Sorting three numbers

Question

import bwi.prog.utils.TextIO;
 public class MinMidMax {
 public static void main(String[] args) {
 int a,b,c;
 int greatest, mid, smallest;
 TextIO.putln("Enter three numbers");
 TextIO.put("a=");
 a = TextIO.getInt();
 TextIO.put("b=");
 b = TextIO.getInt();
 TextIO.put("c=");
 c = TextIO.getlnInt();
 greatest = Math.max(a, Math.max(b,c));
 smallest = Math.min(a, Math.min(b,c));
 if (a < greatest && a > smallest )
 mid = a;
 else if (b < greatest && b > smallest )
 mid = b;
 else
 mid = c;
 if(a<b && a<c && b<c){ // a<b<c
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","a", "b", "c");
 }
 else if(a<c && a<b && c<b){ // a<c<b
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","a", "c", "b");
 }
 else if(b<a && b<c && a<c){ // b<a<c
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","b", "a", "c");
 }
 else if(b<c && b<a && c<a){ // b<c<a
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","b", "c", "a");
 }
 else if(c<a && c<b && a<b){ // c<a<b
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","c", "a", "b");
 }
 else if (c<b && c<a && b<a){ //c<b<a
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d<%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s<%s\n","c", "b", "a");
 }
 else if ( a==b && b==a && a>c && b > c){ // c<a=b
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",c, a, b);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","c", "a", "b");
 }
 else if ( a==b && b==a && a<c && b < c){ //a=b<c
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d=%d<%d\n",a, b, c);
 TextIO.putf("%s=%s<%s","a", "b", "c"); 
 }
 else if ( a==c && c==a && a>b && c > b){ //b<a=c
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",b, a, c);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","b", "a", "c"); 
 }
 else if ( a==c && c==a && a<b && c<b){ //a=c<b
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d=%d<%d\n",a, c, b);
 TextIO.putf("%s=%s<%s","a", "c", "b");
 }
 else if ( a<b && a<c && b==c && c==b){ //a<b=c
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",a, b, c);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","a", "b", "c");
 }
 else if ( b==c && c==b && c<a && b< a) // b=c<a
 {
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d=%d<%d\n",b, c, a);
 TextIO.putf("%s=%s<%s","b", "c", "a");
 }
 else if (a == b && a == c && b == c && b == a && c==b && c==a) //a=b=c
 {
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d=%d=%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s=%s=%s","a", "b", "c");
 }
 else if (a < b && a < c && b == c && c==b) //a<b=c
 {
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","a", "b", "c");
 }
 else if (b<a && b<c && a == b && b == a) //b<a=c
 {
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","b", "a", "c");
 }
 else if (c<a && c<b && a == b && b == a) //c<a=b
 {
 TextIO.put("\n");
 TextIO.putln("ordered:");
 TextIO.putf("%d<%d=%d\n",smallest, mid, greatest);
 TextIO.putf("%s<%s=%s","c", "b", "a");
 }
 }
}

Answer 1

This will achieve the same goal in much less code.

import bwi.prog.utils.TextIO;
import java.util.*;
public class MinMidMax {
 public static void main(String[] args) { 
 Map<Integer, Character> vars = new TreeMap<Integer, Character>();
 // get input
 TextIO.putln("Enter three numbers"); 
 for (Character c = 'a'; c <= 'c'; c++) {
 TextIO.putf("%s=", c);
 vars.put(TextIO.getInt(), c);
 }
 // print the result
 StringBuilder sbValues = new StringBuilder("\nordered:\n");
 StringBuilder sbVars = new StringBuilder();
 for (Map.Entry<Integer, Character> e : vars.entrySet()) {
 sbValues.append(e.getValue());
 sbValues.append("\t<");
 sbVars.append(e.getKey());
 sbVars.append("\t<");
 }
 sbVars.setLength(sb.length() - 2);
 sbValues.setLength(sb.length() - 2);
 TextIO.putln(sbValues);
 TextIO.putln(sbVars);
 }
}

The TreeMap class automatically sorts its keys, and iterating through them is relatively trivial.

Not that StringBuilder has been used to build strings for later output, so you can remove the remaining \t< at the end.

The java.util package can make your life much easier.

Note that this also supports an arbitrary amount of inputs, just change c <= 'c' to any character greater than 'c' on the ASCII table.

• 200_success: I would use a TreeMap<Integer,Character> instead. TreeMap automatically keeps its keys sorted, and doesn't require an explicit Collections.sort(). Also, using Character avoids the ""+c hack.
• 200_success: You also don't need items — you can just get it from vars.keySet(), which is guaranteed to be a SortedSet if vars is a TreeMap.
• 200_success: The Map doesn't handle duplicate values well at all, though!
• azz: @200_success Modified to address first two comments. Changed to TreeMap<Integer, Character> and used resulting entrySet() with StringBuilder.