Diamond in the rough

[Loraswish]

I have been wrestling with this code for one year, I no longer have an infinite loop, but I also do not have a diamond either, something is wrong but I dont know what.

half = number/2;
if(number % 2 == 0)
{
number=(half * 2 ) + 1;
}
line = 0;
charsToPrint = 1;
spacesToPrint= half;

while (!(line == half))
{
cout << spacesToPrint << character << '\n';
spacesToPrint--;
character+2;
line++;

}

while (line == half)
{
cout << line << character << '\n';
line++;
spacesToPrint++;

}
while (!(line >= number))
{
line++;
charsToPrint-2;
spacesToPrint++;
cout << spacesToPrint << character << '\n';
}

[Loraswish]

I have lost sleep. hair and one letter grade behind this program, this and the calendar one i wrote, everyday in that starts on monday and every month has 31 days.

[adrianxw]

Post the complete program and tell us what it is you want it to do.

[Loraswish]

trying to make this thing print out a diamond
i e @
@@@
@

#include <iostream>

int main()
{

int line, spacesToPrint, half, number;
char charsToPrint, character;

cout << "This program will print a diamond composed of a character, "
"that extends the " << '\n';
cout << " width of a specified number." << '\n';
cout << "Please enter a odd number greater than one (example 3,7,9...) "
<< '\n';
cin >> number;
cout << " And a character of your choice (example @, %, #...)." << '\n';
cin >> character;
cout << '\n' << '\n';
cin.ignore (10, '\n');

half = number/2;
if(number % 2 == 0)
{
number=(half * 2 ) + 1;
}
line = 0;
charsToPrint = 1;
spacesToPrint= half;

while (!(line == half))
{
cout << spacesToPrint << character << '\n';
spacesToPrint--;
character+2;
line++;

}

while (line == half)
{
cout << line << character << '\n';
line++;
spacesToPrint++;

}
while (!(line >= number))
{
line++;
charsToPrint-2;
spacesToPrint++;
cout << spacesToPrint << character << '\n';
}
cout << "Designed by Loranne Wish" << '\n';
cout << "Press enter to continue.";
cin.get();

return 0;
}

[ZerOrDie]

this should help

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void print(int rowsize);
int main()
{
	int rowsize;
	do{
		cout<<"Please type in a positive odd integer: ";
		cin>>rowsize;
	}while((rowsize%2==0)||(rowsize<=0));
	print(rowsize);
	return (0);
}
void print(int rowsize)
{
	int spaces=rowsize/2, currentsize=1, counter, count;
	for(counter=0;counter!=(rowsize+1)/2;counter++){
		for(count=spaces;count!=0;count--)
			cout<<" ";
		spaces--;
		for(count=currentsize;count!=0;count--)
			cout<<"*";
		currentsize+=2;
		cout<<endl;
	}
	currentsize=rowsize-2;
	spaces+=2;
	for(counter=rowsize/2;counter!=0;counter--){
		for(count=0;count!=spaces;count++)
			cout<<" ";
		spaces++;
		for(count=currentsize;count!=0;count--)
			cout<<"*";
		currentsize-=2;
		cout<<endl;
	}
}

[Loraswish]

Your right it does work, problem is:
1. the program specifically called for the user to enter a character of his/her choosing.
2. this has to be written in a while loop, not a do-while loop, I really appreciate the help ( as more of my hair falls out and I lose more sleep)

my code (if you can call it that) outputs this

3@
2@
1@
3@
2@
3@
4@

Designed by Loranne Wish
Please press enter to continue.

[ZerOrDie]

1. the program specifically called for the user to enter a character of his/her choosing.
2. this has to be written in a while loop, not a do-while loop, I really appreciate the help ( as more of my hair falls out and I lose more sleep)

look at my code even a monkey could make those changes.

look closely its really really easy to change....

[Loraswish]

well mooooo then, cause I can not convert it. Did I mention that I am a newbie?, guess not. anyway I can do the if/else and the break statements but this loop has me more than a little loopy. Basically what I need it the inputted character to increase per row for the top and decrease for the bottom, my logic is way off and has been for a year, I am retaking this class for the second time and it looks like I'll be back in it next year.

[listeninclass]

"Did I mention that I am a newbie?"

and

"has been for a year, I am retaking this class for the second time "

so not that much of a newbie - you must have had the loop lesson at least twice now

[Loraswish]

actually this program is in chapter 6, and we are still in chapter 3, trying to work this out ahead of time. so I guess I should be considered a novice ( i know enough to cause my system to crash, but not enough to control the logic behind a loop)

[grib]

All right, lets try breaking your problem down into manegeable steps. This is the whole point of structured programming. Write a function that takes three paramiters; the number of spaces, number of characters, and the character and prints out the spaces, characters and a newline;

void print_line(int spaces, int chars, char ch) {
// two loops would work well here.
}

Once you have that working write two loops that repeatedly call print_line, one for the top half of the diamond, followed by one for the bottom.
some minor points
num+2; does not change num
num = num+2; adds 2 to num
num += 2; same thing.

You don't need to track how many lines you have printed, the top half of the diamond ends when there are no spaces or the number of characters == width and the dimond ends when you have no more characters to print out. The number of characters is always width - twice the number of spaces, so you don't really need to keep track of the number of characters for each line. This may only confuse you.

Finally, here is a function I wrote for no particular reason.

void countdown(int n) {
    int count = n;
    while(count > 0) {
        cout << count << endl;
        --count;
    }
}

This seems to stop when count is one, I wonder what would happen if I used (count <= 0)?