Thread: Java pointers

Hi I am currently in my second year studying computer science and the assignment I have been assigned to complete is one in which I am required to create a chat room server. I have been really bad at doing work and now I am in need of some help.

The first part of the assignment which I am having trouble with asks me to create a pointer in a class chatter (already been implemented) which points towards the next chatter in a list of chatters, depending on whether or not said chatter is in the 'alive' or 'dead' list of chatters (these two lists need to be distinguished to save space).

I understand that on these types of forums it is not customary to give answers out, so I would really appreciate at least some guidance on the matter if anyone is willing to help. I can also post the code which I am meant to be working with up here if that would make it easier, thanks!

Hi Norm, thanks for the reply!
I believe the list is a linked list, but I have no idea how to actually tell the program to point towards an actual element in the list... This is what I've done so far;

...

public void chatPointer (Chatter p)
{
ChatterList cl = new ChatterList (); //instantiates a copy of the list

Chatter p = cl.theList //variable for traversing the list

...

I added this code to the class Chatter where the pointer needs to be stored, should I be adding a loop or is it something as simple as Chatter p = thelist.next ?

Well in the example code provided by the lecturer it appears that next is just used as a command to give the next element in a list, as he never actually defines what 'next' should do anywhere else in the code., this is the first usage of it;

public void broadcast(String msg)
{
// variable for traversing the linked list
Chatter tmp = theList;

/*
* traverse the list
*/
while (tmp != null) // exit loop at the end of the list
{
// send the message
tmp.theChatter.sendToUser(msg);
// and move on to the next chatter in the list
tmp = tmp.next;
}
}

I am so confused right now.. is there any website you could recommend which has tutorials on java which could bring me to at least this level of understanding? Thanks again for your reply!

(this code is in class ChatterList which is the actual implementation of the list)