I really need some help with my project. It should be a very easy program, but no matter what I read online or in my books, I don't seem to be able to grasp the idea of arrays. I don't get how to use them at all.
Here's the program:
Write a program that will accept up to ten names (first and last names) and associated birth-date. Your program should ask the user for how many people s/he wants to enter and then read the names (first and last) and the corresponding birth-date in the following format: MM/DD/YYYY. Your program should then use a menu that allows the user to select either the way s/he wants to display the list of the entries, sorted by last name, first name, or birth-date, or to search for a specific entry by a specific field (last name, first name or birth-date) from data entered by the user. The program should terminate when the user selects exit from the menu.
I've gotten as far as asking the user how many people they want to enter in. When you use JOptionPane, how does the variable that the user enters get stored in the array? Like what syntax do I need to use? Also, how the heck am I supposed to convert the birth date to the mm/dd/yyyy format? Any help would be appreciated! Remember, I'm dumb at this, so explain in easy terms please! THANKS!!