Finding a matching name in an ArrayList

Question

I am trying t traverse an array list and find a matching name but it is not working....can anyone point me in the right direction?
     for(int i=0;i<temp.size();i++)
                    Employee p=(Employee)temp.get(i);
                    if(p.getLast()==name&&p instanceof HourlyEmploye

Answer 1

use generics (if using Java 5 or greater)
compare strings with the .equals() method, versus with ==
import java.util.ArrayList;
class Employee {
     private String lastName;
     private String firstName;
     public Employee() { }
     public Employee(String lastName, String firstName) {
          this.lastName = lastName;
          this.firstName = firstName;
     public void setLastName(String lastName) {
          this.lastName = lastName;
     public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
          this.firstName = firstName;
     public String getLastName() {
          return lastName;
     public String getFirstName() {
          return firstName;
class ETest {
     private ArrayList<Employee> employees;
     public ETest() {
          employees = new ArrayList<Employee>();
          employees.add(new Employee("Smith", "Bob"));
          employees.add(new Employee("Hermanson", "Herman"));
          for(int i = 0; i < employees.size(); i++)
               System.out.println(employees.get(i).getLastName() + " ... " + employees.get(i).getLastName().toLowerCase().equals("hermanson"));
     public static void main(String[] argv) {
          new ETest();
}