public static boolean registerUser(String username, String password, String passwordConfirm) {

    // check required limits on lengths of username and password
    // if those are good, call database register user
    // check to see if that user is already registered
    if (db.checkEmail(username)) return false;
    // if everything is good, register the user, set the current user information
    else {
      db.registerUser(username, password);
      loggedIn = true;
      currUserEmail = username;
      currUserPassword = password;
    }

    // to make the compiler happy until we finish implementation
    return true;
  }