You generally speaking loop over a List like this (Java 7, it's called enhanced for loop):
for (TYPE TEMP_NAME : COLLECTION) {
}
That's the overall syntax. TYPE is the type of item in the list, yours are Object's in the given code. TEMP_NAME is the temporary name you want each entry to be referred as. COLLECTION is the list/array/stack/queue or other Collection.
Concretely:
for (Object o : basket) {
// if basket contains 10 entries the line will run 10 times. each new run contains a different object with name o
}
Normally when building strings it's preferred to use StringBuilder. We can skip that as it's "only" performance that you gain from it. We'll do it with a regular String. So:
- Create an empty string that will get longer and longer
- Loop the collection/array/list
- Append each object's .toString() to the string from 1)
e.g.
String myReturnString = "";
for (Object o : basket) {
myReturnString = myReturnString + " // " + o.toString();
}
return myReturnString;
Notes:
Your loop with an index is fine. You can do it that way too, if you want to.
The line of code that appends the string has a " // " separator between each entry. You can pick whatever you like. You can also simplify it to be myReturnString += " // " + o.toString();