Questions regarding class

[scracker]

Here is a problem that I found in a book:

Assume that a class C has one instance variable: a 1-dimensional array named list that can hold objects
of class T. Assume class T includes an equals method that returns true if a pair of variables refer to the
same object, and false otherwise. Write an instance method called allSame that returns true if all the
objects in list refer to the same object and false otherwise. You should assume that the array is not
null, but items in it may be.

Here's my code

public class T {

public boolean equals(T x) {
return this == x;
}
}

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

public class C {

private T[] list;

public C(int size) {
T[]list = new T[size];
}

public boolean allSame() {
boolean same = false;
for (int i = 1; i < list.length && list[i] != null; i++) {
same = list[i].equals(list[i-1]);
}
return same;
}

public void assign(T x, int n) {
list[n] = x;
}

public T get(int n) {
return list[n];
}

}

My question is: how can I assign values of type T to the array.of type C? I keep having these errors:

> T x= new T();

> C var = new C(22)

> var.get(5).assign(5)

Error: No 'assign' method in 'T'
> var.get(5).assign(x,5)

Error: No 'assign' method in 'T'
> var.assign(x,5)

java.lang.NullPointerException:
at C.assign(C.java:18)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

[scracker]

Anyone want to answer my question?

[sjalle]

A statement like:

var.get(5).assign(5); assumes that the get(5) retrieves a not null object (class T) that has a method called assign(TObject, int). But that is the method of your C class, not th T class.

Also, your equals and allSame methods shoud be coded like:

  public boolean equals(Object x) { // compares on address
    return this == x;
  }
-----
// if same address then same address in hashset
//  this logic also imples that nulls are not considered when comparing elements 
public boolean allSame() {
    HashSet hs=new HashSet();
    for (int i=1; i<list.length; i++) {
      if (list[i] != null) hs.add(list[i]);
    }
    return hs.size()==1;
  }

[scracker]

Hi. Thanks for replying

What is Hashset, anyway?

[sjalle]

A HashSet is a collection of objects. When u add an object to the HashSet then that object's equals() -method is used for comparing the new object w. the ones already there. If there already is an object in the set that equals() the new one then that object is replaced by the new one.
So, when the equals method is comparing the objects addresses, then you know that if you add, say, 100 elements to the HashSet and the HashSet still has a size() of 1, that all the added elements are the same element.

You should look into java's Collection class and its descendants. By implementing these you can often reduce and simplify your code considerably.