question: private static StringExponentPair initialParse ( String s , int length , boolean isDouble ) { StringExponentPair result = new StringExponentPair ( ) ; if ( length == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } result . negative = ( s . charAt ( 0 ) == '-' ) ; char c = s . charAt ( length - 1 ) ; if ( c == 'D' || c == 'd' || c == 'F' || c == 'f' ) { length -- ; if ( length == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } } int end = Math . max ( s . indexOf ( 'E' ) , s . indexOf ( 'e' ) ) ; if ( end != - 1 ) { if ( end + 1 == length ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } int exponentOffset = end + 1 ; boolean negativeExponent = false ; char firstExponentChar = s . charAt ( exponentOffset ) ; if ( firstExponentChar == '+' || firstExponentChar == '-' ) { negativeExponent = ( firstExponentChar == '-' ) ; ++ exponentOffset ; } String exponentString = s . substring ( exponentOffset , length ) ; if ( exponentString . length ( ) == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } for ( int i = 0 ; i < exponentString . length ( ) ; ++ i ) { char ch = exponentString . charAt ( i ) ; if ( ch < '0' || ch > '9' ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } } try { result . e = Integer . parseInt ( exponentString ) ; if ( negativeExponent ) { result . e = - result . e ; } } catch ( NumberFormatException ex ) { if ( negativeExponent ) { result . zero = true ; } else { result . infinity = true ; } return result ; } } else { end = length ; } if ( length == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } int start = 0 ; c = s . charAt ( start ) ; if ( c == '-' ) { ++ start ; -- length ; result . negative = true ; } else if ( c == '+' ) { ++ start ; -- length ; } if ( length == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } int decimal = s . indexOf ( '.' ) ; if ( decimal > - 1 ) { result . e -= end - decimal - 1 ; s = s . substring ( start , decimal ) + s . substring ( decimal + 1 , end ) ; } else { s = s . substring ( start , end ) ; } if ( ( length = s . length ( ) ) == 0 ) { throw invalidReal ( s , isDouble ) ; } end = length ; while ( end > 1 && s . charAt ( end - 1 ) == '0' ) { -- end ; } start = 0 ; while ( start < end - 1 && s . charAt ( start ) == '0' ) { start ++ ; } if ( end != length || start != 0 ) { result . e += length - end ; s = s . substring ( start , end ) ; } final int APPROX_MIN_MAGNITUDE = - 359 ; final int MAX_DIGITS = 52 ; length = s . length ( ) ; if ( length > MAX_DIGITS && result . e < APPROX_MIN_MAGNITUDE ) { int d = Math . min ( APPROX_MIN_MAGNITUDE - ( int ) result . e , length - 1 ) ; s = s . substring ( 0 , length - d ) ; result . e += d ; } if ( result . e < - 1024 ) { result . zero = true ; return result ; } else if ( result . e > 1024 ) { result . infinity = true ; return result ; } result . s = s ; return result ; }
target:  Returns a StringExponentPair containing a String with no leading or trailing white space and trailing zeroes eliminated. The exponent of the StringExponentPair will be used to calculate the floating point number by taking the positive integer the String represents and multiplying by 10 raised to the power of the of the exponent.