How to return a string?

Question

import java.util.*;
public class HangManP5 
{
public static void main(String[] args) 
{
int attempts = 10;
int wordLength;
boolean solved;
Scanner k = new Scanner(Sy         


        

Answer 1

In java, parameters are passed by value and not by reference. Therefore, you cannot change the reference of a parameter.

In your case, you need to do:

public static String getRandomWord() {
    switch(new Random().nextInt(5)) {
        case 0:
            return "Peace";
        case 1:
            return "Nuts";
        // ...
        default:
            throw new IllegalStateException("Something went wrong!");
    }
}

And in main:

// ...
String word = getRandomWord();
int len = word.length(); 
// ...

Answer 2

You can't modify the caller's reference.

RandomWord(word);

needs to be something like

word = RandomWord(word);

Also, by convention, Java methods start with a lower case letter. And, you could return the word without passing one in as an argument and I suggest you save your Random reference and use an array like

private static Random rand = new Random();
public static String randomWord() {
    String[] words = { "Peace", "Nuts", "Cool", "Fizz", "Awesome" };
    return words[rand.nextInt(words.length)];
}

And then call it like

word = randomWord();