Missed school, need help getting started

[jcarosella10]

Hey guys I've missed class the last two weeks and missed the lesson on this, so i am lost on how to get started on this recursion problem.

Heres the problem: "In the language of an alien race, all words take the form of Blurbs. A Blurb is a Whoozit followed by one or more Whatzits. A Whoozit is the character x followed by zero or more y's. A Whatzit is a q followed be either a z or a d, followed by a Whoozit. Design and implement a recursive program that generates random Blurbs in this alien language."

Heres what i have so far

//CLASS WHOOZIT
import java.util.Random;
public class Whoozit
{
    private String second;
    private int num;
    private Random rand;
    private String Whoozit;
    public Whoozit()
    {
        rand = new Random();
        Whoozit = "x";
        second = "y";
        num = rand.nextInt(100);
        makeWhoozit(Whoozit, second, num);
    }
    private void makeWhoozit(String x, String y, int times)
    {
        for(int counter = 0; counter < times; counter++)
        {
            Whoozit += second;
        }
    }
    public String toString()
    {
        return Whoozit;
    }
}
//CLASS WHATZIT
import java.util.Random;
public class Whatzit
{
    private int choice;
    private Random rand;
    private Whoozit whoozit;
    private String whatzit;
    public Whatzit()
    {
        rand = new Random();
        whoozit = new Whoozit();
        whatzit = "q";
        choice = rand.nextInt(2);
        makeWhatzit(choice, whoozit);
    }
    private void makeWhatzit(int num, Whoozit append)
    {
        if (num == 0)
        {
            whatzit += "d";
        }
        else
        {
            whatzit += "z";
        }
        whatzit += append;
    }
    public String toString()
    {
        return whatzit;
    }
}
//CLASS BLURB
import java.util.Random;
public class Blurb
{
    private int num;
    private Whoozit who;
    private Whatzit what;
    private Random rand;
    private String blurb;
    public Blurb()
    {
        who = new Whoozit();
        what = new Whatzit();
        rand = new Random();
        num = rand.nextInt(100);
        makeBlurb(who, what, num);
    }
    private void makeBlurb(Whoozit whos,  Whatzit whats, int iterations)
    {
        blurb = whos.toString();
        for(int counter = 0; counter < iterations; counter++)
        {
            blurb += whats.toString();
            whats = new Whatzit();
        }
    }
    public String toString()
    {
        return blurb;
    }
}

How would i make this recursive?

[Fubarable]

Hey guys I've been on vacation the last two weeks ...

This is not really our concern.

...and am lost on how to get started on this recursion problem.
....
How would i make this recursive?

What in particular are you confused on? What have you tried? What errors are you seeing?

[jcarosella10]

oh, its just that i have no clue where the recursive part should be. I've been reading through my code and cannot find where to put in a recursive statement

[Norm]

One thing that would be helpful would be to make a list of what each term in the language means or how it is defined.
When I was learning programming languages, several of them were defined in a format called BNF.
A formal listing of the language's rules could make it easier to see the format and patterns.

[jcarosella10]

ok thanks, ill try that now

[jcarosella10]

So Blurb = Whoozit + n Whatzits
Whatzit = q + z *or* d + Whoozit
Whoozit = x + n ys
So the recursion needs to be in both the Blurb and the Whoozit classes?

[Norm]

Looks like the random bit is the "or more" part of the language.
Can you write a method that generates a Blurb without any "or more" additions?

[jcarosella10]

I'll try, its just confusing because i wasnt given a limit on how many trailing appendages there could be.

[Norm]

There's an older guy at my sailing club like that. He just rambles on and on and on and on...

[jcarosella10]

haha very funny. heres my new code, but when it prints the blurbs it outputs the memory address. Any clues to why?

//DRIVER
public class driver
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        System.out.println("Here are some random blurbs:");
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
        System.out.println(Blurb.generateRandom());
    }
}
//BLURB CLASS
public class Blurb 
{
    private Whoozit whoozit;
    private OnePlusWhatzit whatzits;
    public Blurb (Whoozit whoozit, OnePlusWhatzit whatzits) 
    {
        this.whoozit = whoozit;
        this.whatzits = whatzits;
    }
    public static Blurb generateRandom() 
    {
        return new Blurb(Whoozit.generateRandom(), OnePlusWhatzit.generateRandom());
    }
    public String toString() 
    {
        return whoozit.toString() + whatzits.toString();
    }
}
//ABSTRACT CLASS ONEPLUSWHATZIT
public abstract class OnePlusWhatzit 
{
    static java.util.Random generate = new java.util.Random();
    public static OnePlusWhatzit generateRandom () 
    {
        boolean doMore = generate.nextBoolean();
        if (doMore) 
            return TwoPlusWhatzit.generateRandomTwo(); 
        else 
            return OneWhatzit.generateRandomOne();
    }
}
//CLASSTWOWHATZIT
class TwoPlusWhatzit extends OnePlusWhatzit 
{
    private Whatzit whatzit;
    private OnePlusWhatzit whatzits; 
    public TwoPlusWhatzit (Whatzit whatzit, OnePlusWhatzit whatzits) {
        this.whatzit = whatzit;
        this.whatzits = whatzits;
    }
    public static TwoPlusWhatzit generateRandomTwo () 
    { 
        return new TwoPlusWhatzit(Whatzit.generateRandom(), OnePlusWhatzit.generateRandom());
    }
    public String toString () 
    {
        return whatzit.toString() + whatzits.toString(); 
    }
}
//CLASS ONEWHATZIT

class OneWhatzit extends OnePlusWhatzit 
{
    private Whatzit whatzit;
    public OneWhatzit (Whatzit whatzit) 
    {
        this.whatzit = whatzit;
    }
    public static OneWhatzit generateRandomOne () 
    { 
        return new OneWhatzit(Whatzit.generateRandom());
    }
    public String toString () 
    { 
        return whatzit.toString();
    }
}
//CLASSWHOOZIT
public class Whoozit 
{
    private int numberOfYs;
    private static java.util.Random generate = new java.util.Random();
    public Whoozit(int numberOfYs) 
    { 
        this.numberOfYs = numberOfYs; 
    }
    public static Whoozit generateRandom() 
    {
        return new Whoozit(Math.abs(generate.nextInt()));
    }
    public String toString() 
    {
        return "xy..." + numberOfYs + "...";
    }
}

Output:

Here are some random blurbs:
xy...381535951...Whatzit@2961116fWhatzit@23bfa3a2
xy...1929679965...Whatzit@7a8ff303
xy...1452746471...Whatzit@9b88d2Whatzit@6333934dWh atzit@4f0bd71c
xy...560559566...Whatzit@125797cfWhatzit@34afa071
xy...825184086...Whatzit@764e75bcWhatzit@1913c652W hatzit@61413e5a
xy...516538825...Whatzit@264b898
xy...1415322755...Whatzit@22930462

[Norm]

Post the output if you have questions about it.

[jcarosella10]

just edited it into the last one

[Norm]

Whatzit@22930462

That is from the default toString() method for the Whatzit method. Add a toString() method that returns what you want to see.

[jcarosella10]

That worked, thank you