[DYS]

Hi there.

As some may remember I used to come here for a lot of help with Java. Sadly, I've come back for more help - I hope some people more clued up on the subject than me can help me out. I'd always try and help others out but I'm just not that good at it.

Anyway, I'm now in my second year of university, and my new Java teacher swears by making Tester classes for any Java class files we make.

So, what I need to know is is there any certain requirements a Tester class needs? I know that it would need a main method, as it would be the Java class that is run.
I really don't know how to link the Tester class and the initial class together in order to run properly.

This is a class I found in a textbook earlier and got to run, however, it's just one initial class.

This class generates a random number from 0 and the size of each word list array and then picks a word at random from each list to generate a sentence which is printed to screen:

public class PhraseOMatic
{
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        //Makes the three lists of words
        String[] wordListOne = {"24/7", "multi-Tier", "30,000 foot", "B-to-B", "win-win", "front-end",
                                "web-based", "pervasive", "smart", "six-sigma", "critical-path", "dynamic"};
        
        String[] wordListTwo = {"empowered", "sticky", "value-added", "oriented", "centric", "distributed",
                                "clustered", "branded", "outside-the-box", "positioned", "networked", "focused",
                                "leveraged", "aligned", "targeted", "shared", "cooperative", "accelerated"};
                                
        String[] wordListThree = {"process", "tipping-point", "solution", "architecture", "core competency",
                                  "strategy", "mindshare", "portal", "space", "vision", "paradigm", "mission"};
                                  
        //Finds out how many words are in each list of words
        int oneLength = wordListOne.length;
        int twoLength = wordListTwo.length;
        int threeLength = wordListThree.length;
        
        //Calculations to generate the three random numbers
        int rand1 = (int) (Math.random() * oneLength);
        int rand2 = (int) (Math.random() * twoLength);
        int rand3 = (int) (Math.random() * threeLength);
        
        //Here, the phrase is built
        String phrase = wordListOne[rand1] + " " + wordListTwo[rand2] + " " + wordListThree[rand3];
        
        //Prints out the phrase to screen
        System.out.println("What we need is a " + phrase + ".");
    }
}

Now if I were to create a Tester class for this class, how the heck would I go about doing it?

I hope people understand where I'm coming from here.

Thanks very much.

[JimmySeal]

I think you're best off asking your teacher for a more specific description of what he or she expects a tester class to do. I don't think there is any standard definition for what a tester class is or does.

But generally, in order to have a tester class, you must have something that is capable of being tested. That is, one or more classes with various methods, inputs and outputs. What you've shown up there is a class with just a main() method that doesn't use the command line input, so there's not any testing you can do with it besides running it from the command line.

[DYS]

Hmm... seems he's in his own little world then?

Anyway, I've been working on my Javaness the past few days, and I think I'm making a breakthrough.
He likes to use Getters and Setters in the initial Java files, and then the main method is in the Tester class, as that is the run that is run.

I've been working on a program this weekend that I've just done to try and help myself learn.
It all works, but I just have a semantic error which I'm trying to get around.

Once I've completed it I'll post it here just to show what sort of stuff my teacher expects.

Thanks for your reply