I have a problem in my coursework, which can be illustrated here:
http://www.thebigman.co.uk/james/prob.JPG

What I want to do is to call Programmer.assignMentor() from within SoftwareHouse.assignMentor, I know I'm unable to do this, because I am iterating through a collection of "Employable" objects, but I don't want to define a prototype for "assignMentor" within the Employable Interface, because this method is a particular specialisation.

Any ideas on how I could overcome this issue? I'm using Java 5.0

Many shoes,

Jamez/SiliconFuRy

EDIT: I'm aware that SoftwareHouse.assignMentor assigns a mentor to itself, I'll sort this minor inconsitency once I'm able to called Programmer.assignMentor() (the parameter for this call should be the "mentee" passed to to the SoftwareHouse.assignMentor method).

__________________
Many shoes,

Jamez/SiliconFuRy

Solved it myself using the following code, lol.

/**
     * Assigns a mentee programmer to a more experienced mentor programmer.
     * First it calls findEmployee to get an object representing the Mentor,
     * then checks to make sure its a programmer. Then a programmer type is
     * casted so it can be properly passed to Programmer.assignMentee.
     * findEmployee is called again to get an object representing the Mentee,
     * then checks to make sure this is also a programmer. Another programmer
     * object is created from a type cast of the Mentee. Programmer.assignMentee
     * is finally called, passing the mentor and mentee programmer objects.
     *
     * @param mentor
     * The Programmer's payroll number who will be assigned as a
     * mentor
     * @param mentee
     * The Programmer's payroll number of the mentee which will be
     * assigned to the mentor
     */
    public void assignMentor(String mentor, String mentee) {

        Employable mentorEmployee = findEmployee(mentor);
        if (isProgrammer(mentorEmployee)) {
            Programmer mentorProgrammer = (Programmer) mentorEmployee;

            Employable menteeEmployee = findEmployee(mentee);
            if (isProgrammer(mentorEmployee)) {
                Programmer menteeProgrammer = (Programmer) menteeEmployee;

                mentorProgrammer.assignMentee(menteeProgrammer);
            }

        }

    }

Many shoes,

Jamez/SiliconFuRy