How do you count the amount of times a method is called?

Question

This is a very simple Java code and I want to write a code that counts how many times the step method is called. Essentially, this code will draw a blob and count how many "steps" the blob takes. If the step number is equal to the Max, then the blob will take a new dx/dy eg a new velocity.

The Blob class is not that important, so I didn't attach it. However, the PurposefulWanderer class is called by another class, specifically a GUI

I tried making a static variable called current and I increment it by one under the step method, but this isn't working. It still says that the current variable is still 0.

public class PurposefulWanderer extends Blob {
private int TOTAL;
private static int current = 0;

public PurposefulWanderer (double x, double y) {
    super (x, y);
    this.TOTAL = (int) (Math.random()*10)+10;

}

@Override
public void step() {
    ++current;
    // Choose a new step between -1 and +1 in each of x and y
    if (current == this.TOTAL) 
        dx = 2 * (Math.random()-0.5);
        dy = 2 * (Math.random()-0.5);
        x += dx;
        y += dy;
        current = 0

}

}

Answer 1

if (current == this.TOTAL) 
    dx = 2 * (Math.random()-0.5);
    dy = 2 * (Math.random()-0.5);
    x += dx;
    y += dy;
    current = 0

Your code lacks curly braces after the if-statement. The if-statement now applies only to the first line after it. Everything else is executed every time the method is called. Including the line that sets current to zero.

I guess you added the static qualifier there when trying to get this work? :) You can remove it now. It causes the variable to be shared with all instances of PurposefulWanderer , causing bugs when you have more than one.