hints.md

Hints

1. Representing the Date

• The core class for representing dates without time in Java is java.time.LocalDate.
• You'll need to work with the year and month provided in the constructor.
• The target day of the week is conveniently provided directly as a java.time.DayOfWeek enum instance in the day() method.

2. Starting Point for Adjustments

• LocalDate objects are immutable. To find the target meetup date, you typically start with any date within the target month and year and then apply an "adjuster" to find the correct day.
• For example, you could create a LocalDate for the 1st of the month: LocalDate.of(year, month, 1).
• For "Teenth" calculations, starting from the 13th of the month (LocalDate.of(year, month, 13)) can be helpful.

3. Adjusting Dates with TemporalAdjusters

• The key to solving this idiomatically is the java.time.temporal.TemporalAdjusters utility class (note the plural 's'). It provides static methods that return TemporalAdjuster instances for common date calculations.
• You apply an adjuster to a LocalDate using its .with() method: someLocalDate.with(TemporalAdjusters.someAdjuster(...))
• This returns a new LocalDate instance with the adjustment applied.

4. Handling "Ordinal" Schedules (FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH)

• Look for a method in TemporalAdjusters that allows you to find a date based on its ordinal position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) and its DayOfWeek within the month.
• You might need to convert the MeetupSchedule enum values (FIRST, SECOND, etc.) into the corresponding integer ordinals (1, 2, 3, 4) to use this adjuster.

5. Handling the "LAST" Schedule

• TemporalAdjusters provides a specific adjuster to find the last occurrence of a given DayOfWeek within the month.

6. Handling the "TEENTH" Schedule

• "Teenth" days run from the 13th to the 19th of the month.
• Consider starting from the 13th day of the month (LocalDate.of(year, month, 13)).
• Look for an adjuster in TemporalAdjusters that finds the next occurrence of the target DayOfWeek, potentially including the date you're adjusting if it already matches the target day of the week.

7. Selecting the Right Adjuster

• Use the input schedule (which is a MeetupSchedule enum value) to determine which specific TemporalAdjuster method to use. A switch statement or if-else if chain on the schedule value is a common approach.