Starpattern in console app

Question

I need to create the following pattern:

It is homework, this question I failed the first time. I read now that I should have only used "*" one time, but how would this even work in that case? Would appreciate if anyone could give me some insight in how to think.

My code is down below:

using System;
class StarPattern
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            Console.Write("*");
        }
        for (int a = 0; a <= 0; a++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("");
            Console.Write("*");
        }
        for (int c = 0; c <= 0; c++)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   *");
        }
        for (int d = 0; d <= 1; d++ )
        {
            Console.Write("*");
            Console.WriteLine("   *");
        }
        for (int e = 0; e < 5; e++ )
        {
            Console.Write("*");
        }
        Console.ReadLine();
    }                 
}

Answer 1

You can simplify your code by nesting loops so outer (i) = rows and inner (j) = columns. From looking at your sample, you want to write out if you're on the boundary of either so you can add a condition to just write out on min and max.

private static void Main(string[] args)
{
    for (int i = 0; i <= 4; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 0; j <= 4; j++)
        {
            if (i == 0 || i == 4 || j == 0 || j == 4)
            {
                Console.Write("*");
            }
            else
            {
                Console.Write(" ");
            }
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
    Console.ReadKey();
}

I'd probably replace 0 with a constant called MIN and 4 with a constant called MAX to save duplicating them. That way, you could increase the size of the square by just changing the constants.

Answer 2

Hardly anyone is commenting their code for you. How disappointing!

The trick here is to focus on what is important and define values that you will;

1. be using many times in the code
2. only want to change once if requirements need tweeking

These values are height and width - the core components of a rectangle.

The golden rule for the pattern is: If the row and column of each character is on the edge of the square, print a *

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Stars
{
    class Program
    {
        static int Width = 5; //define the width of the square in characters
        static int Height = 5; //define the height of the square in characters

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            for (int row = 0; row <= Height; row++) //Each iteration here is one row.
            {
                //loop representing columns. This is NESTED within the rows so 
                //that each row prints more than one column
                for (int column = 0; column <= Width; column++)
                {
                    if (IsCentreOfSquare(row, column)) //calculate if the current row and column coordinates are the interior of the square
                    {
                        Console.Write(" ");
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        Console.Write("*");
                    }
                }
                Console.WriteLine(); //this row is over. move to the next row
            }
            Console.ReadLine(); //pause so that the user can admire the pretty picture.
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Calculates if the row and column indexes specified are in the interior of the square pattern
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        private static bool IsCentreOfSquare(int row, int col)
        {
            if (row > 0 && row < Height)
            {
                if (col > 0 && col < Width)
                {
                    return true;
                }
            }

            return false;
        }
    }
}