I need help sorting an Array.

Question

Hi, I need to make a program that reads a string (sentence), then it counts the number of times each letter is "typed". As an optional challenge, the teacher told us to sort the results from the most repeated, to the least.
My program is working pretty well, here is the code:
import java.lang.String;
//import java.util.Collections;
//import java.util.*;
public class count {
     final int alpha = 66;
     int [] lower = new int [alpha];
      * @param args
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          // TODO Auto-generated method stub
          java.util.Scanner in = new java.util.Scanner (System.in);
          char current;
          final int alpha = 66;
          int [] lower = new int [alpha];
          int Spaces = 0;
System.out.println("Enter a sentence:");
String line = in.nextLine ();
//int length = line.length();
line = line.toLowerCase();
for (int ch = 0; ch < line.length(); ch++)
current = line.charAt(ch);
if (current >= 'a' && current <= 'z')
lower[current-'a']++;
else if (current == ' ')
Spaces ++;
System.out.println();
for (int letter=0; letter < lower.length;letter++)
     if (lower[letter]>0){
System.out.print((char)(letter + 'a'));
System.out.println(": " + lower[letter]);
     System.out.println ();
     System.out.println ("Spaces: " + Spaces);
     }[now, I want to sort the results. I tried using Arrays.sort(lower); but it doesnt work as it should. Example:
String: Hello
not sorted:
e: 1
h: 1
l: 2
o: 1
Spaces: 0
"sorted":
: 1
.:1
]:1
~:2
Spaces: 0
I would really appreciate your help.
Thanks, J. Flemming

Answer 1

Since you didn't post your Arraays.sort code, I can't
tell what you did wrong.
What does your array store? Element 0 is the number
of 'a' occurences, 1 is 'b', etc?
If so, then when you sort that, you'll have no idea
which element corresponds to 'a'. You'll need a
different approach for that. For instance, a class
that encapsulates two pieces of data: character and
number of occurences. You could then implement your
own sort, or learn how to use Comparable/Comparator.
Making Java
Objects Comparable
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/collections/in
terfaces/order.html
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2002/jw-1227-
sort.htmlAs I said in my original post, I used Arrays.sort(lower), which is probably wrong. My Arrays does work as you described, element 0 is the numer of occurrences of 'a', and 1 is the number of occurrences of 'b' and so on. Thanks for your responce. Im looking into what you said. Thanks again.
Message was edited by:
Flemm.John