CSC120-A5: Bringing it All Together

Outline

In this assignment, we'll explore Association by building a virtual Scarecrow using ASCII Art (a technique that uses printed characters to "draw" images) like the one below:

   ****************************
 *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
*** ~  HAPPY FALL, EVERYONE! ~ ***
 *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
   ********************     ***
                      *******
              ___.      ***
           ___)__|_.   **  
      .-*'          '*-,
     /      /|   |\     \ 
    ;      /_|   |_\     ;
    ;   |\           /|  ;
    ;   | ''--...--'' |  ;
     \  ''---.....--''  /
     ''*-.,_______,.-*'  
        __,--./|.--,__
      .`   \ \ / /    `.
    .`      \ | /       `.
   /   /     ^|^      \   \
  /   / |     |o     | \   \
 /===/  |     |      |  \===\
/___/   |     |o     |   \___\
        |     |      |
        |     |o     |
        |_____/\_____|
        |   | \/  |  |
        |__/  ||  \__|
        |     ||     |
        |     ||     |
        |     ||     |
        |     ||     |
        |     ||     |
        |_____||_____|
       |______||______|

As before, all the files necessary for this assignment are contained within this repository. When you submit, please remember to include:

• all files necessary to compile your program
• reflection.md containing your reflections and notes
• rubric.md where you document which elements of the assignment you have attempted and/or completed.

Program files

For this assignment, you'll be writing a whole bunch of (very simple) classes. Many of them represent individual parts of the scarecrow:

• Pumpkin.java (complete example provided)
• Shirt.java
• Pants.java
• Boot.java

Most of these classes will look very similar, containing just a single method to display() the corresponding part. Most don't even have an explictly-defined constructor! (Because these simple classes aren't storing any data and so don't have anything to initialize, we'll just rely on the default constructor that is inherited from the Object class - more on that after the midterm!) For example, if we examine Pumpkin.java we'll find:

public class Pumpkin {
    
    /*
     * Prints ASCII art depicting a jack-o'-lantern to the console
     */
    public void display() {

        System.out.println("              ___");
        System.out.println("           ___)__|_");
        System.out.println("      .-*'          '*-,");
        System.out.println("     /      /|   |\\     \\ ");
        System.out.println("    ;      /_|   |_\\     ;");
        System.out.println("    ;   |\\           /|  ;");
        System.out.println("    ;   | ''--...--'' |  ;");
        System.out.println("     \\  ''---.....--''  /");
        System.out.println("     ''*-.,_______,.-*'  ");  

    }
}

Step 1: Implementing individual parts.

Your first task is to implement the remaining "parts" - feel free to be creative with your ASCII art, or find some on the internet. Just don't forget to escape special characters like \ by adding another \ in front of them (so: \\) or they won't display properly. I've included a main(...) method in each of the starter files to simplify testing.

One tricky piece to consider is how you'll print your Boots (since you need two of them). In this class, your constructor will take a String as a parameter which will take one of two values: "left" or "right". We'll use this to signal whether we a drawing the left or right boot.

Hint 1: It's much more straightforward if each Boot only occupies a single line! Hint 2: Remember the difference between System.out.println(...) and System.out.print(...).

Step 2: Assembling the Scarecrow.

Now that each part is working individually, assemble them together inside the Scarecrow class!

Step 3: Adding the banner.

Once your Scarecrow is looking good, now it's time to add a decorative Banner that we can customize with a message. Unline the other classes representing parts of the Scarecrow, the Banner class will have a constructor which will take a String as a parameter that contains the message we want to print on the banner. You can stylize the banner however you like, but it should resize to fit the message. For example:

   ****************************
 *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
*** ~  HAPPY FALL, EVERYONE! ~ ***
 *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
   ********************     ***
                      *******
                      
               ****************
             *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
            *** ~  I <3 CSC! ~ ***
             *** ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ***
               ********     ***
                      *******
                      
                     **********
                   *** ~~~~~~ ***
                  *** ~  HI! ~ ***
                   *** ~~~~~~ ***
                     **     ***
                      *******

Note: if the "tail" on the speech bubble is giving you trouble, don't worry about it. A stylized regtangular banner is totally fine!

Step 4: Command line arguments.

Now comes the fun part: remember all those times we ignored the String[] args that we passed into main(...)? We're finally going to put it to use! If you look inside the main(...) method of the Scarecrow class, you'll see something new:

if (args.length > 0) {
  // DO SOMETHING HERE
}

This says "Check to see if there's anything stored in the args array (i.e., if its length is > 0)". This array gets populated when someone masses in a command line argument when they run the program, like this:

> java Scarecrow "Happy fall, everyone!"

The String "Happy fall, everyone!" (which immediately follows the call to java Scarecrow on the command line) is passed into the call to Scarecrow.main(...) and is stored in the first position of the String[] args array. The code to retrieve this value is already present; just pass it into your Banner constructor, and you should then be able to generate custom ASCII Scarecrows from the command line to your heart's content!