java and unicode confusion

taylorbrtoronto · August 31st, 2010, 12:37 AM

trying out an example in this book (apologize for all the nested ifs):

Code:

public class LetterCheck {
 public static void main (String args[]){
  char symbol='A';
  symbol= (char)(128.0*Math.random());

  if (symbol>='A')
   {if (symbol<='Z')
     {System.out.println("Char is a capital letter: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
    else
     {if (symbol>='a')
       {if (symbol<='z') 
         {System.out.println("char is a lowercase letter: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
        else 
         {System.out.println("Char is greater than a but not a letter: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
       }
      else
       {System.out.println("Char is between Z and a: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
     }
   }
  else {System.out.println("Char is less than A: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}}}

the console output is writting non-printable characters like 21 (NAK) in some symbol that i cant find on any ASCII table. im just wondering what agent specifically is responsible for this.

also, when i save my source code in wordpad with a filetype of unicode text document it doesnt compile. if java supports unicode why is this even happing?

i really want to understand completely the issues here, so if you know of any links that would enlighten me with a full explanation i would greatly appreciate it. im sure this has been asked before, i just cant find the answer.

thanks so much!

stalinvlad · October 25th, 2010, 12:04 PM

The last bits

Code:

else 
         {System.out.println("Char is greater than a but not a letter: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
       }
      else
       {System.out.println("Char is between Z and a: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}
     }
   }
  else {System.out.println("Char is less than A: "+symbol+" - "+(double)(symbol));}}}

You should not print the symbol as it will probably contain a control character which will mess you display up
Remove all the "+symbol+" bits
You also seem to have a misunderstanding about casting (double)(symbol) bits
println & indeed anything expecting a String type will perform a toString() if it can
Also casting is between numeric types only, it has nothing to do with String!

Do not use Wordpad, either use notepad or try some other simple text editor, wordpad is a mini wordprocessor (I use Notepad++ from sourceforge)