Programming exercise

Hi All! I am noob in programming so please don't get mad at me if it's too easy for you guys. I am practicing programming, this is not homework assignment and I am doing it because i want to learn Java, but i am stuck and I spend nearly 4 hours to try figuring out this and I don't want to move to the next step without finishing it. in short I have:

public class ProgrammingOne {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Species s1 = new Species(), s2 = new Species();
System.out.println("Enter data for the first species: ");
s1.readInput();
System.out.println("Enter data for the second species: ");
s2.readInput();
System.out.println("The first speciess are: ");
s1.writeOutput();
System.out.println("The second species are: ");
s2.writeOutput();

}
}

Exercise asks: "Your program will ask for the data on both species and will respond by telling how many years it will take for the species with the lower population to get a population that exceeds that of the species that starts with the higher population". basically it asks only 3 questions(readInput)-name, population and growth rate and gives values to screen (writeOutput), I did first part and it works perfectly, the next I have to compare and calculate it, I am planning to add:

if (s1.population>s2.population)
System.out.print("First population is bigger.");
else
System.out.println("Second population is bigger.");

but the problem is I can't define method population(due to lack of knowledge:(). and after defining it I have to calculate in how many years I will exceed first one. If you can help me I would be very grateful, thank you in advance! regards.

This question has nothing to do with Eclipse and all to do with the poster being new to Java. Moving to the appropriate forum.

Well I don't see how I can help you with only the code you submitted ... I can't guess whats going on in the Species class ? There is lots of ways to compare objects ... I would suggest looking at the comparable interface =)

A better name would be getPopulation() and that method would return, well the population of that particular Species. It'd simply be a method in the Species class.

kind regards,

Jos

ok :) but first will try to finish myself...