Why am I getting "illegal start of expression" for char array and "class, interface, or enum expected" for the method?

Question

I am trying to create a program that shuffles a deck of cards in character array form. Here is my code. Problem is that it compiles with "illegal start of expression" for the deck array,as well as other errors,and "class, interface, or enum expected" for the hasRemaining method:

public class Blackjack
{
    public static void main(String args[])
{
            char[] deck = new char[]{'A', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K', 'A', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K','A', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K','A', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K'};
            char[] deck2 = new char[52];

            int i = 0;

            while (hasRemaining(deck))
            {

                Random rand = new Random();
                int r = rand.nextInt(52);
                if (deck[r] != '-1')
                {
                    deck2[i] = deck[r];
                    deck[r] = -1;
                    i++;
                }
            }

            System.out.println(deck2);

        }


        public boolean hasRemaining(char[] c)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < c.length; i++)
            {
                if (c[i] != '-1')
                    return true;
            }

            return false;
        }

  }

Maybe you could use something like `' '` or `'X'` instead of `-1`, to indicate that a particular card has been used already. The value `-1` isn't really a `char`, so trying to use it will cause all sorts of issues. — Dawood ibn Kareem, Aug 02 '18 at 23:01
make `hasRemaining` static if you want to use it as a utility method — Reimeus, Aug 02 '18 at 23:06

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 02 '18 at 22:47

1

Both '10' and '-1' are invalid character constants. That causes the compilation issue.

answered Aug 02 '18 at 22:47

Roman-Stop RU aggression in UA

14,905
3
48
53

How is this helpful for solving OP's problem? – Mick Mnemonic Aug 02 '18 at 22:55

Why am I getting "illegal start of expression" for char array and "class, interface, or enum expected" for the method?

1 Answers1