How to compare 2 array without using any methods from the java arrays or collections class?

Question

This is a part of my homework assignment so I need explanation and not just an answer.

I'm creating the legendary purse class. I have to be able to compare one purse(array) to another purse(array). The kicker is that I can't use any methods from the java arrays or collections class. Where do I even start on creating something like this?

An example of what im doing is this:

String[] array1 = {"Quarter", "Dime", "Nickel", "Penny"};
String[] array1 = { "Dime", "Quarter", "Penny", "Nickel"};
(Does Array1==Array2?)
return true/false

Again I need to understand this so please don't just figure it out for me, but throw me some ideas.

Answer 1

You could try nested for loops. In pseudo-code:

for each element 'i' in Array1:
    for each element 'j' in Array2:
        does 'i' equal 'j'?
            // do something
        else:
            // do something else

Does this get you started? Would you like more help?

Answer 2

The way you'd compare elements between two arrays without Arrays.equal() would be to iterate over each element and compare them one at a time.

String[] array1 = new String[] {"Quarter", "Dime", "Nickel", "Penny"};
String[] array2 = new String[] {"Dime", "Penny", "Quarter", "Nickel"};

public boolean equalArrays(String[] array1, String[] array2) {
    if(array1.length != array2.length) {
        return false;
    }
    int matched = 0;
    for(int i = 0; i < array1.length; i++) {
        for(int j = 0; j < array2.length; j++) {
            if(array2[j].equals(array1[i])) {
                matched++;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return matched == array1.length;
}