Why do Min & Max show up as 0 in my array?

Understand the common pitfalls in Java array manipulation and learn how to correctly compute the minimum and maximum values.
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Why do Min & Max show up as 0 in my array?

When working with arrays in Java, you may encounter a frustrating problem: your attempts to find the minimum and maximum values may yield results of 0. This may leave you scratching your head, especially if you feel you've coded everything correctly. In this post, we’ll break down the common mistakes that lead to this behavior, and provide you with solutions to fix your code.

The Problem

Let’s say you have this snippet of Java code designed to read an array of integers, fill it with random numbers, and subsequently find the minimum and maximum values in that array. Instead of getting the expected outputs, you find that both the minimum and maximum values are showing up as 0. But why?

Analyzing the Code

Let’s look at two critical methods in your code, min and max:

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In this method, you initialize min to 0. Since all elements of your array are likely greater than 0 (assuming you correctly fill the array with positive integers), this means that the minimum value will never be less than your starting value. As a result, it will always return 0, which is not a valid minimum value from your array.

Now, let’s look at the max method:

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Here again, you start with max set to 0. The if-condition checks if the elements in the array are greater than max. If they are, it assigns max to the element in the array instead of updating max to the new highest value. This logic is flawed, and as a result, max will not reflect the actual maximum value in the array.

The Solution

To resolve these issues, we need to make some adjustments to both methods. Here’s how you can correctly find the minimum and maximum values.

Revised Minimum Method

Instead of starting min at 0, you should initialize it to the first element of the array:

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Revised Maximum Method

Likewise, modify your maximum method to start max at the first element and correctly update it:

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Sample Code Integration

Now, integrate these revised methods back into your main program. Here’s a complete view combining everything:

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Conclusion

By making these small yet crucial changes, you can effectively compute the minimum and maximum values of an array in Java without running into the problems of incorrectly returning 0. Understanding these details not only helps in fixing current bugs but also enhances your overall programming skills, leading to cleaner and more efficient code. If you ever find yourself stuck again, remember that using a debugger can make it easier to step through your code and identify where things may be going wrong.

Happy coding!

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