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Java run-time problem

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Started by AlphaCoder September 16, 2008 03:12 AM

1 comment, last by btower 15 years, 7 months ago

AlphaCoder

102

Author

September 16, 2008 03:12 AM

I am new to Java and am trying to write a simple program. The test class will instantiate an object of the "house" class which will in turn contain an array of 20 objects of the "player" class. Compiles with no errors or warnings, but gives an immediate: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException at test.main(test.java:6) test.java


public class test
{
        private static house h;
        public static void main(String args[])
        {
                h.players[3].setName("john");
        }
}

house.java


public class house
{
        public player[] players = new player[20];
}

player.java


public class player
{
        private static String name;

        public static void setName(String n)
        {
                name = n;
        }

}

What seems to be the problem? To my untrained eyes I can't find any errors.

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OrangyTang

1,298

September 16, 2008 03:48 AM

You never actually create a house object:

public class test{        private static house h;        public static void main(String args[])        {                h = new house();                h.players[3].setName("john");        }}

Random notes:
- If you look at the stack trace the exception gave you, it would have pointed you straight to the line in question.
- If there's multiple things going on on one line which is causing a problem, then split it across multiple lines.
- Class names should start with a capital letter.
- A hardcoded number of players is probably a bad idea.
- I suspect you really don't want player.name and player.setName to be static.

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btower

1,661

September 16, 2008 03:54 AM

I believe there is another problem in house.java:

public class house{        public player[] players = new player[20];}

Here you create an array of 20 players. But initially, the entire array contains null-references. I.e.:

players[0] = nullplayers[1] = nullplayers[2] = null...players[19] = null

You need to initialize the array with player objects. This would be a better approach:

house.java:

public class house{   public static final int MAX_PLAYERS = 20;   public player[] players;   public house()   {      players = new player[MAX_PLAYERS];      for (int i = 0; i < MAX_PLAYERS; ++i)      {         players = new player();         players.setName(i.toString()); // initialize the name to something      }   }}

Java run-time problem

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