Java Data Structure - nucleotide count

Description.md

A Java exercise taken from Exercism.io

I did not create this assignment. The coded solution is mine. This was a Java practice project which helped me with String manipulation methods and data structures.

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Given a single stranded DNA string, compute how many times each nucleotide occurs in the string.

The genetic language of every living thing on the planet is DNA. DNA is a large molecule that is built from an extremely long sequence of individual elements called nucleotides. 4 types exist in DNA and these differ only slightly and can be represented as the following symbols: 'A' for adenine, 'C' for cytosine, 'G' for guanine, and 'T' thymine.

Given: A DNA string

Return: Four integers (separated by spaces) counting the respective number of times that the symbols 'A', 'C', 'G', and 'T' occur in s.

AGCTTTTCATTCTGACTGCAACGGGCAATATGTCTCTGTGTGGATTAAAAAAAGAGTGTCTGATAGCAGC -> 20 12 17 21

DNA.java

import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.Map;

/*
java solution to http://rosalind.info/problems/dna/
*/

public class DNA {
	private String theDNA;
	public DNA(String string) {
		theDNA = string;
	}

	public int count(char c) {
		int theCount = 0;
		//copy of original DNA sequence
		String dnaCopy = new String(theDNA);
		//letters in a DNA strand
		String theLetters = "ACGT";
			//as long as the letter is still in the strand copy
			while(dnaCopy.indexOf(c) != -1)
			{
				//find the position
				int thePosition = dnaCopy.indexOf(c);
				//remove the letter
				String before = dnaCopy.substring(0,thePosition);
				String after = dnaCopy.substring(thePosition+1);
				//make a new copy of the DNA strand minus the letter
				dnaCopy= before+after;
				//increase the count
				theCount++;
			}
		
		return theCount;
	}
  
   

	public Map<Character, Integer> nucleotideCounts() {
		Map<Character, Integer> theResults = new LinkedHashMap<Character, Integer>();
		theResults.put('A', this.count('A'));
		theResults.put('C', this.count('C'));
      	theResults.put('G', this.count('G'));
      	theResults.put('T', this.count('T'));

		return theResults;
	}
		

  public static void main(String[] args) {
		DNA test = new DNA("AGCTTTTCATTCTGACTGCAACGGGCAATATGTCTCTGTGTGGATTAAAAAAAGAGTGTCTGATAGCAGC");

    
    for (Character ltr: test.nucleotideCounts().keySet()){

            String value = test.nucleotideCounts().get(ltr).toString();  
            System.out.print(value + " ");  
		} 

}
}