CS1702 Introductory Programming (2022-2023)

Laboratory 7 – Week 9
Built in Functions and Methods
7.1 Introduction

Firstly, this worksheet is one of the worksheets from which your laboratory worksheets
portfolio of work will be assessed.

This laboratory worksheet covers the use of built in functions, methods and classes within the
Java programming environment. This laboratory involves the creation of a number of Java
programs. Make sure that you save any code you write. Also make sure you save any results
or notes that you observe about your work.

Note that you are unlikely to complete this worksheet in just one laboratory session.

7.2 Preliminaries

Create a project in Eclipse called CS1702_Lab7 and create a corresponding class (say
CS1702_Lab7). Try and organise your work (from the following exercises) into separate
methods as we did in the previous worksheet.

7.3 Strings

Copy the following code into your project and run the program.

public static void main(String args[])

{
double number = 1.0/3.0;

DecimalFormat number_format = new DecimalFormat(“#.##”);

System.out.println(number);
String formatted_string = number_format.format(number);
System.out.println(formatted_string);
}

The DecimalFormat class enable us to format numbers (and other classes) in a variety of
ways. In the above example we are formatting the number to two decimal places. Read up on
this class in the JavaDocs since we will need it later.

Using the following variables (where specified):

x = 123.456, y = 17/3, z = √2, a = “Hello”, b = “World”

Write a program that performs the following programming tasks:

1) Display y to three decimal places

2) Display how many digits come before the decimal point and how many comes after a
number. Test this program on x, y and z

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3) Create a string c that consists of a in reverse concatenated with b, including a space

between them
4) Search for the substring ‘ll’ in c and replace it for ‘ppp’

7.4 Mathematical Functions

In this module we will not be using or need many of the mathematical functions that Java
supports. However, the functions floor, round and ceil are very useful.

Write a method in a manner similar to the code example below that applies these three
functions to a given parameter.

public static void main(String args[])

{
RoundingTest(10.2);
}
private static void RoundingTest(double x)
{
...
}

The output would be along the lines of:

For 10.200000 ceil=11.000000 floor=10.000000 round=10

Use the String class method format in your program. Read up on this method in the
JavaDocs. An example of its use is given below:

Test your program on the following numbers: -100.1, -100.49, -100.5, -100.51, -100.9, 0,
100.1, 100.49, 100.5, 100.51, 100.9.

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7.5 System Commands

The following snippet of code lists all of the files in a directory. The program uses the File
class and the listFiles method of the File class. Read up on these programming
constructs in the JavaDocs (as usual).

Implement the program and note how it works, run it a few times with different directories
and verify that it lists the files correctly.

public static void main(String args[])

{
String dir_name = “c:\\temp\\”; //Or another directory
File dir = new File(dir_name);

File[] dir_list = dir.listFiles();

for(int i=0;i<dir_list.length;++i)
{
System.out.println(dir_list[i].getName());
}
}

Modify the program in the following ways:

1) List whether each file is a directory or not.

2) In addition to the above, modify the program so that you can specify a filter on the
type of file, e.g. “*.txt”.

Test the program to ensure it is working correctly.

7.6 Random Number Generation

Implement and run the following code snippet. This program generates ten random integers.
Note that the numbers range between a very large negative number and very large positive
number. This might not be that useful for many applications. Often, we want to generate
uniformly distributed random numbers between two limits/bounds.

Random rand = new Random();

for(int i=0;i<10;++i)
{
System.out.println(rand.nextInt());
}

Modify, run and test the program as follows:

1) Generate random integers between -100 and +100.

2) Generate random integers between limits (pre-specified) a and b.
3) Generate random doubles.
4) Generate random doubles between zero and one.
5) Generate random doubles between limits (pre-specified) a and b.

Make sure your programs cater for any error conditions, e.g. where b > a.

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7.7 File Handling

Implement the two programs that read and write to a text file from the lecture notes. Test
them to see if they work. Base your solutions to the following two exercises on these
programs.

7.7.1 Reading Data

From the text in Appendix A, create a text file called “Billy Goats.txt”. Write a program that
takes as a parameter the name of a file and returns an integer containing the number of words
in that file. Test your program on several of your own test files and the file you have created
from the Appendix. Note that you can use Microsoft Word to count the number of words in a
text file. The text in Appendix A contains 348 words (I think…).

7.7.2 Writing Data

Write a program that takes as input a number n and a text string filename and writes n lines to
the file where each line is of the form: i: sqrt(i) sqrt(i) sqrt(i). The first
column ranges from 1..n whilst the first square root is to one decimal place, the second is to
two decimal places and the third is to three decimal places.

7.8 Creating a JAR File and Command Line Java

Create a separate project called JARExample. Add the following code (and class):

public class JARExample

{
public JARExample()
{
System.out.println("This Class does very little");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
for(int i=0;i<args.length;++i)
{
System.out.println(args[i]);
}
}
}

DO NOT ADD THIS CODE TO THE EXISTING PROJECT - CS1702_Lab7.

Run the program. You should find that it does absolutely nothing!

7.8.1 Creating a JAR File

We are now going to create our own JAR file as described in the lectures.

Choose the menu options File and then Export. When the dialog box appears, expand the
Java option and then select JAR file.

You should get to the point shown in the figure below:

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Click Next>, the following dialog box should appear.

In the section of the dialog box that says Select the resource to export:, choose the
JARExample project. In the section of the dialog box that says Select the export destination:
enter a location for the JAR file to be created in, for example: c:\temp\
JARExample.jar. Do not change any of the other settings.

Click Next> and then Next> again, you should get the following dialog box. In the section of
the dialog box that says Select the class of the application entry point: enter the name of the
class we created, JARExample. Click the Finish button and verify that a JAR file has now
been created in the expected location.

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Go back to the CS1702_Lab7 project and add the following line of code:

JARExample je = new JARExample();

You should get an error indicating that Eclipse cannot find the JARExample class. This is
because we did not include the source code for in the JARExample project. However, we are
now going to tell Eclipse where to find the JAR file that we created.

Select the menu options Project->Properties and select Java Build Path, then select the
Libraries tab and then the Classpath option in the main window. You should get the following
dialog box. Choose Add External JARs… and select the JAR file that we created.

Click Apply and Close once the JAR file has been selected. Run the program and note the
output. Modify the JARExample program so that it will produce some other text and repeat
the process described above.

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7.8.2 Command Line Java

Note that our JARExample program has a main method. This is for demonstrating the
running of Java from the command line.

Start up a Windows Command Window [or similar if not using Windows…]. Type the
following command:

java –jar c:\temp\JARExample.jar

Make sure you use the correct location of your JAR file. Nothing should happen! Now type
the following:

java –jar c:\temp\JARExample.jar A B C D

Note the output. The extra text after the JAR filename is put into a String array and passed
into the main method. Hence the parameter in the definition of main. This is how command
line programs that take parameters can be created.

Modify the JARExample program so that it produces output of the form:

Parameter 1 = A
Parameter 2 = B
Parameter 3 = C
Parameter 4 = D

when run from the Command Window.

7.9 The SwiftBot API

Have a look at the SwiftBot API documentation within the SwitBot Resources folder on
BrightSpace. What API calls (methods) will you need to complete the “Simon Says” Group
Project exercise? Write a series of small test programs that demonstrate each of these features.

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Appendix A. Sample Word Count Text

Once upon a time there were three billy goats, who were to go up to the hillside to make
themselves fat, and the name of all three was “Gruff”. On the way up was a bridge over a
cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll, with eyes as
big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker. So first of all came the youngest Billy Goat
Gruff to cross the bridge. “Trip, trap, trip, trap!” went the bridge. “Who's that tripping over
my bridge?” roared the troll. “Oh, it is only I, the tiniest Billy Goat Gruff , and I'm going up to
the hillside to make myself fat,” said the billy goat, with such a small voice. “Now, I'm
coming to gobble you up,” said the troll. “Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am,”
said the billy goat. “Wait a bit till the second Billy Goat Gruff comes. He's much bigger”.
“Well, be off with you,” said the troll. A little while after came the second Billy Goat Gruff to
cross the bridge. Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap, went the bridge. “Who's that tripping over my
bridge?” roared the troll. “Oh, it's the second Billy Goat Gruff, and I'm going up to the
hillside to make myself fat,” said the billy goat, who hadn't such a small voice. “Now I'm
coming to gobble you up,” said the troll. “Oh, no! Don't take me. Wait a little till the big Billy
Goat Gruff comes. He's much bigger”. “Very well! Be off with you,” said the troll. But just
then up came the big Billy Goat Gruff. Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap! went the bridge, for the
billy goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under him. “Who's that tramping
over my bridge?” roared the troll. “It's I! The big Billy Goat Gruff,” said the billy goat, who
had an ugly hoarse voice of his own. “Now I'm coming to gobble you up,” roared the troll.
What happened next?

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