Description
Interfaces are an important part of many APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) in Java. They
provide a way to make a group of classes have a common supertype. An interface can really be
thought of as a contract — any class that implements an interface makes a promise that it will provide
implementations for the methods declared in it.
Description
For this homework, your task will be to create PresidentialCandidate and
SenatorialCandidate classes in order to store information about political candidates and, most
importantly, check if they can run for President and Senator, respectively, of the United States. To do
this, our classes will implement an Electable interface which lays out some requirements for being
elected.
Electable interface
String getName() Returns the name of the candidate
boolean isCitizen() Returns the citizenship status*
int getAge() Returns the age of the candidate
String getPartyMembership() Returns the candidate’s claimed party
CampaignIssue getCampaignFocus() Returns the CampaignIssue the candidate’s
campaign focuses on
boolean canBeElected() Determines if a candidate can be elected and
returns the result. To be elected, one must be a
named citizen of at least the minimum age and
have a non-NULL claimed party.
* citizenship status includes requirements such as being a natural-born citizen of residence of 14+ years
if running for President, unrelated to your implementation
What is the minimum age to be elected? Well, it depends on the position you’re running for!
Minimum Age to Run for US Offices
Position Minimum Age
President 35
Senator 30
You’ll need this later when we begin to code the methods in PresidentialCandidate.java and SenatorialCandidate.java!
In order to represent the possible campaign issues the candidates might focus on, we will be using an
enum titled CampaignIssue (as used by Electable). Create a new file titled
CampaignIssue.java and insert an enum declaration like so:
public enum EnumName {
FIRST_VALUE,
SECOND_VALUE,
.
.
.
LAST_VALUE
}
In our case, EnumName will be replaced with CampaignIssue, and the values inside the braces can
be found in the next table.
Enums are handy because they allow us to use more informative names for values than just numbers!
For example, instead of saying that our candidate’s campaign focuses on issue 1, we can say that the
candidate’s campaign focuses on HEALTHCARE.
An enum allows us to define multiple constants at once which are internally assigned values by java.
We can then compare those values without worrying about the numbers at all! Therefore, we can use
the enum constants in if statements and comparisons. We can check if a candidate has a specific
campaign focus like so:
if (washington.campaignFocus == RENEWABLE_ENERGY) {
System.out.println(“Washington’s campaign focuses on
Renewable Energy!”);
}
For more examples, https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html has a few nice
examples with enums. You might find them when working with days of the week or months of the
calendar year. Days like MONDAY, TUESDAY, and SUNDAY are easier than days 0, 1, 2, etc. We don’t
need to worry if the week starts with Monday or Sunday when using enums!
Below are the campaign issues we will be including. The numbered order should correspond to the
order they are created in CampaignIssue.java.
CampaignIssue
0. NO_FOCUS 5. EDUCATION
1. HEALTHCARE 6. RENEWABLE_ENERGY
2. GUN_CONTROL 7. TAX_REFORM
3. CIVIL_RIGHTS 8. IMMIGRATION
4. CLIMATE_CHANGE 9. THE_ECONOMY
Now, let’s shift our attention to the PresidentialCandidate class. Recall that
PresidentialCandidate will implement our Electable interface. This means that
PresidentialCandidate will need to implement each method in Electable.java. In
addition, we will add a couple constructors and a method to update the candidate’s campaign focus.
PresidentialCandidate class
PresidentialCandidate(String name,
boolean citizenship, int age, String
party)
Typical constructor for a
PresidentialCandidate
object; campaignFocus will
default to NO_FOCUS
PresidentialCandidate(String name,
boolean citizenship, int age, String
party, CampaignIssue campaignFocus)
Alternate constructor for a
PresidentialCandidate
that sets the
campaignFocus attribute
void updateCampaignFocus (CampaignIssue issue) Update’s the candidate’s
campaignFocus to issue
SenatorialCandidate is setup very similarly to PresidentialCandidate. Begin by
implementing Electable. Then, add the same 3 additional methods we added to
PresidentialCandidate – (two constructors and an updateCampaignFocus() method).
Sample output
As always, we recommend testing your code (in IntelliJ first, not in Vocareum)! A sample main ()
method may look like the following:
public static void main(String[] args) {
PresidentialCandidate trump = new PresidentialCandidate(“Donald Trump”,
true, 71, “Republican”);
System.out.println(trump.getName() + ” of the ” + trump.getPartyMembership()
+ ” party ” +(trump.canBeElected() ? “can run for President.” :
“cannot run for President.”));
SenatorialCandidate elizabeth = new SenatorialCandidate(“Elizabeth II”,
false, 91, “Independent”);
System.out.println(elizabeth.getName() + ” of the ” +
elizabeth.getPartyMembership() + ” party ” +
(elizabeth.canBeElected() ? “can run for Senate.” :
“cannot run for Senate.”));
trump.updateCampaignFocus(CampaignIssue.IMMIGRATION);
System.out.println(trump.getName() + “‘s campaign focuses on ” +
trump.getCampaignFocus() + “.”);
}
Which produces the output:
Donald Trump of the Republican party can run for President.
Elizabeth II of the Independent party cannot run for Senate.
Donald Trump’s campaign focuses on IMMIGRATION.
Submission Instructions
Through Blackboard, submit to Vocareum the files Electable.java,
PresidentialCandidate.java, SenatorialCandidate.java, and
CampaignIssue.java. Only your last submission will be considered.
