Malloc and array problem

[yacek]

Here is the general assignment: "Write a C program that calculates the average price of a company’s stock over a specified period of time. Your program should ask the user the number of prices that will be entered and then dynamically allocate the correct amount of memory to store the prices. Pass this allocated memory into functions that calculate the average price."

Here's what I have so far

/*

My name is Jack Trocinski

*/

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

int main()
{
	double i; // number of stocks
	double *ptr; // memory allocation
	
	printf("Please enter the amount of stocks prices you wish to have calculated: ");
	scanf("%d", &i);
	
	*ptr = malloc( i * sizeof(*ptr) );
	
	system("pause");
	return 0;
}

I'm having problems just allocating the memory, what am I doing wrong with the malloc?? Then later I know I will probably need a function with an array to where the stock prices are stored and then calculated.

[tabstop]

ptr =, not *ptr =

[yacek]

Oh nice, thanks. I will also make i an int value and then typecast it.

[yacek]

Ok, now I want to have an array with i slots so I tried doing something like this but it's getting errors.

/*

My name is Jack Trocinski

*/

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

int main()
{
	int j; // number of stocks
	double *ptr; // memory allocation
	int i; // used for loop
	
	printf("Please enter the amount of stocks prices you wish to have calculated: ");
	scanf("%d", &j);
	
	double array[i];
	
	ptr = (double*)malloc( j * sizeof(*ptr) );
	
	system("pause");
	return 0;
}

How can I get the user to specify the amount of slots the array has?

[CommonTater]

How can I get the user to specify the amount of slots the array has?

You already did when you asked how many stocks...
In my experience giving a user a choice like that is begging them to get it wrong.

How many stocks? 10,000
How many array slots? 6

[yacek]

Yes exactly, so what is wrong with the code I posted. I would think since the user enters i number of stocks that if i create an array right after scanf called "double array[i]" it would make that many slots for me but I get errors.

[CommonTater]

Yes exactly, so what is wrong with the code I posted. I would think since the user enters i number of stocks that if i create an array right after scanf called "double array[i]" it would make that many slots for me but I get errors.

That's going to depend on the compiler you're using. The ability to make an array on the fly without using malloc is a c-99 feature that older compilers won't support.

Beside that you asked for J ... not I... and you created an array ptr with J elements using malloc that can hold your stocks... you can access it as ptr[n] ... so why do you need 2 arrays?

[yacek]

yes you're right I used J, got mixed up there. So by using malloc I've already created an array? I didn't realize that. Ok, I'm going to play with this some more I'm sure I'll have some more questions but I want to see how far I can get with it first. Thanks.

[\007]

You're begging for a challenging user.

Q:"How many stocks?"
A: -10
*CRASH*

Make sure to check for proper input.

[yacek]

Oh nice, didn't think of that. Thanks. Probably can fix that with an if else statement.

[yacek]

Alright finally got the average to work out, now any suggestions how to find the lowest and highest values entered since the way I tried isn't really working. New code:

/*

My name is Jack Trocinski

*/

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

double average(double *ptr, int j);

int main()
{
	int j; // number of stocks
	double *ptr; // memory allocation
	int i; // used for loop
	double min; // lowest price
	double max; // highest price
	
	printf("Please enter the amount of stocks prices you wish to have calculated: ");
	scanf("%d", &j);
	
	if (j > 0) {
		ptr = (double*)malloc( j * sizeof(*ptr) );
		for ( i = 0; i < j; ++i) {
			printf("Input your stock price and press enter: ");
			scanf("%lf", &ptr[i]);
			
			if (min < ptr[i]) min = ptr[i];
			if (max > ptr[i]) max = ptr[i];
		}
		
		printf("The average price entered was %f \n ", (average(ptr, j)) );
		printf("The lowest price entered was: %f \n", min);
		printf("The highest price entered was: %f \n", max);
		
		free( ptr );
		
	}
	
	else printf("Sorry, you have entered an invalid number.\n");
	
	system("pause");
	return 0;
}

double average(double *ptr, int j)
{
	int i; // for loop
	double sum = 0; // sum of array
	double avg; // avg of array
	
	for ( i = 0; i < j; ++i) {
		sum = sum + ptr[i];
	}
	
	avg = ( sum / ((double)j) );
	return avg;
}

[yacek]

I have the max price working now using this code instead in the main for loop, but the min keeps showing me 0.000000 as the lowest price even though i never enter a zero value to the array... suggestions?

	if (ptr[i] < min) min = ptr[i];
		if (ptr[i] > max) max = ptr[i];

[jimblumberg]

What does isn't working mean?

You might want to initialize the min, max variables before you use them.

Jim

[yacek]

What does isn't working mean?


Jim

The lowest price entered is printing out a 0.000000 every time I run it even though I never enter a 0 price value into the array. The highest price entered works fine though.

[jimblumberg]

You might want to initialize the min, max variables before you use them. So the have a valid value.

Jim