Game of Life help needed

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
   const int ROW = 7;
   const int COL = 7;

   void main()
   {

      char M[ROW][COL]={
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ','*','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ',' ',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '}
                       };

      int num = 0;
      cout << "\nPlease enter the number of generations to print: ";
      cin >> num;

      cout << "\n\n\tGeneration: " << 0 << endl;
      for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
         cout << endl << "\t" << '|';
         for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
            cout << M[i][j] << '|';
         }//for
      }//for

      cout << endl <<endl;

      for (int k=0; k<num; k++){
         for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
            for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
               if (M[i-1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j=1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j-1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j+1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j+1] == '*') num++;
            }//for
         }//for
         cout << "\tGeneration: " << k+1 << endl;
            for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
               cout << endl << "\t" << '|';
               for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
                  cout << M[i][j] << '|';
               }//for
            }//for

         cout << endl <<endl;
      }//for
   }//main

Here is my code. When I try to execute this, it will only print the first generation no matter how many generation I enter. What am I doing wrong?

It's an endless loop problem:

Code:

      for (int k=0; k<num; k++){
         for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
            for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
               if (M[i-1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j=1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j-1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j+1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j+1] == '*') num++;
            }//for
         }//for

You are always evaluating to true on at least one of the if statements and so the value of num is always increased. Thus k will always be less than num and you're stuck in the loop.

David

First problem:
>if (M[i-1][j=1] == '*') num++;
This is why it only prints the first generation, infinite loop #1, j is always less than COL-1, program no workie.

Second problem (with first problem corrected):

Code:

for (int k=0; k<num; k++){
         for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
            for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
               if (M[i-1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j-1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j+1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j+1] == '*') num++;
            }//for
         }//for

See it? k gets incremented by one with every iteration of the outer loop, but num gets incremented quite a bit more than that so k will always be less than num. Infinite loop #2*, program no workie.

*Well, not quite infinite. It'll break on some really high value, but it's still not what you want.

-Prelude

Was it the j = 1 that you were refering to?

I forgot a big part of my code. Sorry guys here is the working code.

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
   const int ROW = 7;
   const int COL = 7;

  int main()
   {
      char ch = 'X';
      char M[ROW][COL]={
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ','*','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ',' ',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ','*',' ','*',' ',' '},
                            {' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '}
                       };

      int num = 0;
      cout << "\nPlease enter the number of generations to print: ";
      cin >> num;

      cout << "\n\n\tGeneration: " << 0 << endl;
      for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
         cout << endl << "\t" << '|';
         for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
            cout << M[i][j] << '|';
         }//for
      }//for

      cout << endl <<endl;

     for (int k=0; k<num; k++){
         for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
            for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
               int num = 0;
               if (M[i-1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i-1][j+1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j-1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i][j+1]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j]   == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j-1] == '*') num++;
               if (M[i+1][j+1] == '*') num++;
                  if(M[i][j]=='*'){
                     if((num < 2) || (num >=4))
                        M[i][j] =' ';
                  } else if (M[i][j] == ' '){

                    if (num == 3)
                       M[i][j] = '*';

                  }
               }//for
         }//for
         cout << "\tGeneration: " << k+1 << endl;
            for (int i=1; i<ROW-1; i++){
               cout << endl << "\t" << '|';
               for (int j=1; j<COL-1; j++){
                  cout << M[i][j] << '|';
               }//for
            }//for

         cout << endl <<endl;

      }//for
         cout << "That's the Game of Life!! Press any key to exit: ";
         cin >> ch;
         while (ch == '_');
   }//main

theres one major problem.............post this in the game programming forums

No it's fine here. It has more to do with C++ than it has to do with game programming. Moron.