dereference question

Question

i am getting these two errors when i check my code
crabblePlayer.java:22: error: char cannot be dereferenced
    for(char letter: tile.toCharArray()){
                         ^
./ScrabblePlayer.java:23: error: incomparable types: char and String
      if(letter == mHand){
                ^
2 errors
i understand the second one but i am confused about what the char cannot be dereferenced means could someone please clarify it?
```ScrabblePlayer.java
public class ScrabblePlayer {
  private String mHand;
  public ScrabblePlayer() {
    mHand = "";
  }
  public String getHand() {
   return mHand;
  }
  public void addTile(char tile) {
    // Adds the tile to the hand of the player
    mHand += tile;
  }
  public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
   return mHand.indexOf(tile) > -1;
  }
  public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for(char letter: tile.toCharArray()){
      if(letter == mHand){
          count++;
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Jon Kussmann · Accepted Answer

Hi Dylan, 
Let's see if I can clear a few things up for you. I'll paste your method below: 
java
 public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for(char letter: tile.toCharArray()){
      if(letter == mHand){
          count++;
      }
    }
  }

So, a ScrabblePlayer has a "hand." You have called it "mHand". This is a string. We can turn a string to a character array with the "toCharArray() method.
java
 public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for(char letter: mHand.toCharArray()){
      if(letter == mHand){
          count++;
      }
    }
  }

For each letter in that char array, we want to compare it to "tile". If they are a match, then we can increment count.
java
 public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for(char letter: mHand.toCharArray()){
      if(letter == tile){
          count++;
      }
    }
  }

After we have compared each letter in "mHand" to the tile, we want to return the count;
java
 public int getTileCount(char tile){
    int count = 0;
    for(char letter: mHand.toCharArray()){
      if(letter == tile){
          count++;
      }
    }
    return count;
  }

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any more clarification.

Gøran Smistad · Answer

It's been a while since I programmed in Java, but to me it seems odd to use a char as a parameter in a method, and then try to loop through it inside the method. Are you sure it shouldn't be a string instead?

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Dylan Shumate

Dylan Shumate

dereference question

2 Answers

Jon Kussmann

Jon Kussmann

Gøran Smistad

Gøran Smistad