public class Palindrome
{

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
     String testString = "able was i ere i saw elba" ;
     System.out.println( isPalindrome(testString) ) ;
  }

  static
  boolean isPalindrome(String s)
  {
     // return true if s is a palindrome
     int leftCharToCheck ;
     int rightCharToCheck ;

     // begin the left at the first character, and the right at the last
     leftCharToCheck =  0 ;
     rightCharToCheck = s.length() - 1 ;

     while (  leftCharToCheck < rightCharToCheck  )
     {
         char lchar = s.charAt( leftCharToCheck ) ; // the char at leftCharToCheck
         char rchar = s.charAt( rightCharToCheck ) ;
         if ( lchar != rchar  )
         {
             return false ;
         }
         // ok so those are equal, continue looking
         leftCharToCheck ++ ;
         rightCharToCheck -- ;
     }
     return true ;
  }

}