Does anyone get this? I've never used Java but magically I'm suposed to know how to do this

Linux Beginners / Newbie
1

Consider the following code fragment in Java. The code examines the values of 4 integer variables (called ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ and ‘d’). Depending on the value of these 4 variable, the flow-of-control in the code will move on to different lines of code. We wish to do glass-box testing of this code. For this problem you must find a set of values for the 4 variables to guarantee that LINE 1 is executed. Then you must find another set of 4 values to guarantee that LINE 2 is executed, etc. You should provide 8 different sets of the 4 values a, b, c, and d that together would insure that every line of code in this small program is executed by at least one of the 8 sets of values.

if ( a < b ) {

if ( c < d ) {

  if ( a < c )

     System.out.println ( a );   /* LINE 1 */

   else

     System.out.println ( c );   /* LINE 2 */

else {

   if ( a < d )

      System.out.println ( a );  /* LINE 3 */

   else

      System.out.println ( d );  /* LINE 4 */

}

}

else {

if ( d < c) {

  if ( b < d )

     System.out.println ( b );  /* LINE 5 */

   else

     System.out.println ( d );  /* LINE 6 */   

 }

 else {

    if ( b < c )

       System.out.println ( b );  /* LINE 7 */

    else

       System.out.println ( c );  /* LINE 8 */

 }

}

2

Hi iXLnu,

Pasting this code into an IDE shows that there is syntax error in it. Isn’t there a closing bracelet before the 2nd else?
Something like:

Apart from that, this isn’t that much of a Java, but rather a Boolean logic task. For example,

Can be broken down to:

LINE 1: a < b & c < d & a < c, so valid values for exiting at LINE 1 would be:
a = 1
b = 2
c = 3
d = 4

Only one “false” branch away should be LINE 2: a < b & c < d & a >= c, so you could add these values to the variables:
a = 5
b = 6
c = 4 (or even 5)
d = 8

I can’t calculate further due to the syntax error, but the process is the same all the way long.

Sandmann

3

Thanks for the help Sandmann,

I double checked and this is the way my teacher posted this problem ( she tends to have typos here and there). Like I say we have never done anything like this before, she talked about something slightly similar to this in class for a few minutes. But that was about it, I have no reference to go off, because it’s no where in the book I am using. This was the message she sent me “I am asking for particular values of a, b, c and d such as 1, 2, 3 and 4. Yes, you can use the exact same 4 values for each of the 8-sets, but each time you re-arrange the order of the values ( which number is a, which number is b, etc)”.