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Java Java Objects Creating the MVP Scrabble Tiles

Caroline Gould
Caroline Gould
1,467 Points
Posted by Caroline Gould
Caroline Gould
1,467 Points

I am not sure how to make this work without an if statement. Don't we need to evaluate "if" the tile is present or not?

The question prompts us to index into the string, which I am doing. The source code has a boolean in it. Are we meant to delete it? I am not sure how to use the boolean without an "if" statement.

ScrabblePlayer.java 
public class ScrabblePlayer {
  // A String representing all of the tiles that this player has
  private String tiles;

  public ScrabblePlayer() {
    tiles = "";
  }

  public String getTiles() {
    return tiles;
  }

  public void addTile(char tile) {
    tiles += tile; 

  }

  public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
    boolean tileThere = tiles.indexOf(tile)!=-1;
    if(tileThere)
    {
      return true;
    }
    return tileThere;
    }

  }

4 Answers

Linda de Haan
Linda de Haan
12,413 Points
Linda de Haan
Linda de Haan
12,413 Points

You could do it like this:

public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
    return tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;
}

This method returns a boolean and uses the indexOf method, which you already got to check whether or not the tile is in the tiles string. You don't have to store it first, you can just return it like this.

Pedro Cabral
Pedro Cabral
33,586 Points
Pedro Cabral
Pedro Cabral
33,586 Points

Perhaps you should return the expression from the boolean straight away instead of storing it?

Patrick Bluth
Patrick Bluth
13,285 Points
Patrick Bluth
Patrick Bluth
13,285 Points

Hey Caroline,

Your answer is really close and pretty much right. However, you don't even need to store the boolean like you did at all. Instead, you can simply return that line like so:

  public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
    return (tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1);
  }

This is saying that when hasTile is called, return true if the letter is in the Tiles string (ie the index is NOT equal to -1). If the letter is not in the Tiles string (ie the index is equal to -1), then this return statement is equal to false, and false will be returned.