CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javamethodsreturnusing
Eric Parker
Eric Parker

Reputation: 37

must i use the return value of a method?

all the questions i see are about using the return value, while i want to ask about not using it. i have a method that gets a book title, and remove all books with the same title from an array of books (library).

i wrote another method that gets a book title and remove the first book with the same title given, from the array (not 100% finished because the question is about it):

public Book remove(String name)
{    
    Book bookRemoved= null;
    for (int i=0; i<_noOfBooks; i++)
    {
        if (name.equals(_lib[i].getTitle()))
        {
            bookRemoved= new Book (_lib[i]);
            _lib[i]=null;
            closeGap();
        }            
    }             
    return bookRemoved;
}

i have another private method whose purpose is to close the gaps created in the array, and return the amount of books removed:

//counts the amount of books removed and closes the gaps casued by removing them
private int closeGap()
{
    int count=0;
    //number of nulls
    for (int i=0; i<_noOfBooks;i++)  //run throughout array to find # of 
nulls
    {
        if (_lib[i]==null);
        count++;  
    }

    //closing gaps        
    for(int i=0; i<_noOfBooks-1;i++)
    {
        int nextCell=i+1;
        while (_lib[nextCell]== null)  //find the next cell after _lib[i] 
that isn't null
            nextCell++;
        if (_lib[i]== null)  
        {
            _lib[i]= _lib[nextCell];   //fill nulled cell with nextCell- 
temporarily alliasing
            _lib[nextCell]=null;       //remove nectCell value -remove 
alliasing
        }
    }
    return count;
}

when i want to use the closeGap method, i get the value 1 returned, but i cant find a way to use it to break out of the for loop without forcing it badly. do i must use the returned value? is there a way to break out of the loop using it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 63

Answers (2)

caleb baker
caleb baker

Reputation: 144

you would do something as follows. Its a little vague on what set of values you want to remove. if you want to leave the loop if that returns 0 just replace

closeGap();

with

if(closeGap()==0)
    break;

Upvotes: 0

ᴇʟᴇvᴀтᴇ
ᴇʟᴇvᴀтᴇ

Reputation: 12751

You can use break to exit a for loop. E.g.

public Book remove(String name)
{    
    Book bookRemoved= null;
    for (int i=0; i<_noOfBooks; i++)
    {
        if (name.equals(_lib[i].getTitle()))
        {
            bookRemoved= new Book (_lib[i]);
            _lib[i]=null;
            if (closeGap() == 1) {
                break;
            }
        }            
    }             
    return bookRemoved;
}

Upvotes: 1

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