Quidditch – Part 3

Prerequisite: You finished the lesson: HashMap.

Goal: set up the Game class.

Task 1

scoreboard implies parity between Team and Integer. Define a HashMap that can store Team : Integer entries.

Task 2

1. Constructor.

   • Two parameters: Team home, Team away.

   • Sets scoreboard equal to a new object of the HashMap class.

   • Adds home:0 and away:0 to the scoreboard.

2. Getter: getScore

   • Receives one parameter: Team team.

   • Returns the score for the requested team.

3. Setter: setScore

   • Receives two parameters: Team team, Integer Score.

   • Updates a team's score to 50.

4. Getter: getTeam.

   • Receives one parameter: String name.
   • return null for now.

5. Setter: setTeam

   • Impossible
   • You cannot update a key.

Task 4

1. Test the constructor

Inside main(), create a new object of the Game class. Pass the following objects into the constructor.

  home = new Team("GRYFFINDOR", "Oliver", "Harry", 
    new String[] {"Angelina", "Ginny", "Katie"});
  
  away = new Team("SLYTHERIN", "Vincent",  "Draco", 
    new String[] {"Bridget", "Harper", "Malcolm"});

Compare your output with one of the following scenarios:

1. Reference Trap: each key shares the same reference as the outside variable.
   • Pitfall: updating the outside variable updates the key in the HashMap

2. Correct Result: each key should store a unique reference that points to a copy.

2. getScore

From main(), fetch the score for gryffindor and print it. If you did everything correctly, it should not work and return null.

3. setScore

From main(), update the score for gryffindor to 50. If you did everything correctly, it should not work. It should add a new key to the HashMap instead. Use breakpoints to confirm your result.

Task 5: equals

Your code is using the default equals method to compare Team objects.

• Problem: The default equals method compares references. But, each key has a different reference from the one being passed in.

  • getScore: It can't find a reference that matches the parameter, so it returns null.

  • setScore: It can't find a reference that matches the parameter. So, it adds a new key instead of updating the existing one.

• Solution: The code needs your equals method to compare Team objects. Hint: arrays are equal if they share the same toString.

After creating your equals() method, re-launch the debugger. The code should still not work!

What's wrong?

Adding an equals() method is not enough. You also need to add a hashCode() method.