Dsplaying the alphabet with a loop?

[Tricky Phillips]

I recieved an assignment from my Java teacher, and I'm not sure how this could be done. He wrote;

"Write a Java program that will produce the following output. The program should print the heading line and then produce the next list using a loop to step through the alpgabet in ascending and descending sequence at the same time. Hint: perform the loop 26 times.

ALPHABET FROM A TO Z alphabet from z to a
Az By Cx Ev Fu Gt Hs Ir Jq Kp Lo Mn Nm Ol Pk Qj Ri Sh Tg Uf Ve Wd Xc Yb Za"

What I'm looking for is some way to make my "currentletter" variable +1 or -1.

Thanks.

[Tricky Phillips]

Alright. I've realized that I have to use ASCII along with "int++" and "int--" so now I'm trying to figure out how to display characters by using their ASCII value. Thanks.

[Raj Young]

char[] ch = {'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z'};

int j = ch.length;
System.out.println("ALPHABET FROM A TO Z alphabet from z to a");

for (int i = 0; i < ch.length; i++)
{
System.out.print(Character.toString(Character.toUpperCase(ch[i])) + Character.toString(ch[j - 1]) + " ");
--j;
}
System.out.println();




I think the above code sample helps

[Tricky Phillips]

Here's what I've got so far, but I'm having a problem on line 21 and 23, since "ASCII" isn't a real method (I'm just using it as an example for what I want).

import java.io.*;
 
import java.util.*;
 
 
 
class Alphabet
 
             {
 
                    public static BufferedReader keyboard = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)); //Don't worry about this line. I'm going to do something with it later.    :-P	   
 
                    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
 
                    {
 
                      System.out.println("Welcome to the alphabet program.");
 
                      System.out.println("This program will display the alphabet in ascending and descending sequence at the same time.");
 
                      System.out.println("");
 
                      System.out.println("");
 
                      System.out.println("");
 
                      
 
                      int ascending = 65;
 
                      int descending = 122;
                      char current = 0;
 
 
 
                      do
 
                      {
                         current = (ascending).ASCII; //Problem here!
 
                         System.out.print(current);
                         current = (descending).ASCII; //Problem here!
                         System.out.print(current);
                         System.out.print(" ");
 
                         ++ascending;
 
                         --descending;
 
                      }
 
                      while (ascending < 91);
 
                    }
 
             }

What method can I use to turn that int into an ASCII character?

Thanks!
[ March 21, 2005: Message edited by: Tricky Phillips ]

[Jonas Isberg]

A variabel of type char can be used both as a number an as a character, which means that it is possible to do calculations with it, like incrementing it with the ++ operator. The following code shows an example where this is done.

public class Ascii {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        char character = 'A';
        System.out.println(character);
        character++;
        System.out.println(character);
    }
}

The output will be:
A
B

[Tricky Phillips]

Originally posted by J Isberg:
A variabel of type char can be used both as a number an as a character, which means that it is possible to do calculations with it

Wow. Thanks a lot. Looks like I was taking the extra step for nothing. I'm too tired to test it out right now, but I'll take a look first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the help.

[Raghu Shree]

Hi,
Hopes this will help u.

public class Alphabets1
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
char ascending='A';
char descending='z';
while (ascending<='Z')
{
System.out.println (ascending + " " + descending);
ascending++;
descending--;
}
}
}

Raghu
Cheers!!!

[Raj Young]

Hi Raghu,

ur soln is good, and it works also thanks
[ March 21, 2005: Message edited by: Raj Young ]

[Rene Larsen]

Originally posted by Raj:
Hi Raghu,

ur soln is good, only thing is that u need to do a Character.toString(ascending) + Character.toString(descending) while printing the character, otherwise it will print a integer equivalent of char

No you don't.

System.out.print() and ...println() can take a char.

This is my solution...

public class Alpa {
 
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    char startUpper = 'A';
    char startLower = 'z';
    
    int numOfLoops = 26;
 
    for (int i = 0; i < numOfLoops; i++) {
      System.out.print(startUpper++ + "" + startLower-- + " ");
    }
 
    System.out.println();
  }
}

Rene

[Raj Young]

yes u r right, no need to do Char.toString(), I directly concatenated the two values in the print method, that's why I didn't get previously.

System.out.println(ascending + descending);

that's why I have got the number it seems.

thanks for ur reply

[Joel McNary]

Several points:

1). It looks like Tricky came up with a solution on his own, but I would like to take the moment to remind everybody that JavaRanch is not here to do other people's homework for them. Please do not post whole solutions to homework problems; that is not a good way to teach people! (J Isberg's post was the proper approach to take -- just help on the places where the original poster is stuck...)

2). Raj: Welcome to Java Ranch! Please read our Naming Policy and then Change your display name to comply (We are looking for a first and last name, preferably your real one, but one that is not obviously fake...)

3). Raj: Actually, shree's code will work just fine.

4). Please remember to use [CODE] and [/CODE] tags to protect the formatting of your code. (It makes it so much easier to read.)
[ March 21, 2005: Message edited by: Joel McNary ]

[Raj Young]

Originally posted by Raj:
Hi Raghu,

ur soln is good,

[Layne Lund]

What method can I use to turn that int into an ASCII character?

When you assign an int variable to a char variable, Java does this automagically for you. So, in the case of your code above, you can just do this:

current = ascending;

As you can see above, there are ways to solve this problem with less code than what you did. However, I thought I'd still answer your question because it is a nice tidbit to know when the occassion calls for it.

BTW, congratulations on getting your solution to work! Feel free to come back with more questions.

Keep Coding!

Layne