Add hints to exercises without starter implementation (#1084)

* Add hints to exercises without starter implementation

As exercises with difficulty 5 are the first exercises without starter
implementation, they should have a hints file explaining how to fix the
compiler errors that occur when an exercise doesn't have any starter
implementation.

This should be detailed in the policies doc.

* flatten-array: regenerate README

Also update description for how to generate readme as it was lacking
detail.

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ You can do this by:
 
   2. Clone [the problem-specifications repository](https://github.com/exercism/problem-specifications).
 
-  3. Run `configlet generate . --only name_of_new_exercise` from the root of this repository.
+  3. Run `configlet generate . --only name_of_new_exercise --spec-path path_to_problem_specifications` from the root of this repository.
 
 * Check if there is canonical data for the exercise you're adding.
 This can be found at `https://github.com/exercism/problem-specifications/tree/master/exercises/EXERCISE-SLUG/canonical-data.json`.

POLICIES.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Our policies are not set-in-stone. They represent directions chosen at a point i
 
 | Track Event | Policies to review |
 |:------------|:-----------------|
-| Exercise added/updated | [Prefer instance methods](#prefer-instance-methods); [Avoid using final](#avoid-using-final); [Adhere to best practices](#adhere-to-best-practices); [Starter implementations](#starter-implementations); [Ignore noninitial tests](#ignore-noninitial-tests); [Multiple file submissions](#multiple-file-submissions); [Name test class after class under test](#name-test-class-after-class-under-test)
+| Exercise added/updated | [Prefer instance methods](#prefer-instance-methods); [Avoid using final](#avoid-using-final); [Adhere to best practices](#adhere-to-best-practices); [Starter implementations](#starter-implementations); [Ignore noninitial tests](#ignore-noninitial-tests); [Multiple file submissions](#multiple-file-submissions); [Name test class after class under test](#name-test-class-after-class-under-test); [Add hint for the first exercises without starter implementation](#add-hint-for-the-first-exercises-without-starter-implementation)
 | Track rearranged | [Starter implementations](#starter-implementations); [Multiple file submissions](#multiple-file-submissions) |
 | New issue observed in track | [Good first patches](#good-first-patches) |
 | "Good first patch" issue completed | [Good first patches](#good-first-patches) |
@@ -79,3 +79,15 @@ References: [[1](https://github.com/exercism/java/issues/395#issue-215734887)]
 > The exception to this is if the tests are split into several test classes where each test class tests different functionality. In that case each class should be named `SomeClassNameFunctionalityTest` where `Functionality` is the name of the functionality to be tested in that class. See the [clock exercise](https://github.com/exercism/java/tree/master/exercises/clock) as an example.
 
 References: [[1](https://github.com/exercism/java/issues/697)]
+
+### Add hint for the first exercises without starter implementation
+
+> According to the starter implementation policy, any exercise with difficulty 4 or lower should have starter implementation.
+> Any exercise with difficulty 5 or above will have no starter implementation (unless its signature is very complicated).
+> This could be confusing to users when tackling their first exercise with difficulty 5 when they are used to starter implementation being provided.
+
+> Therefore a hints.md file should be added to the .meta directory for every exercise with difficulty 5.
+> This file should explain what they need to do when there is no starter implementation.
+> The files should all be the same so you can copy it from any other exercise with difficulty 5, e.g. [flatten-array](https://github.com/exercism/java/tree/master/exercises/flatten-array/.meta/hints.md).
+
+> We add the file to every exercise with difficulty 5 because the structure of the track means that we don't know which exercise will be the first one without starter implementation that a user will be faced with.

exercises/flatten-array/.meta/hints.md

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+Since this exercise has difficulty 5 it doesn't come with any starter implementation.
+This is so that you get to practice creating classes and methods which is an important part of programming in Java.
+It does mean that when you first try to run the tests, they won't compile.
+They will give you an error similar to:
+```
+ path-to-exercism-dir\exercism\java\name-of-exercise\src\test\java\ExerciseClassNameTest.java:14: error: cannot find symbol
+        ExerciseClassName exerciseClassName = new ExerciseClassName();
+        ^
+ symbol:   class ExerciseClassName
+ location: class ExerciseClassNameTest
+```
+This error occurs because the test refers to a class that hasn't been created yet (`ExerciseClassName`).
+To resolve the error you need to add a file matching the class name in the error to the `src/main/java` directory.
+For example, for the error above you would add a file called `ExerciseClassName.java`.
+
+When you try to run the tests again you will get slightly different errors.
+You might get an error similar to:
+```
+  constructor ExerciseClassName in class ExerciseClassName cannot be applied to given types;
+        ExerciseClassName exerciseClassName = new ExerciseClassName("some argument");
+                                              ^
+  required: no arguments
+  found: String
+  reason: actual and formal argument lists differ in length
+```
+This error means that you need to add a [constructor](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/constructors.html) to your new class.
+If you don't add a constructor, Java will add a default one for you.
+This default constructor takes no arguments.
+So if the tests expect your class to have a constructor which takes arguments, then you need to create this constructor yourself.
+In the example above you could add:
+```
+ExerciseClassName(String input) {
+
+}
+``` 
+That should make the error go away, though you might need to add some more code to your constructor to make the test pass!
+
+You might also get an error similar to:
+```
+  error: cannot find symbol
+        assertEquals(expectedOutput, exerciseClassName.someMethod());
+                                                       ^
+  symbol:   method someMethod()
+  location: variable exerciseClassName of type ExerciseClassName
+```
+This error means that you need to add a method called `someMethod` to your new class.
+In the example above you would add:
+```
+String someMethod() {
+  return "";
+}
+```
+Make sure the return type matches what the test is expecting.
+You can find out which return type it should have by looking at the type of object it's being compared to in the tests.
+Or you could set your method to return some random type (e.g. `void`), and run the tests again.
+The new error should tell you which type it's expecting.
+
+After having resolved these errors you should be ready to start making the tests pass!

exercises/flatten-array/README.md

@@ -10,6 +10,68 @@ input: [1,[2,3,null,4],[null],5]
 
 output: [1,2,3,4,5]
 
+# Java Tips
+
+Since this exercise has difficulty 5 it doesn't come with any starter implementation.
+This is so that you get to practice creating classes and methods which is an important part of programming in Java.
+It does mean that when you first try to run the tests, they won't compile.
+They will give you an error similar to:
+```
+ path-to-exercism-dir\exercism\java\name-of-exercise\src\test\java\ExerciseClassNameTest.java:14: error: cannot find symbol
+        ExerciseClassName exerciseClassName = new ExerciseClassName();
+        ^
+ symbol:   class ExerciseClassName
+ location: class ExerciseClassNameTest
+```
+This error occurs because the test refers to a class that hasn't been created yet (`ExerciseClassName`).
+To resolve the error you need to add a file matching the class name in the error to the `src/main/java` directory.
+For example, for the error above you would add a file called `ExerciseClassName.java`.
+
+When you try to run the tests again you will get slightly different errors.
+You might get an error similar to:
+```
+  constructor ExerciseClassName in class ExerciseClassName cannot be applied to given types;
+        ExerciseClassName exerciseClassName = new ExerciseClassName("some argument");
+                                              ^
+  required: no arguments
+  found: String
+  reason: actual and formal argument lists differ in length
+```
+This error means that you need to add a [constructor](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/constructors.html) to your new class.
+If you don't add a constructor, Java will add a default one for you.
+This default constructor takes no arguments.
+So if the tests expect your class to have a constructor which takes arguments, then you need to create this constructor yourself.
+In the example above you could add:
+```
+ExerciseClassName(String input) {
+
+}
+``` 
+That should make the error go away, though you might need to add some more code to your constructor to make the test pass!
+
+You might also get an error similar to:
+```
+  error: cannot find symbol
+        assertEquals(expectedOutput, exerciseClassName.someMethod());
+                                                       ^
+  symbol:   method someMethod()
+  location: variable exerciseClassName of type ExerciseClassName
+```
+This error means that you need to add a method called `someMethod` to your new class.
+In the example above you would add:
+```
+String someMethod() {
+  return "";
+}
+```
+Make sure the return type matches what the test is expecting.
+You can find out which return type it should have by looking at the type of object it's being compared to in the tests.
+Or you could set your method to return some random type (e.g. `void`), and run the tests again.
+The new error should tell you which type it's expecting.
+
+After having resolved these errors you should be ready to start making the tests pass!
+
+
 # Running the tests
 
 You can run all the tests for an exercise by entering