For example, I want to create a function that can return any number (negative, zero, or positive).
However, based on certain exceptions, I'd like the function to return Boolean FALSE
Is there a way to write a function that can return an int or a Boolean?
Ok, so this has received a lot of responses. I understand I'm simply approaching the problem incorrectly and I should throw some sort of Exception in the method. To get a better answer, I'm going to provide some example code. Please don't make fun :)
public class Quad {
public static void main (String[] args) {
double a, b, c;
a=1; b=-7; c=12;
System.out.println("x = " + quadratic(a, b, c, 1)); // x = 4.0
System.out.println("x = " + quadratic(a, b, c, -1)); // x = 3.0
// "invalid" coefficients. Let's throw an exception here. How do we handle the exception?
a=4; b=4; c=16;
System.out.println("x = " + quadratic(a, b, c, 1)); // x = NaN
System.out.println("x = " + quadratic(a, b, c, -1)); // x = NaN
}
public static double quadratic(double a, double b, double c, int polarity) {
double x = b*b - 4*a*c;
// When x < 0, Math.sqrt(x) retruns NaN
if (x < 0) {
/*
throw exception!
I understand this code can be adjusted to accommodate
imaginary numbers, but for the sake of this example,
let's just have this function throw an exception and
say the coefficients are invalid
*/
}
return (-b + Math.sqrt(x) * polarity) / (2*a);
}
}
No, you can't do that in Java.
You could return an Object though. And by returning an object you could technically return a derived class such as java.lang.Integer or java.lang.Boolean. However, I don't think it's the best idea.