can't get it to reassign the private variable...

when i run my program, it lets me input the first value for the month (of type int) but then when i go to input the 3 character line it just gives me the same result as per the first value entered. here's what the output looks like:

-----------------------------------------------------------
Enter the month as a number:
5
May
Enter the month as the first three letters:
Jan

The month is 5
Press any key to continue

-----------------------------------------------------------

i'll attach my code so you guys can try to help me:

Code:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class Month
{

public:
	Month(char first, char second, char third);
	Month(int number);
	Month();
	void input_month_int(istream& cin);
	void input_month_alpha(istream& cin);
	void output_month_int(ostream& cout);
	void output_month_alpha(ostream& cout);


private:

	int month_number;

};

int main()
{
	Month a_month;
	
	cout<<"Enter the month as a number:" <<endl;
	a_month.input_month_int(cin);

	a_month.output_month_alpha(cout);
	
	cout<<"Enter the month as the first three letters:" <<endl;
	a_month.input_month_alpha(cin);
	cout<<endl;

	a_month.output_month_int(cout);



	return 0;
}



Month::Month(char first, char second, char third)
{
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='a') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=1;
	if (((first=='F')||(first=='f')) && (second=='e') && (third=='b'))
		month_number=2;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=3;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='p') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=4;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='y'))
		month_number=5;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=6;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='l'))
		month_number=7;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='u') && (third=='g'))
		month_number=8;
	if (((first=='S')||(first=='s')) && (second=='e') && (third=='p'))
		month_number=9;
	if (((first=='O')||(first=='o')) && (second=='c') && (third=='t'))
		month_number=10;
	if (((first=='N')||(first=='n')) && (second=='o') && (third=='v'))
		month_number=11;
	if (((first=='D')||(first=='d')) && (second=='e') && (third=='c'))
		month_number=12;
};

Month::Month(int number)
{
	month_number=number;
};

Month::Month()
{
};

void Month::input_month_int(istream& cin)
{
	cin>>month_number;
}

void Month::input_month_alpha(istream& cin)
{
	char first, second, third;
	cin.get(first);
	cin.get(second);
	cin.get(third);
	Month some_month(static_cast<char>(first), static_cast<char>(second), static_cast<char>(third));
	
	
	
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='a') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=1;
	if (((first=='F')||(first=='f')) && (second=='e') && (third=='b'))
		month_number=2;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=3;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='p') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=4;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='y'))
		month_number=5;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=6;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='l'))
		month_number=7;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='u') && (third=='g'))
		month_number=8;
	if (((first=='S')||(first=='s')) && (second=='e') && (third=='p'))
		month_number=9;
	if (((first=='O')||(first=='o')) && (second=='c') && (third=='t'))
		month_number=10;
	if (((first=='N')||(first=='n')) && (second=='o') && (third=='v'))
		month_number=11;
	if (((first=='D')||(first=='d')) && (second=='e') && (third=='c'))
		month_number=12;



}

void Month::output_month_int(ostream& cout)
{
	cout<<"The month is " <<month_number <<endl;
}

void Month::output_month_alpha(ostream& cout)
{
	if (month_number==1)
		cout<<"Jan" <<endl;
	if (month_number==2)
		cout<<"Feb" <<endl;
	if (month_number==3)
		cout<<"Mar" <<endl;
	if (month_number==4)
		cout<<"Apr" <<endl;
	if (month_number==5)
		cout<<"May" <<endl;
	if (month_number==6)
		cout<<"Jun" <<endl;
	if (month_number==7)
		cout<<"Jul" <<endl;
	if (month_number==8)
		cout<<"Aug" <<endl;
	if (month_number==9)
		cout<<"Sep" <<endl;
	if (month_number==10)
		cout<<"Oct" <<endl;
	if (month_number==11)
		cout<<"Nov" <<endl;
	if (month_number==12)
		cout<<"Dec" <<endl;
}

Code:

if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='a') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=1;
	if (((first=='F')||(first=='f')) && (second=='e') && (third=='b'))
		month_number=2;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=3;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='p') && (third=='r'))
		month_number=4;
	if (((first=='M')||(first=='m')) && (second=='a') && (third=='y'))
		month_number=5;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='n'))
		month_number=6;
	if (((first=='J')||(first=='j')) && (second=='u') && (third=='l'))
		month_number=7;
	if (((first=='A')||(first=='a')) && (second=='u') && (third=='g'))
		month_number=8;
	if (((first=='S')||(first=='s')) && (second=='e') && (third=='p'))
		month_number=9;
	if (((first=='O')||(first=='o')) && (second=='c') && (third=='t'))
		month_number=10;
	if (((first=='N')||(first=='n')) && (second=='o') && (third=='v'))
		month_number=11;
	if (((first=='D')||(first=='d')) && (second=='e') && (third=='c'))
		month_number=12;

/me winces

use strcmp() for char* or operator== with string objects

sorry i just started taking programming about 2 months ago, and i haven't had much time to go beyond our classwork yet...... so i'm just doing this with what we've been taught so far. apparently, from talking to my programming friends, there are many easier ways to do many of the things that we've done in class so far (kind of like in my calc class, where i've taken it before...... hate those integrals as limits of sums.....)

Originally posted by talz13
sorry i just started taking programming about 2 months ago, and i haven't had much time to go beyond our classwork yet...... so i'm just doing this with what we've been taught so far. apparently, from talking to my programming friends, there are many easier ways to do many of the things that we've done in class so far (kind of like in my calc class, where i've taken it before...... hate those integrals as limits of sums.....)

I know what you mean there. I never took the course at my high school (heh - I dropped out to get my GED before I was old enough to take it), but everything I heard about it made me want to cry. Those things generallly do much more harm than good. Anyway, a much easier way to write that program would be do make an array of strings, and have the element number (plus 1, of course) correspond to the month abbreviation. Then you could loop through the array to find either the index or value, and output the other. Do you see what I mean?

What's happening is cin.get() is reading the newline from the last cin. You can verify this by adding cout's:

Code:

void Month::input_month_alpha(istream& cin)
{
	char first, second, third;
	cin.get(first);
	cin.get(second);
	cin.get(third);
	cout << "first:" << first << endl;
	cout << "second:" << second << endl;
	cout << "third:" << third << endl;

One way to correct this is add an ignore() before the get()'s.

Code:

void Month::input_month_alpha(istream& cin)
{
	char first, second, third;
	cin.ignore();
	cin.get(first);
	cin.get(second);
	cin.get(third);
	cout << "first:" << first << endl;
	cout << "second:" << second << endl;
	cout << "third:" << thrid << endl;