Thread: Another newbie asking for help!

Welcome to the forum!

I can't currently test your code to see exactly what is happening, but from a quick overview of the code, I can't really find anything that would reset the 'plays' counter. I'm assuming that is what you were talking about? If so, what makes you think that the counter is being reset?

One thing I do notice in your code is that you're declaring 'wins' and 'losses' as single element arrays, but you are going beyond those bounds... It looks as though you were trying to use them as a dynamic arrays, but you're not actually allocating any memory.

Code:

        int wins[] = {0}; // 1D array with 1 element...
	int losses[] = {0}; // 1D array with 1 element...

...further down in the code.....

Code:

			++roll;  // Assume this is after a few loops... this is DEFINITELY greater than 0!
			sum = rollDice();

			if ( sum == myPoint ) {
				gameStatus = WON;
				wins[ roll ] =+1;  // <<<<<< Where is this pointing to? (Random memory)
			} /* end if */

Maybe this is where your issue is?

HTH

I don't see your plays being reset, but your wins and losses are, since you wrote "=+1" (meaning, equal to positive one) instead of "+=1" (meaning, increment by 1) in several places.

Originally Posted by Feengur

Welcome to the forum!

I can't currently test your code to see exactly what is happening, but from a quick overview of the code, I can't really find anything that would reset the 'plays' counter. I'm assuming that is what you were talking about? If so, what makes you think that the counter is being reset?

One thing I do notice in your code is that you're declaring 'wins' and 'losses' as single element arrays, but you are going beyond those bounds... It looks as though you were trying to use them as a dynamic arrays, but you're not actually allocating any memory.

Code:

        int wins[] = {0}; // 1D array with 1 element...
	int losses[] = {0}; // 1D array with 1 element...

...further down in the code.....

Code:

			++roll;  // Assume this is after a few loops... this is DEFINITELY greater than 0!
			sum = rollDice();

			if ( sum == myPoint ) {
				gameStatus = WON;
				wins[ roll ] =+1;  // <<<<<< Where is this pointing to? (Random memory)
			} /* end if */

Maybe this is where your issue is?

HTH

Good spot. So put the two together -- change the =+ to +=, put a 21 or a 22 inside those brackets, and off you go.

when you say it keeps resetting what do you mean? the for loop counter should not reset after it reaches its total, it should just drop out of the loop and thats the end of it.

for single lines comment your lines // (if that compiler allows.....)

well i compiled and ran it in debug, you can see the play variable doing some wild stuff,
i commented out the call to rollDice and the problem was fixed so check that out,

edit > i was too slow repying anyhow!

Feengur:

My goal on the arrays was to use the position in the array as the number of rolls and the value of each position as the number of times a game was won or lost on that roll (such that if win[0] = 4 it would tell me that there were 4 wins out of 1000 on roll 1 (being element 0 of the array)

tabstop thank you thank you thank you, I have problems with those assignment operators (is that the right word?) This fixed it!


To all - the reason I know the plays counter was resetting was because in an effort to debug it, I added the printf statement directly below the for to see what the plays counter was set to in my output and it was looping all funky. fixing the =+ to a += fixed this.


I fear that I'm treading on "don't ask people to do your work for you" by further asking a question, but... now I have the code as follows:

Code:

#include < stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

enum Status { CONTINUE, WON, LOST };

int rollDice( void );

int main( void )
{
	int sum;
	int myPoint;
	int plays; /* counter for 1000 games */
	int wins[] = {0}; /* each address will be the roll, the value of the address will be the number of games won on that roll */
	int losses[] = {0}; /* each address will be the roll, the value of the address will be the number of games lost on that roll */
	int roll; /* counter to keep track of the number of rolls per game */
	int rollcount;
	int sumrollswins = 0;
	int sumrollslosses = 0;

	enum Status gameStatus;

	srand( time( NULL ) );

	for (plays = 1; plays < 1001; plays++) { 
	   roll = 1;
		sum = rollDice();

		switch( sum ) {
			case 7:
			case 11:
				gameStatus = WON;
				wins[ 0 ] =+1;
				break;
			case 2:
			case 3:
			case 12:
				gameStatus = LOST;
				losses[ 0 ] =+1;
				break;
			default:
				gameStatus = CONTINUE;
				myPoint = sum;
				/* rem printf( "Point is %d\n", myPoint ); */
				break;
		} /* end switch */

		while ( gameStatus == CONTINUE ) {
			++roll;
			sum = rollDice();

			if ( sum == myPoint ) {
				gameStatus = WON;
				wins[ roll ] +=1;
			} /* end if */
			else {
				if ( sum == 7 || sum == 11) {
					gameStatus = LOST;
					losses[ roll ] +=1;
				} /* end if */
			} /* end else */
		} /* end while */

		if ( gameStatus == WON) {
			/* rem printf( "Player wins\n" ); */
		} /* end if */
		else {
			/* rem printf( "Player loses\n" ); */
		} /* end else */
	} /* end for */

	printf( "# of rolls\tWins\tLosses\n" );
	for ( rollcount = 0; rollcount < 21; rollcount++) {
		printf( "   %d   \t %d \t  %d\n", rollcount, wins[ rollcount ], losses[ rollcount ] );
	}
	printf( "  >20	\t %d \t %d\n", sumrollswins, sumrollslosses);

	return 0;
} /* end function main */

int rollDice( void )
{
	int die1;
	int die2;
	int workSum;

	die1 = 1 + ( rand() % 6 );
	die2 = 1 + ( rand() % 6 );
	workSum = die1 + die2;

/* rem	printf( "Player rolled %d + %d = %d\n", die1, die2, workSum ); */
	return workSum;
}

and I get a "Run-time Check Failure #2 - stack around the variable 'wins' was corrupted" error.


Does this come back to me trying to manipulate my arrays the way i want to (and being incorrect in that)?

yep. you still haven't setup your wins/losses arrays correctly. it's just not gonna work like that. :P

either use malloc if you really want to use dynamic arrays OR for just setup the arrays so they are large enough to fit the max number of rolls.

We realize that's what you want to do with the array. The point is, you don't have any array elements in your array to change. When you declare an array, you have to say how big it's supposed to be.

Good declarations:

Code:

int wins[21] = {0};
int losses[42] = {0};

brilliant!

Thank you all for the help! It's working just fine now.


(I haven't learned anything called 'malloc' yet so I chose to declare them as

Code:

array[1000] = {0}

and let the compiler zero-fill as necessary. It seems rather inefficient but within the constraints of what I've been taught in class it's probably the best I can do.

Thanks again!

It seems rather inefficient but within the constraints of what I've been taught in class it's probably the best I can do.

quite right, what would your tutor think if he saw you fluent with malloc all of a sudden....