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Tetsuya Uno
21,024 PointsWhat is the meaning of "boolean isHit = answer.indexOf(letter) != -1;"?
I understand that this declares a variable of "isHit", but why can he use !=-1 right after the declaration? Is this a shortcut?
Does this return true if isHit is not -1 and false if it is?
1 Answer
michaelcodes
5,604 PointsHi there! so for the line of code:
boolean isHit = answer.indexOf(letter) != -1;
You are correct that isHit will become true if answer is NOT equal to -1, and false if it is equal to -1. The first equal sign will be assigning isHit with the boolean value that is returned from the expression:
answer.indexOf(letter) != -1;
the "!=" is the operator to check for Inequality between 2 things. In this case we want to check whether our answer contains the "letter". If it does, then it will return some index number that is zero or greater. In that case, the value is not -1, and therefore we return a true value. If it doesn't contain the letter, it will always return -1, which means there is no index that contains the letter location, and will always return -1. This sets our isHit to false.
I know this explanation may be kind of confusing, if you have any additional questions just let me know!
Take care and happy coding :)
Tetsuya Uno
21,024 PointsTetsuya Uno
21,024 PointsThank you for the answer. Understood completely!