Need to take in a char and print out its shape in asterisks java

Question

i have to make a program that has the user input 3 letters and then the program prints it out in asterisks. EX for 1 letter : https://i.stack.imgur.com/jkAIX.jpg Obvously I can make an array with the shapes for each char in the alphabet but I want to know if there is an easier way to do something link this. Is there some method that get a char and a symbol and prints out the shape of the char in that symbol.

Well ... yes and no. You can include FreeType (or, on Windows, draw the character into a bitmap) but that really sounds beyond what you are asked to do. Rather than creating the bitmap array yourself, you could search the web for a pre-made list. And of course there is no method to do *exactly* what your assignment is to write! — Jongware, Nov 07 '15 at 17:04

score 10 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

Here's a neat solution using good old AWT to render your text in Comic Sans, for kicks and giggles:

import static java.awt.image.BufferedImage.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;

public class ASCIIRenderer {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
                new InputStreamReader(System.in))) {
            String text = null;
            while ((text = reader.readLine()) != null) {
                // Dummy image to calculate bitmap width / height of your text
                BufferedImage img = new BufferedImage(1, 1, TYPE_INT_ARGB);
                Graphics2D g2d = img.createGraphics();
                Font font = new Font("Comic Sans MS", Font.PLAIN, 24);
                g2d.setFont(font);
                FontMetrics fm = g2d.getFontMetrics();
                int width = fm.stringWidth(text);
                int height = fm.getHeight();
                g2d.dispose();
                // Real image
                img = new BufferedImage(width, height, TYPE_INT_ARGB);
                g2d = img.createGraphics();
                g2d.setFont(font);
                fm = g2d.getFontMetrics();
                g2d.drawString(text, 0, fm.getAscent());
                g2d.dispose();
                for (int y = 0; y < img.getHeight(); y++) {
                    for (int x = 0; x < img.getWidth(); x++) {
                        System.out.print(0 == img.getRGB(x, y) ? "  " : "**");
                    }
                    System.out.println();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

(credits to most of the above code go to MadProgrammer)

Run it, type something like ABC and get this:

                  **                   ************                            ************
                ******                 ****************                    ****************
                ******                 ****        ******                ******        ****
              ********                 ****          ******            ******          ****
              ********                 ****            ****            ****                
            ******  ****               ****            ****          ******                
          ********  ****               ****            ****        ******                  
          ******    ****               ****          ******        ****                    
        ********      **               ****        ******          ****                    
        ******        ****             ****************          ****                      
        ******************             ****************          ****                      
      ********************             ****        ********      ****                      
    **********          ****           ****            ******    ****                      
    ******              ****           ****              ****    ****                ****  
    ******              ****           ****              ****      ****            ******  
  ******                ******         ****            ****        ******      ********    
  ******                  ****         ****      **********          ****************      
  ****                    ****         ****************                **********          
                                       ************

That is quite brilliant. Plus one for effort and speed. – Paul Boddington Nov 07 '15 at 17:23 — Paul Boddington, Nov 07 '15 at 17:23

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 07 '15 at 17:07

4

There is no easy way to do this. A char does not have a shape. A char is just a number between 0 and 65535 that happens to get displayed as a single character when you print it.

You would have to design your own pattern for each letter of the alphabet, and using arrays would be the easiest way.

answered Nov 07 '15 at 17:07

Paul Boddington

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Yeah i figured I would have to do that, I know I can do that in that way its just tedious. – Anatoliy Sokolov Nov 07 '15 at 17:10
1

@AnatoliySokolov It is tedious I agree. I'd be tempted to do it for 5 letters of the alphabet to prove you can do it and then tell your professor you got bored. – Paul Boddington Nov 07 '15 at 17:11
3

@PaulBoddington Total overkill. User only inputs **3** letters, so why do 5? Are you trying for extra points, and make the rest of us look bad? OP already designed the `D`, so design an `A`, and show that it can print `DAD`, or maybe `ADD` which is why you stopped there. LOL *(oops, can't print that yet)* – Andreas Nov 07 '15 at 17:16

Need to take in a char and print out its shape in asterisks java

2 Answers2