Say I have a char array, I wanna classify its element into three states. If it's a number, then mark it as State 1, if it's a operator, then mark it as State 2, if else, mark it State 3.
First, I initialize a boolean array to represent its state, but I fount it only can store two states:(
Then I switch to int array, yet this way is kinda a waste of space.
Could you offer better idea please?
if you need to represent something like the state of a finite state machine, or Values of an hypothetical class Card, you should use enum, something like
public class EnumTest {
public enum State{
START_STATE("1"),INTER_STATE("2"),END_STATE("3");
String name;
State(String name){this.name = name;}
String getName() {return name;}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
for(State state : EnumTest.State.values())
System.out.println(state.getName());
}
}
PS: Constructor and fields are actually optional if space matters: your enum can also be
public enum{FIRST,SECOND,THIRD;}
According to this SO page: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/952169/what-is-the-third-boolean-state-in-java, you could also use a wrapped Boolean defaulting to null, which could potentially be used as a third type if you do not reassign the boolean to any other value.
