Can anyone help? trying to solve logic error in program

Question

The program below does not seem to work as expected. it always returns the highest value, but is inconsistent with the second highest value.
any help appreciated.
// This program reads integers one per line until the
// user enters a special sentinel value to signal the
// end of the input. At that point, the program
// prints the largest 2 numbers entered so far.
import acm.program.*;
public class Largest2IntegersInList extends ConsoleProgram {
     public void run() {
          println("This program displays the largest 2 numbers in a list of integers.");
          println("Enter values, one per line, using " + SENTINEL);
          println("to signal the end of the list.");
          // initialize the input value
          int value = 0;
          // initialize the largest value
          int largestInteger = 0;
          // initialize the second largest value
          int secondLargestInteger = 0;
          while (true) {
               value = readInt(" ? ");
               //check to see if value is SENTINEL
               if (value == SENTINEL) break;
               //if the value entered is greater than the value
               //of the largest integer so far, assign the new
               //value to the largestInteger
               if (value > largestInteger){
                    largestInteger = value;                    
               else if((largestInteger > value ) && (value > secondLargestInteger)){
                    secondLargestInteger = value;
          println("The largest number is " + largestInteger + ".");
          println("The second largest number is " + secondLargestInteger + ".");
     /* Specifies the value of the Sentinel */
     private static final int SENTINEL = 0;
}

Answer 1

I get this... but I can't test it... I keep getting "Cannot find main program" from the acm framework.
I don't think there's anything "wrong" with my code, except that maybe acm doesn't support packages, which would be a big stretch... Beats me why these pork chops (the acm authors, not the OP) think that taking something perfectly simple and making it complicated is an improvement on the "core" language... think about it... they've taken a simple main method, replaced it with something that involves some funkyassed command line parsing which evidently doesn't work (reliably), and complicates even the most basic program (like HelloWorld.java) by making it inherently multi-threaded.
Acm gets my vote for the "WTF of the Week" award.
*<EDIT>*
{color:#000080}{size:20px}*This doesn't work either!*{size}{color}
What's more, I can't think of a way to do this properly "in the loop"... I'd save the values to a List; sort the list descending; and then print the first two values.
By properly I mean cater for:
1. out of order entry.
2. all in-order entry.
3. the same "max value" occurs twice.
*</EDIT>*
package forums;
* This program reads integers one per line until the
* user enters a special sentinel value to signal the
* end of the input. At that point, the program
* prints the largest 2 numbers entered so far.
import acm.program.*;
public class LargestTwoIntegers extends ConsoleProgram
  private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
  private static final int SENTINEL = 0;
  public void run() {
    println("This program displays the largest two numbers entered.");
    println("Enter integer values, one per line.");
    println("Enter the value "+SENTINEL+" to end.");
    int biggest = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
    int secondBiggest = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
    int count = 0;
    while (true) {
      int value = readInt(" ? ");
      if (value == SENTINEL) {
        break;
      count++;
      if (value > biggest){
        secondBiggest = biggest;
        biggest = value;
    if (count<2) {
      println("At least two values are required.");
    } else {
      println("The largest number is " + biggest + ".");
      println("The second largest number is " + secondBiggest + ".");
}Cheers. Keith.
Edited by: corlettk on 23/08/2009 12:25