Thread: Displaying an hourglass

Hello everybody,
I recently started learning java and I am having a problem. The code I am writing is supposed to display an hourglass like this. The lines match up so it looks like an hourglass.
|""""""""""|  top part
\::::::::/
\::::::/
\::::/  middle part
\::/
||  Vertical
/::\
/::::\  bottom part
/::::::\
/::::::::\
|""""""""""|


but when I run my code I get this. I don't know why I am getting this and it would be very helpful if anyone gave me some advice as to what I can do to make the bottom hourglass look like the top.
|:::::::::
::::::::
::::::
::::
::
||
::
::::
::::::
::::::::
|:::::::::

public class HourGlass
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      topPart();
      middlePart();
      verticalPart();
      bottomPart();
      topPart();
   }
 
 
   //This method produces the top part of the hourglass
   public static void topPart()
   {
      System.out.print("|");
      for (int i =1; i <=10; i++)
      {
         System.out.print(":");
      }
      System.out.print("|");
 
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the middle part of the hourglass
   public static void middlePart()
   {
       for (int line =1; line <=4; line++)
      {
         for (int space=1; space<= (line * 2 ); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * -2 + 10); semicolon++)
         {
 
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * 2); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
 
         }
 
         System.out.println();
       }
   }
 
   //This method produces the vertical line of the hourglass         
   public static void verticalPart()
   {
      for (int space = 1; space <=5; space++)
      {
        System.out.print("");
      }
      System.out.print("||");
 
      for (int space = 1; space <=5; space++)
      {
        System.out.print(" ");
      }
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the bottom part of the hourglass
   public static void bottomPart()
   {   
 
 
       for(int line =1; line <=4; line++)
       {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * -2 + 10); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * 2); semicolon++)
         {
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * 2); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         System.out.println();
   }
}
}

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for taking the time to learn how to post code correctly. If you haven't already, please read this topic to learn other useful info for new members.

I ran your program, and this is what I got (in code tags as Norm suggested):

|::::::::::|
  ::::::::  
    ::::::    
      ::::      
        ::        
||     
        ::  
      ::::    
    ::::::      
  ::::::::        
|::::::::::|

An interesting thing to note is that most every line ENDS in more spaces than are needed.

The good news is that you got the top and bottom part right!

Each line other than the middle is a mix of leading spaces, a '\' character, a number of colons, and a '/' character, varying in a simple pattern. You might write the pattern out in a table, something like:

 Line        Leading       Colon
             spaces        chars
   2            1             8
   3            2             6
   4            3             4
etc. . .

From a table like that you might see a pattern that will help you construct the necessary for() loops.

Hello everyone I fixed my code and I got this

public class HourGlass
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      topPart();
      middlePart();
 
      bottomPart();
      topPart();
   }
 
 
   //This method produces the top part of the hourglass
   public static void topPart()
   {
      System.out.print("|");
      for (int i =1; i <=10; i++)
      {
         System.out.print(":");
      }
      System.out.print("|");
 
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the middle part of the hourglass
   public static void middlePart()
   {
       for (int line =1; line <=4; line++)
      {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1 ); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * -2 + 10); semicolon++)
         {
 
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
 
         }
 
         System.out.println();
       }
   }
 
   //This method produces the vertical line of the hourglass         
 
   //This method produces the bottom part of the hourglass
   public static void bottomPart()
   {   
  for(int line =1; line <=4; line++)
       {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * 2); semicolon++)
         {
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         System.out.println();
   }
}
}

This code gives me the image at the top, but I need the image at the bottom

|::::::::::|
  ::::::::  
   ::::::   
    ::::    
     ::     
     ::     
    ::::    
   ::::::   
  ::::::::  
|::::::::::|
 
 
|""""""""""|   top part
 \::::::::/
  \::::::/
   \::::/   middle part
    \::/
     ||  Vertical
    /::\
   /::::\   bottom part
  /::::::\
 /::::::::\
|""""""""""|

When I add the vertical part into my code

public class HourGlass
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      topPart();
      middlePart();
      verticalPart();
      bottomPart();
      topPart();
   }
 
 
   //This method produces the top part of the hourglass
   public static void topPart()
   {
      System.out.print("|");
      for (int i =1; i <=10; i++)
      {
         System.out.print(":");
      }
      System.out.print("|");
 
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the middle part of the hourglass
   public static void middlePart()
   {
       for (int line =1; line <=4; line++)
      {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1 ); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * -2 + 10); semicolon++)
         {
 
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
 
         }
 
         System.out.println();
       }
   }
 
   //This method produces the vertical line of the hourglass         
   public static void verticalPart()
   {
      for (int line = 1; line <= (line * 5); line++)
      {
        System.out.print(" ");
      }
      System.out.print("||");
 
      for (int line = 1; line <= (line * 5); line++)
      {
        System.out.print(" ");
      }
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the bottom part of the hourglass
   public static void bottomPart()
   {   
 
 
       for(int line =1; line <=4; line++)
       {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * 2); semicolon++)
         {
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         System.out.println();
   }
}
}

I get the hourglass without the vertical part, if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can fix this it would be greatly appreciated

The code you posted has an infinite loop - a loop that never stops. Your current design makes it very easy to find which 'part' results in an infinite loop, because the methods can be commented out one at a time in the main() method.

Can you figure out which method results in an infinite loop, why it happens, and fix it?

Hello everybody,
I was able to get rid of the infinite loop that was happening at the vertical method. Now I'm having trouble aligning the two || at the center of the hourglass. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can fix this it would be greatly appreciated.

The hourglass that I get is

|""""""""""|
  ::::::::  
   ::::::   
    ::::    
     ::     
|| 
     ::     
    ::::    
   ::::::   
  ::::::::  
|""""""""""|

This is the code I have.

public class HourGlass
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      topPart();
      middlePart();
      verticalPart();
      bottomPart();
      topPart();
   }
 
 
   //This method produces the top part of the hourglass
   public static void topPart()
   {
      System.out.print("|");
      for (int i =1; i <=10; i++)
      {
         System.out.print("\"");
      }
      System.out.print("|");
 
      System.out.println();
   }
 
   //This method produces the middle part of the hourglass
   public static void middlePart()
   {
       for (int line =1; line <=4; line++)
      {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1 ); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * -2 + 10); semicolon++)
         {
 
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * 1 + 1); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
 
         }
 
         System.out.println();
       }
   }
 
   //This method produces the vertical line of the hourglass         
   public static void verticalPart()
   {
      for (int line =1; line <=1; line = (line * 5))
      {
         System.out.print("");
      }
 
      System.out.print("||");
 
      for (int line =1; line <=1; line = (line * 5))
      {
         System.out.print(" ");
      }
      System.out.println();   
   }
 
   //This method produces the bottom part of the hourglass
   public static void bottomPart()
   {   
     for(int line =1; line <=4; line++)
       {
         for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         for (int semicolon =1; semicolon <= (line * 2); semicolon++)
         {
            System.out.print(":");
         }
 
          for (int space=1; space <= (line * -1 + 6); space++)
         {
            System.out.print(" ");
         }
 
         System.out.println();
   }
}
}

I think you just need to look at the method verticalPart() a bit more closely to analyze what it's doing and compare that to what it should be doing. First, describe what it should be doing, then what the method is doing. Something like:

Print x spaces
Print '||'

Then compare that with what you've programmed the code to do - something different.