Java program skipping a line

Hi,
I have written the following program

class linux {
public static void main(String args[])
throws java.io.IOException {
char a;
char b;
char c;
System.out.print("A is?");
a = (char) System.in.read();
System.out.print("B is?");
b = (char) System.in.read();
System.out.print("C is?");
c = (char) System.in.read();
System.out.println("A is " +a );
System.out.println("B is " +b );
System.out.println("C is " +c );
}
}

It compilies without any probelm but when I run it get this.

[darinf@localhost Java]$ java linux A is?1 B is?C is?2 A is 1 B is C is 2 [darinf@localhost Java]$

So the program with never give me the chance to tell it what 'b' is. Any have ideas?
Thanks,

I am not very familiar with Java in particular, but from my experience with C/C++, it could be that when you read A the newline character (\n) is left in the buffer and is automatically read in for B. Basically make sure to clean the buffer before reading next value.

Hope this gets you on the right track...

Yup,

just do another read to catch the newline after every read

System.in.read();

thanks, that worked. By the way, does anyone know who to get the square root of a number in java? I went to sun.java.com and they had something saying
public static double sqrt(double a);
but this doesn't seem to work.

Use it this sort of way

double mynumber=Math.sqrt(4);


have to call it Math.sqrt();

I wrote this program to find the length of a missing side of a right triangle. You enter in the value for a, b, and c (c being the hypotenuse) and if you want to find the value for a side you enter in 0 for that value. I have compiled that program and when I run it I get prompted for the values but after that I don't get any output. Any ideas on why this isn't working?

class path {
public static void main(String arg[])
throws java.io.IOException {
double a;
double b;
double c;
System.out.println("A is? "); //asking for a
a = (double) System.in.read();
System.out.println("B is? "); //asking for b
b = (double) System.in.read();
b = (double) System.in.read();
System.out.println("C is? "); //asking for c
c = (double) System.in.read();
c = (double) System.in.read();
if(c == 0) { //the block that finds out what c is
b = b * b; //getting b squared
a = a * a; //getting a squared
c = a + b; //a squared + b squared equals c squared
double x=Math.sqrt(c); //finding the square root
System.out.println("C is " + x); //telling what c is
}
if(b == 0) {
c = c * c;
a = a * a;
b = a - c;
if(b <= 0) b = b * -1; //ensuring that the program will not to try to find the square root of a negative number
double y=Math.sqrt(b);
System.out.println("B is " + y);
}
if(a == 0) {
b = b * b;
c = c * c;
a = c - b;
if(a <= 0) a = a * -1;
double z=Math.sqrt(a);
System.out.println("A is " + z);
}
}
}

Don't use the InputStream (System.in) directly.
And another thing is that you are reading as the character, not the numeric. So you need to convert it to the double value and you cannot just cast it in order to do so.

Here is the correct way of doing this. Any question, feel free to ask me back.


import java.io.*;
public class path {
public static void main(String arg[]) throws java.io.IOException {
double a;
double b;
double c;
System.out.println("A is? "); //asking for a
String strA = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();
a = Double.parseDouble(strA);

System.out.println("B is? "); //asking for b
String strB = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();
b = Double.parseDouble(strB);

System.out.println("C is? "); //asking for c
String strC = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();
c = Double.parseDouble(strC);

if(c == 0) { //the block that finds out what c is
b = b * b; //getting b squared
a = a * a; //getting a squared
c = a + b; //a squared + b squared equals c squared
double x=Math.sqrt(c); //finding the square root
System.out.println("C is " + x); //telling what c is
}

if(b == 0) {
c = c * c;
a = a * a;
b = a - c;
if(b <= 0) b = b * -1; //ensuring that the program will not to try to find the square root of a negative number
double y=Math.sqrt(b);
System.out.println("B is " + y);
}

if(a == 0) {
b = b * b;
c = c * c;
a = c - b;
if(a <= 0) a = a * -1;
double z=Math.sqrt(a);
System.out.println("A is " + z);
}

}
}

I see how in String strA is so going to give input and how in the next line it is assigning 'a' the user input. I have two questions though.
First, what does the
"import java.io.*;"
line do, is it just saying that there is going to be input, like declaring a variable before it is used, and in
String strA = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();
is the first one always going to be A, or is that related to my variables?
Thanks a lot the for the help, I really appreciate it.

Originally posted by darin3200 First, what does the "import java.io.*;" line do, is it just saying that there is going to be input, like declaring a variable before it is used, and in String strA = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();

"import java.io.* is something like "#include <blabla.h>" in c/c++.
If you use "BufferedReader", "InputStreamReader" classes, you have to import "io" package. Remove this line and try to compile it, the compiler will not understand these two classes.

is the first one always going to be A, or is that related to my variables?

you can give any name you want. They are just variable names.

One more questions, is there any easy way to do fractions in Java? I have found this but what should I do with it?

It's for fraction calculations.
Yeah! That will do.
Thanks for the link. It would be also useful for me.

You can do like this, for example,

Fraction fa = new Fraction(2, 4); // which is 2/4
Fraction fb = new Fraction(1, 4); // which is 1/4
Fraction result = fa.plus(fb); // fa + fb (2/4 + 1/4 in this case)
System.out.println(result.toString()); // this will print out the result, 3/4 in this case.

What do I do with the file? I can't just put in Fraction fa =... because the complier doesn't recognize it.

The easiest way is, create a new file called "Fraction.java" in the same folder and copy the program and paste it there. Then remove the following line at the top,

package EDU.oswego.cs.dl.util.concurrent.misc;

and compile it.
Now, when you compile it, you need to give the "classpath" to the current folder otherwise the compiler will not find your "Fraction.java".
It's like this. (notice the dot).

javac -classpath . path.java

When you run it, you can just run it normal (no need to give classpath) , like

java path

because the JVM will automatically look for the "Fraction.java" in the current folder.