Need help with program

Ok im writing a program in java thats suppose to Use a while loop, to print the lower case alphabeth and its corresponding ascii values
of the upper case alphabeth from Z to A

So far i came up with

int counter = 97;
int counter2;

while ( counter < 123)
{
counter2 = counter - 32;
System.out.print((char) counter + counter2);
counter++;

if (counter > 123)
break;

}

but im at a stand still dont know what to do next any suggestions???

Hi Gregg Smith-Jones,

Welcome to CodeRanch!

First things first : Please UseCodeTags.

Secondly, I'm not getting what exactly you are asking. Did you run the program? What was the output? If it's not what you were expecting, what were the differences (between expected output and actual output)?

Welcome to the Ranch.

This is probably not printing what you've expected, and that's because of this line:

What happens here is that you convert counter to a char and then you add counter2, which is an int, to it. The result will be an int. (Note that this is NOT string concatenation - you are adding numbers!).

For example, if counter is 97, then counter2 will be 97 - 32 = 65. Then you add them: 97 + 65 = 162. That's the number that's printed. In the next iteration it prints 164, then 166, etc. up to 212.

If you want to have the character and then the number printed, you'll have to fix that line of code.

In addition to the previous reply, this line of code:

is completely useless, since you'r while-loop will always stop when counter is not smaller than 123. So this looks somewhat redundant to me.

Gregg, please KeepItDown, also in subject lines. Also, UseAMeaningfulSubjectLine.

What you have forgotten is that a char is not a letter or similar; it is a number. You can do arithmetic using + - < > ++ etc directly on the char/.

the lines

while ( counter < 123)
and
if (counter > 123)

make my brain hurt. Why are you using 123? This is what's called a "magic number". It appears out of nowhere, has no inherent meaning, and in six weeks when you come back to this code, you'll be asking yourself "Why the heck did I use 123 here? Why not 124? Why not 87? Why not 1,237,310?"

Magic numbers are a BAD practice. At the VERY least, you should declare a variable with a meaningful name, and use it instead. Something like

fred rosenberger wrote:the lines

while ( counter < 123)
and
if (counter > 123)

make my brain hurt. Why are you using 123? This is what's called a "magic number". It appears out of nowhere, has no inherent meaning, and in six weeks when you come back to this code, you'll be asking yourself "Why the heck did I use 123 here? Why not 124? Why not 87? Why not 1,237,310?"

Magic numbers are a BAD practice. At the VERY least, you should declare a variable with a meaningful name, and use it instead. Something like

int daysInWeek = 7; while (currentDay < daysInWeek) { ...etc }

Well, if I'm looking at his code, coding conventions isn't the first thing he should be worried about ;)

Jim Pouwels wrote:

fred rosenberger wrote:the lines

while ( counter < 123)
and
if (counter > 123)

make my brain hurt. Why are you using 123? This is what's called a "magic number". It appears out of nowhere, has no inherent meaning, and in six weeks when you come back to this code, you'll be asking yourself "Why the heck did I use 123 here? Why not 124? Why not 87? Why not 1,237,310?"

Magic numbers are a BAD practice. At the VERY least, you should declare a variable with a meaningful name, and use it instead. Something like

int daysInWeek = 7; while (currentDay < daysInWeek) { ...etc }

Well, if I'm looking at his code, coding conventions isn't the first thing he should be worried about ;)

on my computer courses, where were taught about magic numbers on day 1, you can never start in good habits too soon

Can't argue with that! Cheers!

Wendy’s right. Another coding convention is indenting; I would have added code tags if the post had been indented, but it’s pointless without indentation.

OP: Please always indent your code.