Thread: How to begin with multi-dimensional arrays

A little backstory: I have some code written by the gentleman before me. I have practically no java experience, but need to make the code that he started work for our new standards. I have NO clue where to even begin, and would love some helpful guidance.

The code that we have:

public class employeeSurveyCalculator {
 
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    // Employee answers to the survey
 
    char[][] answers = {
      {'A', 'B', 'A', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'D', 'B', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'A', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'E', 'D', 'D', 'A', 'C', 'B', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'C', 'B', 'A', 'E', 'D', 'C', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'A', 'B', 'D', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'B', 'B', 'E', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'B', 'B', 'A', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'},
      {'E', 'B', 'E', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'E', 'A', 'D'}};
 
    // Key to the questions
    char[] keys = {'D', 'B', 'D', 'C', 'C', 'D', 'A', 'E', 'A', 'D'};
 
    // Analyze all answers
    for (int j = 0; j < answers.length; j++) {
 
    // Check one Employee
      int typeOneCount = 0;
      for (int i = 0; i < answers[j].length; i++) {
        if (answers[j][i] == keys[i])
          typeOneCount++;
      } // end for fro j index 
        } // end for for i index
  }// end main method
} //end class

We have a survey that we send out to our small teams to check personality compatibility. In particular, we are looking for a certain personality type. These people will be identified by answering the questions a certain way. These answers have been identified and placed in the key array.

I am supposed to now identify other personality types. This is still in the planning stages, so I have been tasked with expanding this code to create a running count of how many people answer what letter for what question. For example, how many people answer Question 1 with A, with B, with C, etc.

They tell me this is easy to do, but I am at a complete loss. Can I get some helpful hints to help me on the right track?


Thank you so much!

Lorelai