Trouble compiling code

Question

I'm trying to write a rock, paper, scissors program but am having trouble converting an integer to its appropriate string. Here is the code I have:
// Rock.java
// Play Rock, Paper, Scissors with the user
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Random;
public class Rock
public static void main(String[] args)
     String personPlay; //User's play -- "R", "P", or "S"
     String computerPlay; //Computer's play -- "R", "P", or "S"
     int computerInt; //Randomly generated number used to determine
     //computer's play
Scanner scan = new Scanner(System.in);
     Random generator = new Random();
     computerInt = generator.nextInt(3);//Generate computer's play (0,1,2)
     //Translate computer's randomly generated play to string
     switch (computerInt)
     case 0:
          System.out.println ("R");
          break;
     case 1:
          System.out.println ("P");
          break;
     case 2:
          System.out.println ("S");
          break;
System.out.println ("Enter your play: R, P, or S");//Get player's play from input-- note that this is stored as a string
personPlay = scan.nextLine();
personPlay = personPlay.toUpperCase();     //Make player's play uppercase for ease of comparison
System.out.println ("Computer play is " + computerPlay);     //Print computer's play
     //See who won. Use nested ifs instead of &&.
     if (personPlay.equals(computerPlay))
     System.out.println("It's a tie!");
     else
          if (personPlay.equals("R"))
               if (computerPlay.equals("S"))
               System.out.println("Rock crushes scissors. You win!!");
          if (computerPlay.equals("P"));
               System.out.println("Paper covers rock. You lose");
               if (personPlay.equals("P"))
                    if (computerPlay.equals("R"))
                    System.out.println("Paper covers rock. You win!!");
                    if (computerPlay.equals("S"))
                              System.out.println("Scissors cuts paper. You lose");
               if (personPlay.equals("S"))
                         if (computerPlay.equals("R"));
                                   System.out.println("Rock crushes scissors. You lose");
                         if (computerPlay.equals("P"))
                         System.out.println("Scissors cuts paper. You win!!");
          //... Fill in rest of code
My compiling error is that the string computerPlay was not initialized.. I think I need to do something more in the switch section of the code but can't figure out what. Thanks ahead of time for any advice!

Answer 1

soccer89 wrote:
My compiling error is that the string computerPlay was not initialized.. I think I need to do something more in the switch section of the code but can't figure out what. Thanks ahead of time for any advice!Instead of running System.out.println() set the value in your switch statementl then run
System.out.println(computerPlay);after it's properly set.
BTW, rather than a switch statement, you could use
computerPlay = "RPS".substring(computerInt, computerInt + 1);I'll leave you to work out why.
Winston