Need help plz with hw!!

Question

Write a program called SortWords. The program prompts the user for the name of an input file. This file contains words, one word per line. The words are in any order. The program sorts all the words in the input file into alphabetical order and writes these sorted words back into the original file.
Note: you are NOT allowed to solve this problem using data structures that have not yet been covered in this unit, such as arrays or linked lists. You may only use methods from the String class, the Scanner class, the PrintWriter class and the File class (along with as many temporary text files as may be needed). One possible approach is to read the first 2 words from the input file and compare them. If the first word comes before the second word in alphabetical order, then write the first word into the temporary file. If the first word comes after the second word in alphabetical order, then write the second word into a temporary file. The word that was NOT written into the temporary file becomes the first word. Read the next word from the input file and compare the two words, writing one of them into the temporary file using the rules stated above. When all the words have been read from the original input file, then the temporary file becomes the original file and the original file becomes the temporary file. The program keeps reading words from the original file until the program goes through the original file, writing only the first word every time, into the temporary file. Once this happens it means that the words in the file are properly sorted and the program can stop.
Note: the above approach is one way of solving the problem, but you may use another approach if you wish.

Answer 1

kevinaworkman wrote:
I think you should use some arrays, maybe some linked lists.
No, but seriously, here's one possible approach:
Read the first 2 words from the input file and compare them. If the first word comes before the second word in alphabetical order, then write the first word into the temporary file. If the first word comes after the second word in alphabetical order, then write the second word into a temporary file. The word that was NOT written into the temporary file becomes the first word. Read the next word from the input file and compare the two words, writing one of them into the temporary file using the rules stated above. When all the words have been read from the original input file, then the temporary file becomes the original file and the original file becomes the temporary file. The program keeps reading words from the original file until the program goes through the original file, writing only the first word every time, into the temporary file. Once this happens it means that the words in the file are properly sorted and the program can stop.
Does that help?We've added a third way to the "give a man a fish / teach a man to fish" dichotomy: slap a man with a fish.