Java newbie (what's could be wrong with this program?)

Question

First things first, I just started programming with JAVA recently so please forgive me if it seems stupid. Since I am so relatively new to the language, in order to get a feel for it I started running some simple scripts. I can compile and execute most of them without any problem. However when I tried to compile this one I get a couple of errors I am not familiar with. So my question is what could be wrong and what needs to be changed in order to get it to work? or if the syntax is correct could there be some other problem?
On a side note, I am coming more from a C and C++ background so if anyone can recommend a way to start learning the JAVA language from a prespective in C that would be highly appreciated.
System Environment: I am using j2sdk1.4.2 on a Windows 2000 machine running SP3.
If anything else needs further clarification please let me know.
|------------------------- The Code -----------------------------------|
package RockPaperScissors;
import java.util.HashMap;
public class RockPaperScissors {
String[] weapons = {"Rock", "Paper", "Scissors"};
EasyIn easy = new EasyIn();
HashMap winners = new HashMap();
String playerWeapon;
String cpuWeapon;
int cpuScore = 0;
int playerScore = 0;
public static void main(String[] args) {
RockPaperScissors rps = new RockPaperScissors();
boolean quit = false;
while (quit == false) {
rps.playerWeapon = rps.getPlayerWeapon();
rps.cpuWeapon = rps.getCpuWeapon();
System.out.println("\nYou chose: " + rps.playerWeapon);
System.out.println("The computer chose: " + rps.cpuWeapon + "\n");
rps.getWinner(rps.cpuWeapon, rps.playerWeapon);
if (rps.playAgain() == false) {
quit = true;
System.out.println("Bye!");
public RockPaperScissors() {
String rock = "Rock";
String paper = "Paper";
String scissors = "Scissors";
winners.put(rock, scissors);
winners.put(scissors, paper);
winners.put(paper, rock);
System.out.println("\n\t\tWelcome to Rock-Paper-Scissors!\n");
public String getPlayerWeapon() {
int choice = 6;
String weapon = null;
System.out.println("\nPlease Choose your Weapon: \n");
System.out.println("1. Rock \n2. Paper \n3. Scissors \n\n0. Quit");
try {
choice = easy.readInt();
} catch (Exception e) {
errorMsg();
return getPlayerWeapon();
if (choice == 0) {
System.out.println("Quitting...");
System.exit(0);
} else {
try {
weapon = weapons[(choice - 1)];
} catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
errorMsg();
return getPlayerWeapon();
return weapon;
public void errorMsg() {
System.out.println("\nInvalid Entry.");
System.out.println("Please Select Again...\n\n");
public String getCpuWeapon() {
int rounded = -1;
while (rounded < 0 || rounded > 2) {
double randomNum = Math.random();
rounded = Math.round(3 * (float)(randomNum));
return weapons[rounded];
public void getWinner(String cpuWeapon, String playerWeapon) {
if (cpuWeapon == playerWeapon) {
System.out.println("Tie!\n");
} else if (winners.get(cpuWeapon) == playerWeapon) {
System.out.println("Computer Wins!\n");
cpuScore++;
} else if (winners.get(playerWeapon) == cpuWeapon) {
System.out.println("You Win!\n");
playerScore++;
public boolean playAgain() {
printScore();
System.out.print("\nPlay Again (y/n)? ");
char answer = easy.readChar();
while (true) {
if (Character.toUpperCase(answer) == 'Y') {
return true;
} else if (Character.toUpperCase(answer) == 'N') {
return false;
} else {
errorMsg();
return playAgain();
public void printScore() {
System.out.println("Current Score:");
System.out.println("Player: " + playerScore);
System.out.println("Computer: " + cpuScore);
|------------------------- Compiler Output ----------------------------|
C:\ide-xxxname\sampledir\RockPaperScissors>javac RockPaperScissors.java
RockPaperScissors.java:8: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : class EasyIn
location: class RockPaperScissors
EasyIn easy = new EasyIn();
^
RockPaperScissors.java:8: cannot resolve symbol
symbol : class EasyIn
location: class RockPaperScissors
EasyIn easy = new EasyIn();
^
2 errors

Answer 1

limeybrit9,
This importing certainly seems to be the problem, I'm still not used to how compilation works within the JAVA language, I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can get it to work correctly.
bschauwe,
The C++ approach has certainly clarified some of the points. I guess I will be sticking to that.
bsampieri,
You were correct on the class looking rather generic, but as I mentioned before I was just sort of tinkering to see if I could get it to work.
Thanks to all for the help, very much appreciated.