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Sane · Jan 3rd, 2008, 9:14 AM

I see where your difficulty lies. I had to blink a couple times before seeing what was happening. I'll try to explain.

int array[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 2, 1 };

As you know, that's the input of the grade distribution.

In the first for loop, the variable "counter" starts at 0, and loops until it's through to the end of array[].

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for ( int counter = 0; counter < array.length; counter++ )

So let's try to calculate the grade distribution of the 9th item. That means we're on the for loop's 9th iteration... also known as the 8th index. Which contains the value, 4.

The counter will equal 8 at this point.

So what happens when we get to this code?

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for (int stars = 0; stars < array[counter]; stars++)
	System.out.print("*");

If you go back to the first line I posted:

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array[counter] = array[8] = 4

So array[counter] = 4 at this point in time, and the code becomes interpreted as:

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for (int stars = 0; stars < 4; stars++)
	System.out.print("*");

The variable "stars", starts at 0, and iterates as long as its less than 4. Therefore, the second for loop will iterate 4 times, printing out a star each time.

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****

Voila.

Does that helps you understand what's happening?

Jan 3rd, 2008, 9:14 AM	#4
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 2,069 Rep Power: 6	Re: Array with For Loop I see where your difficulty lies. I had to blink a couple times before seeing what was happening. I'll try to explain. (Toggle Plain Text) int array[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 2, 1 }; int array[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 4, 2, 1 }; As you know, that's the input of the grade distribution. In the first for loop, the variable "counter" starts at 0, and loops until it's through to the end of array[]. (Toggle Plain Text) for ( int counter = 0; counter < array.length; counter++ ) for ( int counter = 0; counter < array.length; counter++ ) So let's try to calculate the grade distribution of the 9th item. That means we're on the for loop's 9th iteration... also known as the 8th index. Which contains the value, 4. The counter will equal 8 at this point. So what happens when we get to this code? (Toggle Plain Text) for (int stars = 0; stars < array[counter]; stars++) System.out.print(""); for (int stars = 0; stars < array[counter]; stars++) System.out.print(""); If you go back to the first line I posted: (Toggle Plain Text) array[counter] = array[8] = 4 array[counter] = array[8] = 4 So array[counter] = 4 at this point in time, and the code becomes interpreted as: (Toggle Plain Text) for (int stars = 0; stars < 4; stars++) System.out.print(""); for (int stars = 0; stars < 4; stars++) System.out.print(""); The variable "stars", starts at 0, and iterates as long as its less than 4. Therefore, the second for loop will iterate 4 times, printing out a star each time. (Toggle Plain Text) ****** ** Voila. Does that helps you understand what's happening? Last edited by Sane; Jan 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 AM.