guessInput.charAt(0)

That makes so much more sense Thank You. If you don't mind can you also explain the return at the end of each Boolean scope. Why do we need to have a return there and also could you give me an example of how return can be used.

By "Boolean scope" I assume you refer to the methods that have boolean as their return type.

return is used to pass a value back to the code that called the method. Returning values is a fundamental part of Object Oriented Programming but it's not the simplest concept to explain.

A method always has to return a value whose type matches the type defined in it's declaration, which is known as it's return type. Though if the return type is defined as void then that means that the method does not return anything.

Since the applyGuess and the promptForGuess methods are defined with a return type of boolean they have to return a boolean, the applyGuess methods returns the contents of the isHit variable, which means that it will return true if the guess was correct and false otherwise.

The promptForGuess method returns the result of applyGuess, which means that it basically just passes along whatever the return value of applyGuess is.

The point of returning a value is that you can make use of that value in other places in your code, it allows you to not only ask a method to perform some kind of action, but to also give you back the result of said action.

In this case the return of the promptForGuess method is used in this line of the Hangman.java file:

boolean isHit = prompter.promptForGuess();

When you set a variable equal to calling a method you actually set the variable equal to whatever said method returned to you.

This allows you to make use of the result of calling promptForGuess within the Hangman.java file. If the method did not return anything then you would have no way of knowing what the result of calling the method actually was.

return can be used to return any type of value (as long as the return type of the method matches) and on the receiving end it can be used in any way that type of value normally would be.

You will be seeing plenty more examples of return being used though the Java courses since it is such a fundamental part of the language (and programming languages in general), so you don't have to worry too much if you still don't really get how it works or why it is used. After seeing it in use more I'm sure the point of it will eventually click for you.

But if you have any more concrete question about it, or about Java in general then feel free to ask me, I'll answer anything I can.