Efficient Looping to Draw Shapes

[clam]

Right now, we're working with Groovy, a variation on Java, so quite similar, if not just like, Java.So please bear with me if some syntax looks unfamiliar, it's easily convertible to Java syntax!

Anyhow, here's the shape I'm trying to draw,

*******
#*----*
##*---*
#-#*--*
#--#*-*
#---#**
#----#*
#######

For the first and last row, these can be expressed at the begining and end of the program, like so
7.times{print '*') and likewise for #.

I'm trying to output one character at a time, so that's when the for looping comes into play. The involvment of two characters is what's throwing me off. I managed to write the following for another shape, which projects the same idea of incrementing/decrementing spacing...

//Answer to Q2.9

n = 3
println '*'
for (row in 1..7)
{
if (row < 5)
{
print '*'
(row - 1).times{
print ' '
}

println '*'
}
else
{
print '*'
(row - n).times{
print ' '
}
n = n + 2
println '*'
}
}
println '*'

Any idea how I can go on about with this?
Many thanks!

[r035198x]

Are you looking for Groovy code or Java code?

[clam]

The aforementioned code draws this,
*
**
*.*
*..*
*...*
*....*
*...*
*..*
*.*
**
*

[clam]

Having worked with Java, I don't mind either...I can covert then.

[r035198x]

Having worked with Java, I don't mind either...I can covert then. :)

Not a good idea. It's always a bad idea to write code in one language and try to directly convert. What you should really be facing up to here is that you have a Groovy code problema and thus should ask in a Groovy forum.

[clam]

Java and Groovy are nearly the same (Java is more punctuation-structured), so whatever error I'll have in Groovy will be the same in Java. We can pretend we're working with Java in this instance.

There are not many Groovy forums, as developed as this one.

[mrmatt1111]

"Java and Groovy are nearly the same"

Groovy syntax looks very different then java.

It like saying that VB.Net syntax is nearly the same as C# syntax because they use the same underlying libraries.

[clam]

Groovy website description:
Groovy...
.
.
.
builds upon the strengths of Java but has additional power features inspired by languages like Python, Ruby and Smalltalk
makes modern programming features available to Java developers with almost-zero learning curve
.
.
.
compiles straight to Java bytecode so you can use it anywhere you can use Java

There is more. Feel free to visit the website. Effectively, Groovy is an inspiration from Java - in fact, if you try writing the for loop as written in Java (meaning with the three components within parantheses, i.e. variable declaration, condition and updating) in the groovy console, it will compile :)

Now you guys are completely defeating the purpose of this forum and thread. All I'm asking is if you can be help me generate a compact program - whether you disagree with the fact that Java and Groovy are alike transcends the main idea of the thread. I honestly don't mind if you write it in java, this is not homework to be given in. It's for myself. I would just like to know how people generally approach these kinds of questions.

[mrmatt1111]

for y as integer = 0 to height
   for x as integer = 0 to width
      if y = 0 then
          print "*"
      elseif y = height -1 then
          print "#"
      else
           if x = 0 then
              print "#"
           elseif x = width -1 then
              print "*"
           else
              if x = y then
                  print "*"
              elseif x+1=y then
                  print "#"
              else
                  print "-"
              end if
           end if
      end if
    next
    println ""
next

[clam]

Thanks! But what language is your's in exactly? Pseudocode?

[clam]

I'm not too sure your code works!

[CodesAway]

Have you tried running it? It works for me. If you don't want to convert from psudocode to Java, just check each branch and see if the logic is valid. My guess is that's how they made the psudocode to begin with, since most people don't program in psudocode.

[clam]

Ok, it does work, although partially! I'm tweeking it a bit...

[clam]

your "end if" statements are unnecessary, aren't they?

[r035198x]

your "end if" statements are unnecessary, aren't they?

I thought you said you were not concerned about language syntax?

[clam]

I'm not concerned with language syntax - I find it unnecessary to insert the end if statements, since the if statements automatically end (/break) when the condition evaluates to true and the statement within is executed...

[CodesAway]

I'm not concerned with language syntax - I find it unnecessary to insert the end if statements, since the if statements automatically end (/break) when the condition evaluates to true and the statement within is executed...

The end if statement marks the end of the if branch - it's similar to the close brace '}' in C style programing languages. It's common for BASIC-like syntaxes (e.g. Visual Basic).

Quoted from If...Then...Else Statement (Visual Basic)

If condition [ Then ]
    [ statements ]
[ ElseIf elseifcondition [ Then ]
    [ elseifstatements ] ]
[ Else
    [ elsestatements ] ]
End If

Edit:
I think their code IS Visual Basic... It's been a while but the syntax does look familiar.

[mrmatt1111]

Edit:
I think their code IS Visual Basic... It's been a while but the syntax does look familiar.

Good catch, it is VB syntax. I happened to be debugging a VB.Net web-app at the time so i converted a java version to VB real quick to make it look more psuedo-code like.

[clam]

Thank you once again!