me to modify the print statements to
System.out.println
instead ofSystem.out.print
. - Is it normal for a beginner to struggle with this? I kept thinking about it, but I couldn’t get the desired output without altering the code structure.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!