Thread: Java - Problem getting my program functions

Assessed work

I want to learn from what i'm doing, so please no answers/spoilers.

I'm required to create a program that finds the minimum value in an Array of integers.

Here is my approach :


public class Person {

public static void main(String [ ] args){

int theArray[]=new int [10];
int result = 0;
for (int i:theArray){
if (i < Integer.MAX_VALUE)

i = result;
return i;

}

}
}


I can't really progress from this position. I keep getting told to change the return type to int on main method, then when i do it says change it to void..

your main method signature has void as a return type but in you main method body you are trying to return an integer value and that is also local value in the for loop. If you change you main method return type to int the compiler going to give you an error because java compiler is always looking for a static void main method that take String array as a argument.
So either move your code to another method whose return type is int and call that method from main or remove the return type from main.

One more problem with your code is you are comparing i with Integer.MAX_VALUE which is the maximum value of int allowed for your machine.
Use simple for loop and compare element at index i with element at index i+1.
sort out these issues and come back if you have any problem.

Welcome to the forum! Please read this topic to learn how to post code correctly along with other useful info for new members.

I'm going to say some of what aprabhat said differently. As you know, a main() method is required in a Java class as the entry point for the program. The main() method must have the signature you've posted,

public static void main( String[] args )

Since it must have the return type void, it may not have a 'return' statement as your code does. Rather than returning a value from your main() method, use a print statement to show the result on the screen.

As for your algorithm to find the minimum value among a collection of numbers, here's another approach:

1. pick a number from the collection and assign it to a variable that is assumed to be the minimum number in the collection

2. compare each of the remaining values in the collection to the minimum number in the collection, and if a smaller number is found, that smaller number becomes the new minimum number in the collection

3. repeat step 2 until all values in the collection have been considered