2024 FRQ 2

public class Scoreboard {
    private String team1Name;
    private String team2Name;
    private int team1Score;
    private int team2Score;
    private boolean isTeam1Active;

    // The parameters here (t1, t2) must match the names used below
    public Scoreboard(String t1, String t2) {
        team1Name = t1;
        team2Name = t2;
        team1Score = 0;
        team2Score = 0;
        isTeam1Active = true;
    }

    public void recordPlay(int points) {
        if (points > 0) {
            if (isTeam1Active) {
                team1Score += points;
            } else {
                team2Score += points;
            }
        } else {
            // Points is 0, so switch the active team
            isTeam1Active = !isTeam1Active;
        }
    }

    public String getScore() {
        String activeName;
        if (isTeam1Active) {
            activeName = team1Name;
        } else {
            activeName = team2Name;
        }
        
        // Final check: Note the "+" before activeName
        return team1Score + "-" + team2Score + "-" + activeName;
    }
}

Output(from code runner on pages, I can’t screenshot on this device)

(Step 2) info = 0-0-Red

(Step 4) info = 1-0-Red

(Step 6) info = 1-0-Blue

(Step 7) info = 1-0-Blue

(Step 9) info = 1-3-Blue

(Step 12) info = 1-4-Red

(Step 16) info = 1-8-Red

(Step 18) match info = 0-0-Lions

(Step 19) game info = 1-8-Red

Challenges

My biggest challenge working on this homework assignment was syntax. I often forgot to add semicolons, and I also struggled with the syntax of the return statement, forgetting a plus.

Things I learned

State Management: Using a boolean like isTeam1Active is a very efficient way to handle a “toggle” system. It makes the recordPlay logic clean because ythere are only two states to worry about.

Logic in recordPlay: use of the exclamation point (!isTeam1Active) to flip the boolean is the idiomatic way to handle switches in Java. concise and prevents from having to write if (isTeam1Active) { isTeam1Active = false; }.

String Formatting: In getScore(), String Concatenation is used. By combining integers (team1Score) with string literals (“-“), Java automatically converts numbers into strings to build the final output.