Code works, output is wrong. Introducing the suggested input data grandfather, grandmother etc... results as grandmother being the longest.

Level 41 , Gdansk, Poland

26 October 2020, 14:05

You have values of lengths: shortest, longest. Now you need to find indexes of first occurance of the strings, not the content of the strings. As Guadalupe pointed, go back to == and if true remember the index of a string. And don't look farther. Do the same for shortest and longest FOR loop.

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

26 October 2020, 13:43

A few things. The loop at lines 30-32 and the loop at lines 52-54 find the length of the shortest and the longest strings respectively. This is used in the loops at lines 36-42 and lines 56-62. As Misiu pointed out, these latter two loops find the last index of the the string that matches the shortest/longest length. This is a bug in the code. You will not be able to fix this bug with your code by using '>' or '<' (greater or less than) in the loops looking for a match in length, you should change it back to '==' (equals), the trick being that as soon as the first string matches the proper length the loop should end and not continue looking for more. Think of it as looking for something you misplaced in real life, do you continue looking for it after you have already found it? Next, your output logic needs to change so that it outputs one String if one condition is true (such as the shortest is before the longest) otherwise print the other String.:

if(......){
   // one output string
} else {
   // otherwise the other output string
}

Level 41

27 October 2020, 08:15

Hi Guadalupe, thanks for the reply! I thought about your answer, and Misiu's answer above, and the solution I found is to add a break statement after the if statement which determines the longest/shortest string and to move the assignation of the index of the string outside the for loop. I have highlighted the updates in the next comment I will post. However, when I run the code, I get the following error, "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index -1 out of bounds for length 10 ...." at the line highlighted below.

if (indexOfShortest < indexOfLongest) {
          System.out.println(list.get(indexOfShortest));
      }
      else System.out.println(list.get(indexOfLongest));
  }

Level 41

27 October 2020, 08:15

public class Solution {

    private static String shortestString = null;
    private static String longestString = null;
    private static int indexOfShortest = 0;
    private static int indexOfLongest = 0;

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        //write your code here

        ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));

        for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++) list.add(reader.readLine());
        reader.close();

        int shortest = list.get(0).length();

        for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest > list.get(a).length()) shortest = list.get(a).length();
        }

        // System.out.println(shortest);  ok till here

        for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest == list.get(a).length()) {
                shortestString = list.get(a);
            }
            break;
        }
        indexOfShortest = list.indexOf(shortestString);

/*
        System.out.println(shortestString);
        System.out.println(indexOfShortest); // ok, break fixes the problem, if input is b,c,a
        // b will be the answer.

*/
        int longest = list.get(0).length();

        for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (longest < list.get(a).length()) longest = list.get(a).length();
        }

        for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (longest == list.get(a).length()) {
                longestString = list.get(a);
            }
            break;
        }
        indexOfLongest = list.indexOf(longestString);

        if (indexOfShortest < indexOfLongest) {
            System.out.println(list.get(indexOfShortest));
        }
        else System.out.println(list.get(indexOfLongest));
    }
        //else if (indexOfLongest == indexOfShortest) System.out.println("no

Level 41

27 October 2020, 08:17

the updates are on lines 29 & 31 and lines 49 & 51. Here is the before, and after, for more context: Before:

for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest == list.get(a).length()) {
                shortestString = list.get(a);
            }
            indexOfShortest = list.indexOf(shortestString);
        }

After:

for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest == list.get(a).length()) {
                shortestString = list.get(a);
            }
            break;
        }
        indexOfShortest = list.indexOf(shortestString);

Level 41 , Gdansk, Poland

27 October 2020, 12:55

solution

" if true remember the index of a string. And don't look farther." But you are finding and remembering content of the string, not its index. And the loop is broken just after the first comparing (true or false). "indexOfShortest" ("indexOfLongest") is never catched. Do you really need to know content of the shortest (longest) string?

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

27 October 2020, 13:42

solution

The break of your modified code is in the wrong spot. That line will be reached every loop cycle, meaning the loop will break when the very first loop cycle (i = 0) and will not find the correct String. You will need to move the break to a place that breaks the loop only when the shortest or longest String is found. What Misiu is saying is that when a match is found in the loops searching for the first shortest or first longest word, the loop cycle counter (i) will be the correct index of the word. Right now the code gets the word and then uses the word to get the index. For example, when you find the shortest word when i = 5, the code gets that word and then it uses list.indexOf(word) to get the index of 5. If you look, i = 5 and is the correct answer, so you can just use that instead of doing the extra steps.

Level 41

28 October 2020, 13:02

It really does take a village to raise a child! Thank you guys so much for you time and patience explaining to me, I want you to know I really appreciate your input. Before:

for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest == list.get(a).length()) {
                shortestString = list.get(a);
            }
            break;
        }
        indexOfShortest = list.indexOf(shortestString);

After:

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++){
            if (shortest == list.get(i).length()) {
                indexOfShortest = i;
                break;
            }
        }

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

28 October 2020, 13:39

Good job solving this. I dont mind helping people at all and enjoy this back and forth as you work through a problem to the end. I see Misiu helping a lot of people too so I assume they enjoy it too.

Level 41 , Gdansk, Poland

28 October 2020, 13:52

Mainly I'm finding bugs and trying to point them. Your explanations are as a book, good practice book. Thank you for some light in our way to understanding less or more complicated issues :)

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

28 October 2020, 14:09

I started out just like you. I have been on this site, helping people, since 2018. My answers have evolved quite a bit in that time. I used to point out the issues with the code I was helping, and sometimes give the "correct" code they were looking for. Over time I modified that into explaining the correct way of doing it without giving the outright "correct" code. Lately I have been trying to also explain not just the correction, but why it should be.... To the best of my knowledge. I do this for myself just as much as to help other people. I have done a ton of research finding the right answer to peoples questions, and have thus learned quite a bit by doing this. It's a great resource and a win win for both parties. ** I did "correct" in quotation because obviously there is more than 1 way to solve anything in programming.

Level 41 , Gdansk, Poland

26 October 2020, 13:15

In lines: shortest == ........... longest == ........... you are finding highest indexes of the shortest (longest) strings. Use >, <

Level 41

26 October 2020, 13:27

Hi Misiu, I did and the result is the final else if when it considers the 2 longestString and shortestString to be equal. If I comment out the final else if, the output is nothing.

for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (shortest > list.get(a).length()) {
                shortestString = list.get(a);
            }
            indexOfShortest = list.indexOf(shortestString);
        }

for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++){
            if (longest < list.get(a).length()) {
                longestString = list.get(a);
            }
            indexOfLongest = list.indexOf(longestString);
        }

I also reversed the signs < , > and the result was the same.