CSCI 1302                     Software Development                   Summer 2008

                  Programming Project 3 Questions and Answers

Q1. for indexOf() and lastIndexOf(), they both have the exact same
    instructions...did you mean to return the largest location for the
    lastindexof() method?

A1. Yes, thanks for noticing.  It is now corrected in the project description.


Q2. for the removeFirst() method, do we want to just remove the element
    and return it, or do we also shift the rest of array to the left to fill
    the empty index that will result from removing the first element?

A2. Because of the ringbuffer implementation, the only actual (as opposed to
    logical) shifting should be when performing an add(i, elem) or a remove(obj)
    since those will in general occur in the middle of the logical index range.
    An operation on either end, such as removeFirst( ), does not require actual 
    shifting.  So return the first element and then remove it.  You'll shift the
    logical indices by moving the starting index (logical index 0) up one in 
    actual index; nothing else will need to be moved or shifted.


Q3. I'm a little confused about the toString method...is it just going to
    return the elements in the list separated by a space? 

A3. No, on separate lines ('/n' is the newline character).


Q4. What is the RingList(RingList<? extends E>otherRingList)? I know it copies
    an array with the same elements and capacity into a new list, but what does
    the stuff inside the parentheses mean exactly? How do i type this in my test
    file ... (like an example of how this would be used)?

A4. If you already had some list otherList of type RingList<E>, then in client
    code you could create a copy with the constructor, as follows

        RingList<E> newlist;
        newlist = new RingList<E>( otherlist );

    The <? extends E> syntax is a "bounded wildcard"; see Subsection 4.7.3 in
    Gray's book for an explanation.  You don't need the explanation in order to
    do the project, however.  Just use the signature as given.  What it will
    do is allow the above 2 lines to work if otherlist is of type RingList<T>
    where T is a class which extends E.