PokerHands.java

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;

public class PokerHands {

    static ArrayList<String> arl = new ArrayList<String>();
    static final int CARDS_PER_HAND = 5;

    public ArrayList<String> createDeck() {
        String[] suits = { "Spades", "Diamonds", "Clubs", "Hearts" };
        String[] values = { "Ace", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8",
                 "9", "10", "Jack", "Queen", "King" };
        for (String s: suits) {
            for (String v: values) {
                // add card to ArrayList
                arl.add(v + " of " + s);
            }
        }
        return arl;
    } //createDeck

    public String dealCard() {
        // remove top card
        String s = arl.get(0);
        arl.remove(s);
        return s;
    } //dealCard

    public void showUsage() {
        System.out.println("Usage: java PokerHands <n> "
         + "(where n is number of hands of poker)");
    } //showUsage

    public void dealPokerHands(int n) {
        if (n<1) {
            System.out.println("No poker hands were dealt.");
        } else {
            System.out.println("*** Dealing poker hands as follows: ***");
            for (int hands = 0; hands<n; hands++) {
                for (int i=0; i<CARDS_PER_HAND; i++) {
                    // deal a card and display it
                    System.out.print (dealCard());
                    // separate each card with a comma
                    if (i<CARDS_PER_HAND-1) System.out.print(", ");
                }
                if (hands<n-1) System.out.println("\n"); // blank line between hands
                else System.out.println();
            }
        }
    } //dealPokerHands

    public int getNumberOfHands(String s) {
        int n = 0;
        // ensure command line argument is an int
        try {
            n = Integer.parseInt(s);
        } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
            System.out.printf("Error! %s is not a whole number!\n", s);
            System.exit(0);
        }
        // can't have more than 10 hands of five cards each
        if (n>52/CARDS_PER_HAND) {
            System.out.println("Number too big! Not enough cards to go round.");
            System.exit(0);
        }
        return n;
    } //getNumberOfHands

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // create instance of class
        PokerHands cards = new PokerHands();
        int n = 0;
        if (args.length==0) {
            cards.showUsage();
            System.exit(0);
        } else n = cards.getNumberOfHands(args[0]);

        arl = cards.createDeck();
        Collections.shuffle(arl);
        cards.dealPokerHands(n);
    } //main

} //class PokerHands