At a loss with some simple java classwork. Please help.

Question

Hello. I'm having a problem with some work that I wasn't able to finish in class. I am not very good at java AT ALL, and I'm really at a loss on how to finish up the program and get it to print what I want it to.
My task is:
"Write a program that asks for two words and then eliminates the second word from the first word.
For example:
forgot - go = fort
bedevil - bed = evil
bedevil - evil = bed
stupid - is = Hey, is is not found in stupid."
This is my code so far:
public class wordSubtraction
     public static String big = "bedevil";
     public static String small = "bed";
     public static void main(String[] args)
          elimWord(String big, String small);
     public static void elimWord(String big, String small)
          if(big.indexof(small)==-1)
               System.out.println(small + " isn't found in " + big);
          else
               big.substring(0, indexOf(small));
               small.substring(indexOf(small)+small.length());
               System.out.println(small + " + " + small.substring + " = " + big);
I keep getting this error:
/Users/mewmew/Desktop/wordSubtraction.java:8: ')' expected
          elimWord(String big, String small);
                                ^
1 errorI don't understand what this error means or how to fix it, it looks like I have all the parenthesis in there to me. Deleting or adding semi-colins, parethesis, brackets, or curly brackets just seems to give me more errors.
Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

No it's not JJEdit. The errors are a good thing -
and each one has to be
dealt with. When you call a String method various
things have to be
correct:
(1) The name of the method - case is important.
(2) The arguments - the things in the parentheses -
have to be exactly
the sort of thing that the method expects. For
example if the method
expects an int argument and you give it a String
there will be problems
(3) The methods must be called using a String
variable and a dot. If
you just say "substring(whatever)" that's an error.
The compiler is
saying "substring of what?" You have to write
"something.substring(whatever)"
Also - because it will be important later - both
substring() and indexOf()
return a value. It is up to you to do something with
that value. Usually
you assign it to a variable.
Just for the record I got the follow from the String
API doumentation here:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/lang/Stri
ng.html
public int indexOf(String str) Returns the index
within this string of the
first occurrence of the specified substring.
public String substring(int beginIndex) Returns a new
string that is a
substring of this string. The substring begins with
the character at the
specified index and extends to the end of this
string.
public String substring(int beginIndex, int
endIndex)Returns a new
string that is a substring of this string. The
substring begins at the
specified beginIndex and extends to the character at
index endIndex - 1.
I would suggest you write elimWord() along these
lines:public static void elimWord(String big,
String small)
int pos = // find the index of small in big
if(pos == -1)
System.out.println(small + " isn't found in "
und in " + big);
else
String before = // find the bit before small
re small in big
String after = // find the bit after small in
small in big
System.out.println(big + " - " + small + " =
ll + " = " + before + after);
Thank you! That's very helpful and I feel that I'm THAT much more on my way to understanding what the heck I'm doing.
I'm trying, though...
Now I just gotta find out how to get the bits before and after small in big and solve these errors:
/Users/audreyeckel/Desktop/wordSubtraction.java:24: '.class' expected
          int pos = big.substring(0, int indexOf(small));
                                               ^
/Users/audreyeckel/Desktop/wordSubtraction.java:24: ')' expected
          int pos = big.substring(0, int indexOf(small));
                                                              ^
2 errorsI just hope I can finish it before it gets TOO late...it's about 2:26 AM here and this is due...TODAY!