I got a different resolt than i was supposed to

[transgalactic]

i tried to follow this recurstion
but instead of getting the resolt i expected i got
some thing really different

http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img8290nf7.jpg

// print all subsets of 1...n 
Public static void subsets(int n, String andAlso)
{
      if (n==0)
	  { 
          System.out.println(andAlso);
      }
      else
	 {
          subsets(n-1,andAlso + n);
          subsets(n-1,andAlso);
      }
}

i entered (2,abcd)
i was supposed to get


cd
bd
bc
ad
ac
ab

istead i got some other answer using this diagram
can you tell me where i got ot wrong??

[ February 14, 2008: Message edited by: donaldth smithts ]

 

[DualCortex]

How is it supposed to output that?

cd
bd
bc
ad
ac
ab

Your diagram itself demonstrates why

abcd21
abcd2
abcd1
abcd

is the output ... We don't understand what its purpose is.

 

[sanitykey]

Your program is entertainingly mind boggling XD if it helps i think this is the run through of what it actually does:

0: subsets(2, "abcd") Pass in n = 2 andAlso = "abcd"
1.1: subsets(1, "abcd2") 1st line of else statement n-1 = 1 andAlso + n = "abcd2"
1.1.1: subsets(0, "abcd21") 1st line of else statement n-1 = 0 andAlso + n = "abcd21"
1.1.1.0: output = "abcd21" If statement so output
1.1.2: subsets(0, "abcd2") 2nd line of else statement n-1 = 0 andAlso = "abcd2"
1.1.2.0: output = "abcd2" If statement so output
1.2: subsets(1, "abcd") 2nd line of else statement n-1 = 1 andAlso = "abcd"
1.2.1: subsets(0, "abcd1") 1st line of else statement n-1 = 0 andAlso + n = "abcd1"
1.2.1.0: output = "abcd1" If statement so output
1.2.2: subsets(0, "abcd") 2nd line of else statement n-1 = 0 andAlso = "abcd"
1.2.2.0: output = "abcd" If statement so output

The main problem seems to be is what you want to do is to somehow make all possible subsets of the length you pass in (in your test case 2) of the string you pass in (in your test case "abcd") but your program logic doesn't seem right to do this, if it helps think of a string as an array of characters, it is possible to refer to each character individually. I would highly recommend netbeans to help, if you type in "String." for example it will list all methods associated with strings (save you remembering chunks of the API).