ArgumentParser

For this homework, you will create a class to parse command-line arguments and store them in a map. For example, consider the following command-line arguments:

"-max", "false", "-min", "0", "-min", "-10", "hello", "-@debug", "-f", "output.txt", "-verbose"

In this case, -max -min -@debug -f and -verbose are all flags since they start with a - dash followed by at least 1 character that is not a digit or whitespace. The values are false 0 hello and output.txt since they do not start with a - dash character.

Note that -10 is not a flag because the - dash is followed by a digit character. Instead it should be interpreted as a value representing a negative number.

Not all flags have values, not all values have associated flags, and values will be overwritten if there are repeated flags. For example, flag -max has value false. Flag -min has initial value 0, but the value get replaced by the second occurrence of the -min flag with the value -10 instead. The value hello has no associated flag and is ignored. The flags -@debug and -verbose have no associated value, but are still stored. The resulting map should look similar to:

{
  "-max": "false",
  "-min": "-10",
  "-@debug": null,
  "-f": "output.txt",
  "-verbose": null
}

Avoid looping more often than necessary. For example, numFlags() should not require a loop.

Hints

Below are some hints that may help with this homework assignment:

• The @see tag in the Javadoc comments often give hints on which methods are useful for implementing that method.

• Many methods may be implemented with one line of code if you are familiar with the methods in HashMap.

• The parse(...) method is easier if you use a traditional for loop instead of an enhanced for loop.

• To represent an individual character or symbol, use code points instead of the older and more limited char type. For example, use String.codePointAt(int) method when trying to access an individual character.

• To determine whether an individual character or symbol is a digit or whitespace, use the Character.isDigit(int) and Character.isWhitespace(int) methods. We will cover regular expressions later in the semester.

These hints are optional. There may be multiple approaches to solving this homework.

Instructions

Use the "Tasks" view in Eclipse to find the TODO comments for what need to be implemented and the "Javadoc" view to see additional details.

The tests are provided in the src/test/ directory; do not modify any of the files in that directory. Check the run details on GitHub Actions for how many points each test group is worth.

See the Homework Guides for additional details on homework requirements and submission.