Need tips on my program

Question

Hi guys,
I'm trying to create a program that prints a rectangle using the letter a and prints a space inside the shape but I can't seem to find the error.
Here's my code:
class Rectangle
public static void printRect()
char c;
int positionOne = 1;
int width = 6;
int height = 4;
for (int b = 1;b <= width; b++)
System.out.print("a");
System.out.println();
int d = 1;
for (int c = 1; c <= width; c++)
if (int d = positionOne || int d = width)
System.out.print("a")
else
System.out.print();
public static void main (String [] args)
printRect();
I would really appreciate your help. Thanks.
Edited by: bladenking on Nov 27, 2007 4:16 PM

Answer 1

there were several mistakes.
class Rectangle"Rectangle" is already the name of a Java class so
you should change the class name.
if (int d = positionOne || int d = width)also equality checks use == not =.
also you shouldnt (re)declare the variable d in the if statement
- you need another for loop for the height.
- your variable names are awful. they need to be more descriptive
- the variable name "i" (for "iteration") is the standard for for loops (where appropriate)
- loops usually start with 0 and end at < boundary (when appropriate)
- comments make code more readable
- note that its possible to put top/bottom into the main body loops with clever if-ing
etc etc
please use [ code] [ code] (no space) tags when posting code
public class MyRectangle{
public static void main(String[] args){
     (new MyRectangle()).printRect();
public void printRect(){
     int width = 6;
     int height = 4;
     // top
     for (int i = 0; i < width; i++){
     System.out.print("a");
     System.out.println();
     // body
     for(int y = 0; y < (height - 2); y++){
     for(int x = 0; x < width; x++){
     if(x == 0 || x == (width - 1)){
     System.out.print("a");
     } else {
     System.out.print(" ");
     System.out.println();
     // bottom
     for (int i = 0; i < width; i++){
     System.out.print("a");
     System.out.println();
}