Variables / Travel Planner (Java)

I am continuing on my Java adventure and taking a brief look at variables within Java before tackling my first Java assignment (creating a planning assistant).

Declaring Variables

Variables in Java must be defined by their type:

int for integer (whole numbers) e.g. -5, 5, 100000, 0

double for decimal numbers (float numbers) e.g. 3.14, -3.78, 0.99, 1222453.7

Boolean for true or false conditions.

string for strings of characters e.g. this is a string and it can contain characters like ? and =

char for a single character e.g. a

Strings are contained within speech marks “like this” where as a char is contained in a speech mark like this character ‘a’.

Note: That “a” is a string (containing a single character) and ‘a’ is a character. Strings can contain single or multiple characters but characters (in the char sense) are singular.

Before a variable is used in Java it must be declared using its type and then naming it. For example:

String aString;

int aNumber;

char aCharacter;

Once a variable has been declared it can be used. For example:

aString = “This text is in the variable”;

aNumber = 45;

aCharacter = ‘r’;

Mismatch Exception / Error

A mismatch exception / error occurs when a declared variable contains an unexpected type e.g. putting a character into an integer variable.

Casting

A variable can be recast into a different declaration/type by using casting. For example:

double pi = 3.14;

int rounded_pi = (int) pi;

Printing pi would give 3.14 but printing rounded_pi would give 3 as the above tells Java to cast the double into an integer (whole) number.

User Input

Java can use a utility called java.util.Scanner to receive user input. To import this utility an import line should be added before the public class is defined.

Once imported a Scanner needs to be defined for use.

The scanner is used in conjunction with a declared variable to received input, so be careful of what the variable is declared as (e.g. a int variable will throw an mismatch error if it receives a char).

In the above example I have defined a string variable called name and a string variable called location. I have then said that the input will be a string typed in and ended with the return/enter key.

Instead of .nextLine() I could have used:

• .nextInt() if an integer was being inputted
• .nextDouble() if a double number was being inputted
• .next() if a string with no spaces was being inputted

Planning Assistant

My first Java assignment is to create a planning assistant that asks the user questions and uses the user input to perform tasks.

The full Java for this can be viewed at: https://github.com/geektechdude/Java_stuff/blob/master/trip_planner.java