Thread: program loops never ending

Originally Posted by Ccogh05

My code compiles correctly. After entering the employee name, it repeats Enter hourly rate without letting me input data. Where have I gone wrong?

   // Payroll Program Part 2
   import java.util.Scanner; //uses class scanner
   import java.io.PrintStream;
 
   public class PayrollProgramPart2
   {
 
   // begin execution
   public static void main( String args[] )
      {
      // create scanner
 
      Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in );
 
      double number1; //input
      double number2; //input
      double sum; //sum of 1 and 2
      boolean end = false; //is input stop
      while (end == false) // end is false proceed
         {
         number1 = -1; both are -1
         number2 = -1; both are -1
         String name;
         System.out.print( "Enter Employee name:" ); //prompt
         name = input.nextLine();
         if(name.toLowerCase() == "stop")
            end = true; // stop is detected
   while loop while(number1<0) // since I set it at -1 ahould loop until a postive number is put in
 
            System.out.print( "Enter hourly rate:" ); //prompt
            number1 = input.nextDouble(); // read first number
 
            while(number2 < 0) // same as number1
            {
               System.out.print( "Enter number of hours:" ); // prompt
               number2 = input.nextDouble(); // read second number
            }
         sum = number1 * number2; //multiply numbers
 
         System.out.printf (" Weekly Pay for%S is $ %.2f\n", name, sum); // Wage 
 
   } // end 
      } // end
         } //end
            } // end

Just a word of advice, you should probably reduce your WHILEs to a minimum... since the higher the number of loops is the more complex your algorithm is. As for the ending problem, whenever you want to check if two strings you need to use the equals methods, == will only check if the objects' reference is the same. So in your case you'd have name.toLowerCase().equals("stop") or name.equalsIgnoreCase("stop'')

ok i agree with the previous posts with getting rid of the while statements.

but as is, i found your error...

while loop while(number1<0)
// there needs to be a { here, otherwise only the next line is associated with the while loop
System.out.print( "Enter hourly rate:" ); 
number1 = input.nextDouble(); 
// and here needs to be the } so the program knows that this is the intended stop point

so basically when the program reads that number1<0 it then goes on to read the System.out.print line, and since there is no brackets the program assumes that is the only line you want to associate with the while loop therefore the next line is never reached and you have created a forever loop

hope that helps

I agree with previous posts. Too many while loops complicate your algorithm.