build calculator logic

[game06]

i am making a calculator in swing and need help with some logic.

so some of button my cal will have:
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,dot, mult,divide,mod, equal,sqrt, ln,log,sin,cos,tan, ^, exp, fractor, etc......

bc i have alot of buttons i need a good way to compute them.

here what i am thinking:
first user can hit as many numbers they want ex 3847.
than i can store in

i = 0;
String s[i] = "3847.5"

than when they hit op buttons than i can do i++ and add the op ex:

i++
String s[i] = "3847.5 +"

when they hit equal sign than i can have a function that compute the string.
only problem i see is there will be alot of errors to check for ex:

"* 3 / 3" error: *
"0 / 3"   error: zero
"8.3.3 * 3" error: dot
"8.3 ++ 3" error: add

these are just some of the cases that i can think of but iam sure there are more.

if no error than compute left to right but computing might be problem too. bc i have to mult than divde than add.

String[] = "343 * 34.0 + 3 \ 3.2"

you guys have any better ways?

[somjit{}]

have three states (variables) : str1 ,str2 , op;
create a textfeild tf;
set an accelerator to it for the "ENTER" key event, see this and [this](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/javax/swing/KeyStroke.html#getKeyStroke(java.lang.Character, int))
now , when you type something in tf , and press enter , text of tf gets stored as str1;
when you press a math button ( + - / etc) that operand gets stored as op;
then when you type in the 2nd number in tf , that gets stored into str2;
the block which stored str2 will also have a test : if both str1 and str2 are valid , and an operand has been entered : doCalc();
doCalc() : something that takes in two strings str1 and 2 , casts them as integers , operates them with the entered operand , and store the result as str1.

and the cycle continues.

this was a quickie , might(and probably will) need further refinements.

[ddanbe]

You could use a boolean flag to mark if the decimal point button has been pressed or not.

[ss125]

Instead of programmming like this why cant you do like this...

void main()
{
String operator=""; 
String num1;
String num2;
String result;
if add_button is pressed
{
    num1=text1.value;
    operator="add"
}

Likewise same for all other math functions.

And for equalto

if equal_button onclick()
{
if(operator=="")
{
//alert user
}
if(operator="add")
{
num2=text1.value;
int res=num1+num2;
result=res.tostring();
text1.value=result;
}

My syntax may be wrong...But I am ask you about the logic used.

Have a happie coding...:-D

[stultuske]

you are mixing up arrays and single Strings.
also, you should initialize your array once, not each time you access it.

[game06]

thanks guys for your idea but i feel like that wont work. or atleast I am missing some thing.

user enter this in calculator: 2 x 4 + 2 / 3
if i do it your way than it be like:
user enter 2x4= than i compute, 8.
than user enter +2= than i compute, 10.
than user enter /3= than i compute, final answer = 3.3..
but that is wrong answer. it should be
2*4+2/3 = 8+0.7 = final answer 8.7

what iam trying to say is i cant compute until user has enter whole problem. than i see the operation order than i compute.

[ddanbe]

Find out all about a recursive descent parser.

[ss125]

on what basis do you want to compute your answer?

I mean

either using operator precedence or by normal computaion?

[stultuske]

ss125:
missed this in your previous reply, since I was entering a reply myself.
found quite a big error in your logic (related to the syntax)

if(operator="add")
{

purely talking about syntax, there's nothing wrong there, it'll compile and run, but there are two quite important logical errors there.

[ss125]

purely talking about syntax, there's nothing wrong there, it'll compile and run, but there are two quite important logical errors there.

What are the errors my friend?

I need to correct myself about that error and i must avoid that in future.

Thank you.

[stultuske]

operator = "add"
this is an assignment of value, not a comparison. (actually, since it's not a boolean, I guess it is a syntax error, but most do this with booleans, like 'if ( myBoolean = true )' so I just mentioned it here.
=
is a very 'dangerous' way to compare Objects, unless we're talking about Singleton/enum/.. one of those special types.
it'll compare the reference of the object, not the actual value.