/**
 * A simple counter, typically used to count the number of steps
 * used in an algorithm.
 *
 * @author Samuel A. Rebelsky
 * @version 1.0 of September 1998
 */
public class Counter {
  // +--------+--------------------------------------------------
  // | Fields |
  // +--------+

  /**
   * The value we've counted.
   */
  protected int count;


  // +---------+-------------------------------------------------
  // | Methods |
  // +---------+

  /**
   * Reset the counter to 0.
   */
  public void reset() {
    this.count = 0;
  } // reset()

  /**
   * Increment the counter.  Print an error message and reset to
   * 0 if the counter gets too large.  (This should really throw
   * an exception if the counter gets too large, but not everyone
   * who reads this will know about exceptions.  It should also
   * use a better mechanism for printing errors, but that was
   * deemed inappropriate.)
   */
  public void increment() {
    if (this.count == Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
      System.err.println("*** Error: exceeding maximum counter value ***");
      reset();
    }
    else {
      ++this.count;
    }
  } // increment()

  /**
   * Get the current value of the counter.
   */
  public int value() {
    return this.count;
  } // value()

} // class Counter