Console based Hangman in Java

Question

I just created a Hangman app (same game mechanics mostly) using Java. I did this mainly to test my knowledge in OOP design/coding. I'd like to know your thoughts on my code

The whole project is on Github

I would really appreciate the comments and criticism!

public class Launcher {
private static BufferedReader consoleReader;
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
 consoleReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
 System.out.println("***LET'S PLAY HANGMAN (w/o the actual \"man\")***");
 System.out.print("Enter name:");
 String username = consoleReader.readLine();
 Player P1 = new Player(username);
 String plyrName = P1.getUsername();
 System.out.println("Welcome " + plyrName + "!");
 int choice = 0;
 while (choice != 4) {
 try {
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("1. Start game");
 System.out.println("2. Help");
 System.out.println("3. About this game");
 System.out.println("4. Quit");
 choice = Integer.parseInt(consoleReader.readLine());
 if (choice == 1) {
 AI a1 = new AI(P1);
 String answer = a1.getAnswer();
 P1.setGuess(P1.initGuess(a1));
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("***Guess this " + answer.length() + " letter word!***");
 while (P1.getTries() != 0) {
 try {
 for (int x = 0; x < answer.length(); x++) {
 System.out.print(P1.getGuess()[x] + " ");
 }
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("1. Guess a letter");
 System.out.println("2. Guess the answer");
 System.out.println("3. Concede");
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("No. of tries remaining: " + "*" + P1.getTries() + "*");
 int controls = Integer.parseInt(consoleReader.readLine());
 if (controls == 1) {
 System.out.print("Input letter: ");
 String ltr = consoleReader.readLine();
 if (a1.isLetterInWord(P1, answer, ltr.toLowerCase())) {
 if (String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()).equals(answer)) {
 System.out.println("***\"" + String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()) + "\"" + " is correct!***");
 System.out.print("***You have beaten the game, " + plyrName + "!***");
 P1.setTries(0);
 }
 System.out.println();
 } else {
 P1.setTries(P1.getTries() - 1);
 if (P1.getTries() != 0) {
 System.out.println("***Sorry try again!***");
 }
 }
 }
 else if (controls == 2) {
 System.out.print("Input guess: ");
 String word = consoleReader.readLine();
 if (a1.isGuessCorrect(answer, word.toLowerCase())) {
 P1.setGuess(word.toCharArray());
 System.out.println("***\"" + word + "\"" + " is correct!***");
 System.out.println("***You have beaten the game, " + plyrName + "!***");
 P1.setTries(0);
 } else {
 System.out.println("***Sorry try again!***");
 P1.setTries(P1.getTries() - 1);
 }
 }
 else if (controls == 3) {
 System.out.println("***Are you sure you want to concede?***");
 System.out.print("Y/N: ");
 String yn = consoleReader.readLine();
 while (!yn.toLowerCase().equals("n")) {
 if(yn.toLowerCase().equals("y")) {
 P1.setTries(0);
 break;
 }
 System.out.print("Y/N: ");
 yn = consoleReader.readLine();
 }
 }
 } catch (Exception e) {
 System.out.println("***ERROR: Invalid input!***");
 }
 }
 if (P1.getTries() == 0 && !String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()).equals(answer)) {
 System.out.println("***GAME OVER, " + plyrName + "!***");
 System.out.println("***The answer is " + "\"" + answer + "\"***");
 }
 }
 else if (choice == 2) {
 System.out.println(" ***Help***");
 System.out.println("You will be given a word to try and guess.");
 System.out.println("Your number of trials will depend on the length of the word.");
 System.out.println("You can guess it by letter or guess it directly.");
 System.out.println("Goodluck; Have fun!");
 System.out.println(" ***Help***");
 }
 else if (choice == 3) {
 System.out.println(" ***About this game***");
 System.out.println("This game was developed to check and exercise");
 System.out.println("zurcnay4's OOP knowledge using java. \n");
 System.out.println("Comments & suggestions on: ");
 System.out.println("- the application's overall design/code");
 System.out.println("- how to improve this game");
 System.out.println("are highly appreciated! \n");
 System.out.println("Fork on github: https://github.com/zurcnay4/Hangman");
 System.out.println(" ***About this game***");
 }
 else if (choice == 4) {
 System.out.println("***Are you sure you want to quit?***");
 System.out.print("Y/N: ");
 String yn = consoleReader.readLine();
 while (!yn.toLowerCase().equals("n")) {
 if ((yn.toLowerCase().equals("y"))) {
 choice = 4;
 System.out.println("***Goodbye, " + plyrName + "***");
 break;
 }
 System.out.print("Y/N: ");
 yn = consoleReader.readLine();
 }
 if ((yn.toLowerCase().equals("n"))) {
 choice = 0;
 }
 }
 } catch (Exception e) {
 System.out.println("***ERROR: Invalid input!***");
 }
 }
}
}

Couple of concerns

• Is there a need to use an abstract class/Interface in my project?
• Did I do abstraction correctly? Did I create the right classes/objects?
• Is my code readable?
• Am I following the right conventions?

Please do check the GitHub repo to see the whole application. Aside from the main class, I have these classes:

• AI
• AIService
• Player
• PlayerService
• Dictionary

Answer 1

Please split your code into different smaller functions. This is just impossible to understand. Here's my attempt, it probably doesn't compile but it does look much easier to understand :

public class Launcher {
 private static BufferedReader consoleReader;
 public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
 consoleReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
 System.out.println("***LET'S PLAY HANGMAN (w/o the actual \"man\")***");
 System.out.print("Enter name:");
 String username = consoleReader.readLine();
 Player P1 = new Player(username);
 String plyrName = P1.getUsername();
 System.out.println("Welcome " + plyrName + "!");
 while (true) {
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("1. Start game");
 System.out.println("2. Help");
 System.out.println("3. About this game");
 System.out.println("4. Quit");
 switch (askUserInteger(0)) {
 case 1: game(P1); break;
 case 2: help(); break;
 case 3: about(); break;
 case 4:
 if (userWantsToQuit()) {
 System.out.println("***Goodbye, " + plyrName + "***");
 return;
 }
 break;
 default: System.out.println("***ERROR: Invalid input!***");
 }
 }
 }
 public static void game (Player P1)
 {
 AI a1 = new AI(P1);
 String answer = a1.getAnswer();
 P1.setGuess(P1.initGuess(a1));
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("***Guess this " + answer.length() + " letter word!***");
 while (P1.getTries() != 0) {
 for (int x = 0; x < answer.length(); x++) {
 System.out.print(P1.getGuess()[x] + " ");
 }
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("1. Guess a letter");
 System.out.println("2. Guess the answer");
 System.out.println("3. Concede");
 System.out.println();
 System.out.println("No. of tries remaining: " + "*" + P1.getTries() + "*");
 switch (askUserInteger(0)) {
 case 1: guessLetter(P1); break;
 case 2: guessAnswer(P1); break;
 case 3 : if (userWantsToConcede()) P1.setTries(0); break;
 default : System.out.println("***ERROR: Invalid input!***");
 }
 }
 if (P1.getTries() == 0 && !String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()).equals(answer)) {
 System.out.println("***GAME OVER, " + plyrName + "!***");
 System.out.println("***The answer is " + "\"" + answer + "\"***");
 }
 }
 public static void guessLetter(Player P1)
 {
 System.out.print("Input letter: ");
 String ltr = consoleReader.readLine();
 if (a1.isLetterInWord(P1, answer, ltr.toLowerCase())) {
 if (String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()).equals(answer)) {
 System.out.println("***\"" + String.valueOf(P1.getGuess()) + "\"" + " is correct!***");
 System.out.print("***You have beaten the game, " + plyrName + "!***");
 P1.setTries(0);
 }
 System.out.println();
 } else {
 P1.setTries(P1.getTries() - 1);
 if (P1.getTries() != 0) {
 System.out.println("***Sorry try again!***");
 }
 }
 }
 public static void guessAnswer(Player P1)
 {
 System.out.print("Input guess: ");
 String word = consoleReader.readLine();
 if (a1.isGuessCorrect(answer, word.toLowerCase())) {
 P1.setGuess(word.toCharArray());
 System.out.println("***\"" + word + "\"" + " is correct!***");
 System.out.println("***You have beaten the game, " + plyrName + "!***");
 P1.setTries(0);
 } else {
 System.out.println("***Sorry try again!***");
 P1.setTries(P1.getTries() - 1);
 }
 }
 public static void help ()
 {
 System.out.println(" ***Help***");
 System.out.println("You will be given a word to try and guess.");
 System.out.println("Your number of trials will depend on the length of the word.");
 System.out.println("You can guess it by letter or guess it directly.");
 System.out.println("Goodluck; Have fun!");
 System.out.println(" ***Help***");
 }
 public static void about()
 {
 System.out.println(" ***About this game***");
 System.out.println("This game was developed to check and exercise");
 System.out.println("zurcnay4's OOP knowledge using java. \n");
 System.out.println("Comments & suggestions on: ");
 System.out.println("- the application's overall design/code");
 System.out.println("- how to improve this game");
 System.out.println("are highly appreciated! \n");
 System.out.println("Fork on github: https://github.com/zurcnay4/Hangman");
 System.out.println(" ***About this game***");
 }
 public static bool userWantsToConcede()
 {
 return askUserYesNoQuestion("***Are you sure you want to concede?***");
 }
 public static bool userWantsToQuit()
 {
 return askUserYesNoQuestion("***Are you sure you want to quit?***");
 }
 public static bool askUserYesNoQuestion(String question)
 {
 System.out.println(question);
 do {
 System.out.print("Y/N: ");
 String yn = consoleReader.readLine();
 if (yn.toLowerCase().equals("y")) return true;
 }
 while (!yn.toLowerCase().equals("n"));
 return false;
 }
 public static int askUserInteger(int defValue)
 {
 try {
 return Integer.parseInt(consoleReader.readLine());
 } catch (Exception e) {
 return defValue;
 }
 }
}

• Kurusu: This is great! it makes it more readable indeed!
• Kurusu: Question: with the functions game() about() help()... would it be better if I separate them in other classes to make it more OOP?

Answer 2

Nitpick: the variable P1 should be named p1, since the convention is to use uppercase for class names and constants.

I agree with @Josay that this function desperately needs to be broken up!

Since you indicate that you want to exercise OOP, I suggest creating a Menu class to help reduce the tedium of prompting for user choices.

public class Menu {
 public final String[] choices;
 public Menu(String... choices) {
 this.choices = choices;
 }
 int promptInt(BufferedReader in, PrintWriter out) throws IOException {
 while (true) {
 for (int i = 1; i <= this.choices.length; i++) {
 out.printf("%d. %s\n", i, this.choices[i - 1]);
 }
 out.flush();
 int choice = Integer.parseInt(in.readLine());
 if (choice > 0 && choice <= this.choices.length) {
 return choice;
 }
 }
 }
 boolean promptYN(BufferedReader in, PrintWriter out) throws IOException {
 assert 1 == this.choices.length;
 out.println(this.choices[0]);
 while (true) {
 out.print("Y/N: ");
 out.flush();
 switch (Character.toLowerCase(in.readLine().charAt(0))) {
 case 'y': return true;
 case 'n': return false;
 }
 }
 }
}

You can use it like this:

static Menu mainMenu = new Menu(
 /* 1 */ "Start game",
 /* 2 */ "Help",
 /* 3 */ "About",
 /* 4 */ "Quit"
);
static Menu quitMenu = new Menu("***Are you sure you want to quit?***");
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
 BufferedReader conIn = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
 PrintWriter conOut = new PrintWriter(System.out);
 while (true) {
 switch (mainMenu.promptInt(conIn, conOut)) {
 case 1: game(conIn, conOut); break;
 case 2: help(conIn, conOut); break;
 case 3: about(conIn, conOut); break;
 case 4:
 if (quitMenu.promptYN(conIn, conOut)) {
 System.out.println("Bye!"); return;
 }
 }
 }
}

• Kurusu: I see. I didn't think of making a Menu class thank you for pointing that out! Did you check the project on github? what are your thoughts on the classes that I created?