Thread: Helping Understanding???

This is one of my sons Highschool project and he is asking me for help but dont have a very good back ground in programming. if i could get some help solving this program and some mild explaining on this so i could help him out that would be great. if anyone has extra question i would be glad to answer then to the best of my abilities. Thanks

Project Description
Your instructor has asked you to write a program that will generate a report of
student absentances. The teacher does not know the number of students and
the numbers of classes ahead of time, so your program should be general and
ask for that information at run time.


A possible plan to write a Java program that will solve the problem:

1. Study the two sample execution runs of the program.
Keep in mind that there are no hard coded numbers.
The programmer will have to allow for any data values.

2. Fill in the CSI Report based on your observations of the sample execution
runs. This report will help the programmer get a feel for the data, logic,
and error handling that will be needed to write the program.

As you study the execution output, play the role of computer and decide upon the data variables you will need, write those data items down on paper and fill in the values (on the paper) as you proceed through the input data.

3. Write an initial Java program stub as a first attempt for a complete
program. If you call methods you need not write the logic for the
method, just return a dummy value or print a dummy message. You need
not handle error conditions at this point.

Decide upon how you want to build your program in stages and proceed
from stage to stage. Be sure and test your logic, as much as possible,
at each stage in the programming process.

Execution Run 1
Enter the number of students: 3
Enter the number of class meetings: 4
Enter the student id numbers:
Enter the id for student number 1
25
Enter the id for student number 2
18
Enter the id for student number 3
39
Now enter the student ids for those students attending each class
For each class use an id of -1 after all data has been entered
Enter students attending for class number 1
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 1
18
38
38 not enrolled in the class
39
-1
Enter students attending for class number 2
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 2
39
18
25
-1
Enter students attending for class number 3
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 3
18
19
19 not enrolled in the class
-1
Enter students attending for class number 4
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 4
39
25
18
-1
Attendance Report
Student ID Number Clases Absent
25 2
18 0
39 1
Press any key to continue . . .

Execution Run 2
Enter the number of students: 4
Enter the number of class meetings: 2
Enter the student id numbers:
Enter the id for student number 1
74
Enter the id for student number 2
35
Enter the id for student number 3
18
Enter the id for student number 4
52
Now enter the student ids for those students attending each class
For each class use an id of -1 after all data has been entered
Enter students attending for class number 1
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 1
9
9 not enrolled in the class
35
52
-1
Enter students attending for class number 2
Enter -1 to indicate no more data for class number 2
63
63 not enrolled in the class
51
51 not enrolled in the class
18
52
-1
Attendance Report
Student ID Number Clases Absent
74 2
35 1
18 1
52 0
Press any key to continue . . .



A. Data Items:
1. Single Variables
a. Scalers int, boolean, char, etc.






b. Java built in objects





2. Data Structures
a. Arrays







b. User written classes





B. Logic Control Structures
1. Loops










2. Nested Loops










3. User written methods








C. Error Handling