nestedParens (not graded)

static boolean nestedParens(String str)
{
    //base cases
    //looked at whole string
    if (str.length() == 0)
        return true;

    //extra ')', must be false, since it does not belong to a pair
    if (str.charAt(0) == ')')
        return false;

    //recursive cases
    if (str.charAt(0) != '(') //we don't care about non-'('s, skip it
        return nestedParens(str.substring(1));

    int iCloseLoc = -1; //position of ')', -1 means not found

    for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) //find ')'
    {
        if (str.charAt(i) == ')')
        {
            iCloseLoc = i;
            break;
        }
    }

    if (iCloseLoc == -1) //did not find closing parenthesis, incomplete pair
        return false;
    else //found pair of parenthesis, remove them and do recursive call on new string
    {
        String newStr = new String();
        newStr = str.substring(1, iCloseLoc) + str.substring(iCloseLoc+1);
        return nestedParens(newStr);
    }
}