Need to change a string.

Question

In my class we were required to write a program that will calculate the weekly pay of an employee. Then it also must allow the user to enter another employee until the user enters the word stop. The program must display the name, hours worked, payrate, and weekly pay. I used a while loop and have set it so that the user enters the employee name before the loop. The problem is if I try to rename the string the compiler says that variable employeeName has already been defined. I know now that you cannot change the name of a string that it is emutable, but what I don't understand is that the proffesor says I have to do it using boolean true and false. The biggest problem is that the school is online and is not giving us all the resources we need so I donot understand boolean values in depth like this to understand how to write the program correctly. If the user enters stop first it will skip the loop unles it will continue to use the same employee name over and over. Here is the code to help better understand:
//Payroll Calculating Program
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Payroll2
public static void main( String args [] )
Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
double hours;
double payrate;
System.out.println( "Please enter employee name, enter stop to exit program:" );
String employeeName = input.nextLine();
while ( !employeeName.equals( "stop" ))
System.out.println( "Please enter hours worked this week:" );
hours = input.nextDouble();
System.out.println( "Please enter pay rate of employee:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble();
if ( hours < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positive amount for hours worked:" );
hours = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( payrate < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positve amount for the pay rate:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( ( hours <= 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) & ( hours >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName, hours, payrate, (hours * payrate) );}
else if ( ( hours > 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName[ counter ], hours, payrate, (( hours - 40 ) * ( payrate + ( payrate / 2 ) ) + ( payrate * 40 )) ); }
System.out.println( "Payroll program is exiting, Goodbye." );
}

Answer 1

//Nicole Hammers
//Payroll Calculating Program
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Payroll2
public static void main( String args [] )
Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
double hours;
double payrate;
System.out.println( "Please enter employee name, enter stop to exit program:" );
String employeeName = input.nextLine();
while ( !employeeName.equals( "stop" ))
System.out.println( "Please enter hours worked this week:" );
hours = input.nextDouble();
System.out.println( "Please enter pay rate of employee:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble();
if ( hours < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positive amount for hours worked:" );
hours = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( payrate < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positve amount for the pay rate:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( ( hours <= 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) & ( hours >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName, hours, payrate, (hours * payrate) );}
else if ( ( hours > 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName, hours, payrate, (( hours - 40 ) * ( payrate + ( payrate / 2 ) ) + ( payrate * 40 )) ); }
System.out.println( "Payroll program is exiting, Goodbye." );
This program will compile but the loop does not exit because the string cannot be changed.
//Nicole Hammers
//Payroll Calculating Program
import java.util.Scanner;
public class Payroll2
public static void main( String args [] )
Scanner input = new Scanner( System.in );
double hours;
double payrate;
System.out.println( "Please enter employee name, enter stop to exit program:" );
String employeeName = input.nextLine();
while ( !employeeName.equals( "stop" ))
System.out.println( "Please enter hours worked this week:" );
hours = input.nextDouble();
System.out.println( "Please enter pay rate of employee:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble();
if ( hours < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positive amount for hours worked:" );
hours = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( payrate < 0 ) {
System.out.println( "Please enter a positve amount for the pay rate:" );
payrate = input.nextDouble(); }
else if ( ( hours <= 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) & ( hours >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName, hours, payrate, (hours * payrate) );}
else if ( ( hours > 40 ) & ( payrate >= 0 ) ) {
System.out.printf( "%s worked for %.2f hours,\nHourly wage was: $%.2f per hour,\nIncome for this week before taxes was: $%.2f.\n",
employeeName, hours, payrate, (( hours - 40 ) * ( payrate + ( payrate / 2 ) ) + ( payrate * 40 )) ); }
System.out.println( "Please enter employee name, enter stop to exit program:" );
String employeeName = input.nextLine();
System.out.println( "Payroll program is exiting, Goodbye." );
This progeam will not compile and the error says:
Payroll2.java:45: employeeName is already defined in main(java.lang.String[])