Thread: C in Visual Studio 2010, simple code fails

So, first of all, could someone give me a very short tutorial how to program C in Visual Studio 2010?

I have this code, a direct copy from a book:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
	printf("\n**************"); /* Draw the top of the box */
	for(int count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)
	{
		printf("\n* *"); /* Draw the sides of the box */
	}
	printf("\n**************\n"); /* Draw the bottom of the box */
	return 0;
}

I try to build it:

Error 1 error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
Error 2 error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
Error 3 error C2143: syntax error : missing ')' before 'type'
Error 4 error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
Error 5 error C2065: 'count' : undeclared identifier
Warning 6 warning C4552: '<=' : operator has no effect; expected operator with side-effect
Error 7 error C2059: syntax error : ')'
Error 8 error C2065: 'count' : undeclared identifier
Error 9 error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'printf'


What do I do wrong?

Originally Posted by C_ntua

Try replacing this

Code:

for(int count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)

with this

Code:

int count;
for(count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)

since the second is available only with C99 standard which might not be the case

Better, but not good enough - Now I get only four errors, which of three points to that for-loop initialization line.

Error 1 error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
Error 2 error C2065: 'count' : undeclared identifier
Error 3 error C2065: 'count' : undeclared identifier
Error 4 error C2065: 'count' : undeclared identifier

So the code right now is:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
	printf("\n**************"); /* Draw the top of the box */
	int count;
	for(count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)
	{
		printf("\n* *"); /* Draw the sides of the box */
	}
	printf("\n**************\n"); /* Draw the bottom of the box */
	return 0;
}

Thanks for the answer anyway!

Originally Posted by hk_mp5kpdw

Instead of:

Code:

int main(void)
{
	printf("\n**************"); /* Draw the top of the box */
	int count;
	for(count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)

Try...

Code:

int main(void)
{
	int count;
	printf("\n**************"); /* Draw the top of the box */
	for(count = 1; count <= 8; ++count)

Now it works but I don't understand why. Is it about declaring all the variables in the beginning of main?

Originally Posted by Salem

Standard C only allows variables to be declared at the beginning of a block.
That is, after every opening brace in your functions.

C++ and C99 allow more flexibility, including the for ( int count form.

Does VS2010 support C99? If so, how do I enable it?

Also, what's the smartest way in VS2010 to break the program before exiting (I mean in a simple program usually the program is finished before I see anything)? system("pause") is said to be bad habit, getchar(); didn't work and getch(); is undefined (although it works).

Originally Posted by claudiu

VS2010 is a poor choice IDE for C99 because like Salem said, MS doesn't support the standard. I usually only use VS2010 for my Windows side development under .NET but I use Codeblocks for C programming.

Ok, I thought so too.

Thanks to all of you, I got a flying start into C programming with VS2010 now!

did you use the file extension .c ofr your code? if so try using .cpp this
should let you code how you want.

Originally Posted by claudiu

I think he wants to program using C not C++. That should be pretty clear, given the forum we are on.

Yeah, absolutely, just C, not C++.