Out of Memory Runtime Error

Question

Hello,
I'm new to Java, this is only my third time using the language, and first time writing an applet. What I'm trying to do is create an applet that will plot 2D a set of coordinates based on an input string. Inexplicably, the VM gives an "<<Out of Memory>>" error while running. I urgently need a solution to this problem (as in, in the next two days... by August 9th, 2001). Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
-Mark Radtke, radrik2001<REMOVE>@yahoo.com
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
import Orbit;
public class TwoDApplet extends Applet {
     private Orbit stringHolder = new Orbit();
     public void init() {
          System.out.println("execution");
          stringToDraw();
          System.out.println("Done executing.");
     public boolean stringToDraw() {
          Graphics g = getGraphics();
          g.setColor(Color.black);
           StringReader sReader = new StringReader(stringHolder.case1);
           int XYline = 0, pArrayPlace = 0;
           int X = 0, Y = 0, last_x = 0, last_y = 0;
           float temp_x = 0, temp_y = 0;
           final char lineBreaker = '%', separator = ' ';     //These char's set the char that denotes line breaks and spaces between words, '\n' and ' ' by default
           StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
           final StringBuffer blankBuffer = new StringBuffer(" ");
          char temp;
          boolean flag = false;
          try {
                temp = (char)sReader.read();
           } catch(IOException e) {
                System.out.println("\n\n\tERROR: " + e);
                return false;
     try {
          do {
               switch(temp) {
                    case lineBreaker:
                         switch(XYline) {
                              case 0:
                                   last_x = X;
                                   temp_x = Float.parseFloat(buffer.toString());
                                   X = (int)(temp_x * Math.pow(10.0,11.0));
                                   g.drawLine(last_x, 0, X, 0);
                                   break;
                              case 1:
                                   last_y = Y;
                                   temp_y = Float.parseFloat(buffer.toString());
                                   Y = (int)(temp_y * Math.pow(10.0,11.0));
                                   g.drawLine(last_x, last_y, X, Y);
                                   break;
                              default: //anything beyond 2 numbers in a row is ignored
                                   g.drawLine(last_x, last_y, X, Y);
                                   break;
                         } //end of nested switch
                         buffer = blankBuffer;
                         XYline = 0;
                         break;
                    case separator: //case separator:
                         switch(XYline) {
                              case 0:
                                   System.out.print(buffer.toString());
                                   last_x = X;
                                   temp_x = Float.parseFloat(buffer.toString());
                                   X = (int)(temp_x * Math.pow(10.0,11.0));
                                   System.out.print("X = " + X + " ");
                                   break;
                              case 1:
                                   last_y = Y;
                                   temp_y = Float.parseFloat(buffer.toString());
                                   Y = (int)(temp_y * Math.pow(10.0,11.0));
                                   System.out.print("Y = " + Y + " ");
                                   break;
                              default:
                                   break;
                         } //end of nested switch
                         buffer = blankBuffer;
                         XYline++;
                         System.out.println("OK\n");
                         break;
                    default:
                         if(buffer.toString().equals(" ")) //i used to test is buffer == new StringBuffer(" "), but I figured that may have been part of the problem... it didn't help
                              buffer.setCharAt(0, temp);
                         else
                              buffer.append(temp);
                         break;
               } //end of switch
               try {
                     temp = (char)sReader.read();
                } catch(IOException e) {
                     System.out.println("IOException caught... throwing...");
                     flag = true;
                     throw e;
                } catch(NullPointerException e) {
                     System.out.println("Caught NullPointerException. You suck."); }
          } while(flag == false); //end of while
     } //end of try
     catch(NullPointerException e) {
          System.out.println("Caught NullPointerException.");
     catch(IOException e) {
          System.out.println("Caught IOException: " + e + "\n");
          return true;
public class Orbit { //when totally completed, this class will just hold a few strings, most of which are much, much larger than this one
     public String case1 = "3.0745036727705142e-009 3.9417146050976244e-009%4.9852836681565192e-009 3.5573952047714837e-010%3.6200601148208685e-009 3.4445682318680393e-009%8.1006295549636224e-011 4.9953846385005008e-009%3.7105805578461100e-009 3.3440347969092934e-009%4.9772361223912569e-009 4.1037439683639425e-010%3.1322774963314919e-009 3.8884603960830088e-009%";

Answer 1

Do you need to hold those values in a String? If not then simply store those values in a doubly-dimensioned array and avoid parsing the string altogether (see sample applet below). If you do need to store the values in a String consider using a StringTokenizer for parsing.
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
public class TwoDApplet extends Applet implements Runnable
Thread th;
int x;
int y;
int lastX;
int lastY;
double coordinates[][] = {{3.0745036727705142e-009,3.9417146050976244e-009},{4.9852836681565192e-009,3.5573952047714837e-010},{3.6200601148208685e-009,3.4445682318680393e-009},{8.1006295549636224e-011,4.9953846385005008e-009},{3.7105805578461100e-009,3.3440347969092934e-009},{4.9772361223912569e-009,4.1037439683639425e-010},{3.1322774963314919e-009,3.8884603960830088e-009}};
final double operand = Math.pow(10.0,11.0);
public void start()
  if (th == null)
   th = new Thread(this);
   th.start();
public void stop()
  if (th != null)
   th = null;
public synchronized void run()
  for (int z = 0; z < coordinates.length; z++)
   lastX = x;
   lastY = y;
   x = (int)(coordinates[z][0] * operand);
   y = (int)(coordinates[z][1] * operand);
   repaint();
   try
    wait();
    Thread.sleep(100);
   catch(InterruptedException ie)
public void update(Graphics g)
  paint(g);
public void paint(Graphics g)
  g.drawLine(lastX, lastY, x, y);
  synchronized(this)
   notifyAll();
}