Head First Java Beginnner's Question

[Dan Reimer]

I tried coding the DrumKit problem on page 43 into two files. DrumKit.java and DrumKitTestDrive.java. Is this the way that you can get this problem to run? I tried compiling both of them and I get an "error: cannot read: DrumKit.java" error. How do you set up muliple classes and get them to run?

[ January 12, 2006: Message edited by: Dan Reimer ]

[Curtis Brown]

I think that you may need to compile them at the same time, or perhaps do DrumKit.java first so that the Test-Drive knows it's a valid class....

What error(s) are you getting? (the cannot read error is new to me... was the file closed, or perhaps you had it open still for editing???)
[ January 12, 2006: Message edited by: Curtis Brown ]

[Curtis Brown]

I just re-did this excersise (deleted the .class files) and was able to get the files to compile simply by typing:

javac DrumKit*.java

Here are the two files: DrumKit.java:

class DrumKit {
        boolean topHat = true;
        boolean snare = true;
        void playSnare() {
                System.out.println("bang bang ba-bang");
        }
        void playTopHat() {
                System.out.println("ding ding da-ding");
        }
}

And DrumKitTestDrive.java:

class DrumKitTestDrive {
        public static void main(String[] args) {
                DrumKit d = new DrumKit();
                if (d.snare == true) {
                        d.playSnare();
                }
                d.snare = false;
                d.playTopHat();
        }
}

[Dan Reimer]

I guess my question is: am I doing this the right way. I have created two classes. The first one is titled DrumKit.java and contains the following code:

class DrumKit {

boolean snare = true;
boolean topHat = true;

void playSnare() {
System.out.println("bang bang ba-bang");
}

void playTopHat() {
System.out.println("ding ding da-ding");
}
}

The second file is called DrumKitTestDrive.java and contains the following code:

class DrumKitTestDrive {

public static void main (String [] args) {

DrumKit d = new DrumKit();
d.playSnare();
d.snare = false;
d.playTopHat();

if (d.snare == true) {
d.playSnare();

}
}
}

I try to type javac DrumKit.java at the command prompt and I get the following error:

error: cannot read: DrumKit.java
1 error

The problem is found on page 43 of Head First Java and I was just trying to put it all together and run it to teach myself how you can run mulitple classes.

[Dan Reimer]

Major brain fart, but I guess that is to be expected with a second day user of java. Forgot to cd my command prompt to the location of my java files. At least I won't forget what that error message refers to. Thanks for your help and sorry for wasting your time.
Dan

[Curtis Brown]

Hey, don't fret over it! Glad you got it workin'!