Self teaching and need help please

Question

Hi, I'm trying to teach myself Java. Trying being the operative word. I've purchased the book "Java Software Solutions" and I'm trudging my way through it. Anyway, to my question: it's a 6 parter that was an test-yourself question in the book that I'm having a lot of trouble with. It says to use a program provided by Lewis and Loftus and edit that program so that it, 1. asks the user for a file name and when the user enters that on the keyboard it finds the file, 2. read each line and place it in a string array and setup an integer count variable to keep track of the lines read so it stops at the end, 3. Create an int array (of the size given by the count determined above) and filling it with the number part of each element of the String array. Create a String array (of the size given by the count determined above) and fill it with the name part of each element of the above String array, 4. Finish the implementation of the Sorts class to include the selectionSort method for arrays of Comparable. Include the isSorted method as a static boolean method that will take either an array of int or an array of Comparable, 5. Use the Sorts class to do both insertionSort and selectionSort on both arrays and refill the arrays between sorts and test the arrays before and after sorting with the isSorted method, 6. Give output consisting of the results of testing with the isSorted method before and after each sort on each array, the array names should be given, the count should be given.
Many thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read this and many more to anyone who would help a struggling businessman trying to learn Java, if you could give me an example of this it would be much appreciated as this is the first place I've gotten stuck and could use an example to further my learning. The file that needs to be called is gcgc.dat and the Sorts program to be modified is this:
//  Sorts.java       Author: Lewis and Loftus
//  Demonstrates the selection sort and insertion sort algorithms,
//  as well as a generic object sort.
public class Sorts
   //  Sorts the specified array of integers using the selection
   //  sort algorithm.
   public static void selectionSort (int[] numbers)
      int min, temp;
      for (int index = 0; index < numbers.length-1; index++)
         min = index;
         for (int scan = index+1; scan < numbers.length; scan++)
            if (numbers[scan] < numbers[min])
               min = scan;
         // Swap the values
         temp = numbers[min];
         numbers[min] = numbers[index];
         numbers[index] = temp;
   //  Sorts the specified array of integers using the insertion
   //  sort algorithm.
   public static void insertionSort (int[] numbers)
      for (int index = 1; index < numbers.length; index++)
         int key = numbers[index];
         int position = index;
         // shift larger values to the right
         while (position > 0 && numbers[position-1] > key)
            numbers[position] = numbers[position-1];
            position--;
         numbers[position] = key;
   //  Sorts the specified array of objects using the insertion
   //  sort algorithm.
   public static void insertionSort (Comparable[] objects)
      for (int index = 1; index < objects.length; index++)
         Comparable key = objects[index];
         int position = index;
         // shift larger values to the right
         while (position > 0 && objects[position-1].compareTo(key) > 0)
            objects[position] = objects[position-1];
            position--;
         objects[position] = key;
}Again, many thanks to anyone who took the time to mull this over. Hope to hear from you soon.
-Joe Williams

Answer 1

Hi Joe,
Whoa. What exactly are you asking here? Not to be mean, but this is the type of question goes unanswered in the forums. It looks too much like you're trying to get someone to do your work.
My advice is, take it slow. Think about what you have read. Apply it to each step. Since you haven't given an indication of where you are in the book, I'm going to assume based on the problem that you're fairly far. I'm assuming you know how to compile and run a program, how to write a class, what inheritance is, etc.
Step 1: How do you get input from the user? Has the book covered streams yet?
Step 2: Again, do you understand what streams are and how to read from them?
Step 3: Have you read about Wrappers and parsing strings?
etc.
Generally, in the forum, the kind of questions that get good responses are fairly specific, as in:
"Hi, I tried this code:
<code snippet />
and I'm getting this error:
<error />
What could be wrong?"
If you do that, you'll find this forum a great learning aid. But really, a lot of effort has to be put in before you bring it here.
Good luck and keep learning! It will pay off.