Search java code help

Question

I am writing a small Java program and need help using a simple search code. Here is the code
public int indexOf(EltType e) {
        int i=0;
        for (i = currsize; i < currsize; i++){
            things[i] = e;
            e.equals(get(i));
        return -1;
    }Basically I want to search the array for e, and return its position, or -1 if e is not found. I know I have to use .equals(i) to compare e and get(i) but unsure where it goes.
Here is the method that calls it:
public void searchtester() {
        MyList<String> searchlist = new MyList<String>();
        searchlist.add("tangerine");
        searchlist.add("apple");
        searchlist.add("mango");
        searchlist.add("lime");
        searchlist.add("carrot");
        for (int i = 0; i<searchlist.size(); i++)
        System.out.println("searching for \"" + searchlist.get(i) + "\", result="
            + words.indexOf(searchlist.get(i)));
    }Please let me know what I am doing wrong.

Answer 1

middle wrote:
sorry kevinaworkman, not trying to ignore any advice, just very new to java so trying to figure this out. It's okay, I just know from experience that breaking it up into smaller pieces will save you a ton of headaches.
Ok so I would imagine that loop:
for (i = currsize; i < currsize; i++)would run onceTake a look at the tutorial on [the for statement|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/for.html] . If i starts out equal to currsize, and is only ever incremented, when will it be less than currsize? But even assuming that the loop runs once, what good would that be? Wouldn't you want the loop to run as many times as there are elements in your array?
things[i] = e;I'll give you a hint: if this line were executed, it would set the element at position i in the array equal to e. You want to check for equality, not set the whole array equal to e, right? Do you mean == in an if statement?
e.equals(get(i));Again, if this line was executed, it would check for equality between e and whatever get(i) returns. But then what are you doing with that boolean?
I want to see if i is equal to e then the result I want is the position of e and if i does not equal e then I want it to result in a -1, the issue is that it is giving me "-1" for all the results when I know that the first 3 items are in the list.You might want to step through your program with a debugger to see what's happening line by line. Or better yet, step through it with a piece of paper and a pencil. Go through the program as if you were the computer, following your program (and not the logic in your head you think the program does) exactly.
Some other things you might want to consider: the [if statement|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/if.html] , arrays , and the above mentioned for loop tutorials.