Help with alternating colors correctly on chess board

[James Tim]

Hi, I've been having difficulty alternating colors properly for the chess board I'm constructing. Although I think I'm close, as the output shows, I'm not sure whether it's a structural problem. I am new to game dev.

import java.awt.Point;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.MenuBar;
import java.awt.Button;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLayeredPane;

public class Board extends Chess{
	static JFrame chessBoard = new JFrame();
	static Container c = new Container();
	static GridLayout gl = new GridLayout(8,8);
	static int[]rows = new int[gl.getRows()];
	static int[] columns = new int[gl.getColumns()];
	public static void Board(){
	gl.setColumns(8);
	gl.setRows(8);
	chessBoard.setLayout(gl);
	chessBoard.setSize(700,700);
	chessBoard.setVisible(true);
	chessBoard.setDefaultCloseOperation(chessBoard.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
	chessBoard.setResizable(false);
}
public static void createBoard(){
	for(int i=0;i<64;i++){
		JPanel x= new JPanel();
		chessBoard.add(x);
		for(int a = 0;a<8;a++){
			for (int b=0;b<8;b++){
				if((a+b)%2==0){
					if((i/8)%2==0){
						if(i%2==0)
					x.setBackground(Color.white); 
					}
				}
				else
			x.setBackground(Color.black);}
		}
	}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
	Board.Board();
	Board.createBoard();
		}
		}

[fred rosenberger]

if((i/8)%2==0)
{  
  if(i%2==0)
  {  
    x.setBackground(Color.white);   
  }
}

I am not a game coder...but this looks a little redundant. Is there any way both of these can be different? don't both or neither have to be true?

in any case...tell me, in ENGLISH, how you determine the color of a square. It seems like you are writing code without necessarily knowing what you are trying to do...a common mistake that many people make.

You generally want to spend 90% of your time thinking about how to write your code, and 10% actually writing it. That means you need to do a lot of writing, erasing, revising, editing, and changing your code. If you can't tell me what you are trying to do, in English, you shouldn't be writing code yet.

[Mich Robinson]

This is probably too late but I think you just need:

   if( a%2 == b%2 ) {
            x.setBackground(Color.black);
   } else {
            x.setBackground(Color.white);   
   }  

or even:

   x.setBackground( a%2 == b%2 ? Color.black : Color.white ); 

I'll point out that chess is quite a difficult to program. Even working out which moves are legal is quite difficult. If it's your 1st game program then I'd suggest doing naughts and crosses first, then othello or connect 4 before approaching something as difficult as chess.

Mike

PS remember to put a white square in the bottom right of the board.