Hand evaluator

[Charles Angemeyer]

This **is** for homework. The code below, that I modified, does the first part of the job and gives me two hands for 5 card poker.
Column 1 is Hand 1 and column 2 is hand two.
How can I evaluate it now and determine whether the hand holds a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, etc?
The professor suggested an array to handle it but I know that we are not supposed to pre-suppose the solution with questions like this.
Any help that you can give me would be most appreciated. Thank you.

package mydeckofcards;
public class DeckOfCardsTest
{
   // execute application
   public static void main( String args[] )
   {
      DeckOfCards myDeckOfCards = new DeckOfCards();
      myDeckOfCards.shuffle(); // place Cards in random order
      
      //print heading to output
      System.out.println("Hand 1\t\t\tHand 2");
      
      Card[] hand1 = new Card [5];
      Card[] hand2 = new Card[5];
      for(int j=0; j<=4; j++){
    	  hand1[j] = myDeckOfCards.dealCard();
    	  hand2[j] = myDeckOfCards.dealCard();
      }
      
      // for loop to deal cards
      for ( int i = 0; i <= 4; i++ )  
      {
      //System.out.printf( "%-19s", myDeckOfCards.dealCard() );
    	  System.out.print(hand1[i] + "\t\t" + hand2[i]);
    	  System.out.println();
    	  //end for loop
      } 
   } // end main
} // end class DeckOfCardsTest

[fred rosenberger]

the first thing you do is....

turn of your computer. Get some paper, some pencils, and some erasers. Start writing down directions as if you were explaining to a child how to evaluate a poker hand. then, revise them. Then revise them again.

I would plan on having several methods. For example, have a method that figures out if you have a flush. Have a method that figures out if you have a straight. Note that these two methods are 100% independent of each other. Once you have those done, then to determine if you have a straight flush, you call both methods and see if they are both true.

In any case, do not write a single line of code until you have steps in clear, plain English, written out on your paper.