Why does my printed staircase give a weird output instead of a regular staircase?

Question

I'm kinda in a rush here so my problem here is this:

You have to make a staircase with n lines and k stars, with k increasing k times each time. (Also add a period on each line to start with)

The staircase should be right-situated like this:

.   *
.  **
. ***
.****

The function given is

printStairs(int n, int k) {
    
}

And so far my code is this:

void printStairs(int n, int k) {
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i += k) {
        print(".");
        
        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            
            if (j < n - i - k) {
                print(" ");
            } else {
                print("*");
            }
            
        }
        
        println();
    }
}

Can someone help?

apodidae · Answer 1 · 2022-09-30T00:00:57.513

1

Solution with nested 'for' loops:

void buildStairs(int lines, int stars) {
  for (int x = lines; x > 0; x--) {
    print(".");
   // print(x);
    for (int y = 0; y < stars; y++) {
     // print(y);
      if (x - y < 2) {
        print("*");
      } else {
        print(" ");
      }   
    }
    println();
  }
}

Solution with nested 'while' loops:

void nestedWhile(int lines, int stars) {
  int i = lines;
  while (i > 0) {
    print(".");
    int j = 0;
    while (j < stars) {
      if (i - j < 2) {
        print("*");
      } else {
        print(" ");
      }
      j++;
    }
    println();
    i--;
  }
}

Nested 'for' loops converted to your lettering scheme:

void printStairs(int n, int k) {
  for (int i = n; i > 0; i--) {
    print(".");
    for (int j = 0; j < k; j++) {
      if (i-j < 2) {
        print("*");
      } else {
        print(" ");
      }
    }
    println();
  }
}

edited Sep 30 '22 at 00:00

answered Sep 29 '22 at 04:00

apodidae

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Excellent, but the question I'm solving also requires ones with the k = 2 or 3, so can you help me with that perhaps? – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 13:54
It's scalable all the way down to 1,1 but n and k have to be equal. Using double nested for loops you can have unequal inputs. Are you committed to using 'while' constructs? – apodidae Sep 29 '22 at 14:10
Usually, but if it's not possible, I use a for loop. – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 18:32
You are using nested 'while' loops and it should be possible to come up with a solution for that technique also. In the interim I've posted a possible solution using nested 'for' loops. – apodidae Sep 29 '22 at 19:14
It returned some very unexpected results, mainly a couple of periods than some random * – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 19:43
Runs ok here. I would need to see the code that you ran in order to debug. In the interim I've posted a solution with nested 'while' loops. – apodidae Sep 29 '22 at 19:49
Nope, nothing new – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 20:09
Does that mean the second demo doesn't work for you either?? Both work ok here and there is no way anyone can help you if you don't post what doesn't 'work'. – apodidae Sep 29 '22 at 20:24
There was a solution that partially works. Here it is: – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 20:43
I edited my answer, so you can add on so that it's available for k to work – Fallen_Hero Sep 29 '22 at 20:44

Why does my printed staircase give a weird output instead of a regular staircase?

1 Answers1