Question

   public static boolean life = true; // all the creatures start alive
   public boolean isAlive() {
       if (this.getDamagePoints()> 0) {
           life = true;
       }else {
           life = false;
       }
       return life;
   }

public boolean springTrap(Inhabitant ihab) {
       // create variable to see if the creature is alive
       boolean OK = ihab.isAlive();
      
      
       // find location of the trap
       Cave trapLocation = this.getLocation();
       // find location of the ihab
       Cave creatureLocation = ihab.getLocation();
       // if they are the same location and the creature isnt immune return trigger message and return true
       if ((trapLocation == creatureLocation) && (ihab.hasImmunity(this)== false) && (OK == true)) {
           System.out.println(triggerMessage(ihab.getName()));
           System.out.println(this.SuccessMessage());
           for (int i = 0; i < ihab.getDamagePoints(); i++ ) {
               ihab.decreaseDamagePoints();
           }
          
           ihab.putToDeath();
           return true;
          
       }
       // if the creature has immunity then return false as trap failed
       if ((ihab.hasImmunity(this))== true ||(OK == false)){
           System.out.println(ihab.getName()+ this.FailMessage());
          
       }return false;
      
      
   }

i cant get this to assert false?? any ideas thanks its java

Answer 1

Firstly, I assume that you would have multiple objects of class Inhabitant. Then if any one of the object dies, that is life becomes false, then it would mean all object will die.

Second assumption is that the function decreaseDamagePoints() decreases one damage point at a time.

The mistake in your code is in the statement for (int i=0; i<ihab.getDamagePoints();i++) . The terminal condition of the for loop is not static and will change with each iteration. The result would be that damage points never gets to be 0. And life will always remain true.

For easier understanding dry run the following example:

c=4;

For(int i =0; i<c;i++){

c--;

}

Value of c after the execution will be 2 and not 0.

What you can do is store the value of damage points in another variable say, tempDamagePoints and use that I'm the terminal condition.

Also, if you want different value of the variable life for different objects then Don't declare it as static.