Thread: Variable not incrementing correctly.

In this code, the integer "m" is supposed to be counting the number of times the program encounters a value less than zero (I'm measuring rainfall; -999.99 is "missing data"), while "n" is supposed to be counting the number of data points the program is generating. We need this output so that we can gauge the amount of error that having to skip over missing data points incurs, but "m" is only ever giving me 0, which I know is not true.

Can anyone spot my problem, please? I need a fresh set of eyes.

Code:

/*********************************************************************
* This program is designed to calculate a series of autocorrelations *
* based on a set of data that is called when the program is run.     *
* The set of data needs to be in "float" format (i.e., nothing but   *
* numbers), or else the program will generate an error.  The         *
* resulting file will also be a series of numbers, meant to go into  *
* some kind of graphing program to plot the original data against    *
* the values of the autocorrelations for each point.                 *
*********************************************************************/

/* Autocorrelation Program, Written By Don Ford */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <dirent.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
    FILE* dataFile;
    FILE* outputFile;
    char string[80];
    char *old_filename;
    char new_filename[256];
    double x[1000];
    int i = 0;
    int j;
    int number_of_values;
    double x_sum = 0.0;
    double x_average;    
    int k;
    int t;
    double sum_of_squares = 0.0;
    double numerator = 0.0;    
    char buffer[80];
    int m;
    int n;
    
    for (j=1; j<argc; j++){
        i = 0;
        m = 0;
        n = 0;
        sum_of_squares = 0.0;
        numerator = 0.0;
        x_sum = 0.0;
        old_filename = argv[j];
        dataFile = fopen(old_filename, "r");
                 if (dataFile == NULL){
                    fputs("File error", stderr);
                    exit(1);
                    }
        printf("Autocorrelating \"%s\" ...\n", old_filename);

        while (fgets(string, 80, dataFile) != NULL){
              if (!isalpha(string[0])){
                 x[i] = strtof(string, NULL);
                 if (x[i] >= 0){
                    i++;
                    }
                 }
              }          
        fclose(dataFile);
        number_of_values = i;
        
        double values = number_of_values;
        double y[number_of_values];

        for (i=0; i<number_of_values; i++){
            if (x[i] >= 0){
               x_sum += x[i];
               }
            }
        x_average = (x_sum/values);
        
        /* Now, we actually calculate the autocorrelation! */
        for (t=0; t<number_of_values; t++){
            if (x[t] >= 0){
               sum_of_squares += ((x[t] - x_average)*(x[t] - x_average));
               }
            }
        
        for (k=0; k<(number_of_values/2); k++){
            for (t=0; t<(number_of_values - k); t++){
                if ((x[(t+k)] >= 0) && (x[t] >= 0)){
                   numerator += ((x[(t+k)] - x_average)*(x[t] - x_average));
                   }
                else
                     m++;
                n++;                
                }
                              
            y[k] = (numerator/sum_of_squares);
            numerator = 0.0;
            }

        for (i=0; i<strlen(old_filename), old_filename[i] != '.'; i++){
            new_filename[i] = old_filename[i];
            }
        new_filename[i] = '-';
        new_filename[i+1] = 'A';
        new_filename[i+2] = 'U';
        new_filename[i+3] = 'T';
        new_filename[i+4] = 'O';
        new_filename[i+5] = '.';
        new_filename[i+6] = 't';
        new_filename[i+7] = 'x';
        new_filename[i+8] = 't';
        new_filename[i+9] = '\0';
               
        outputFile = fopen(new_filename, "wb");
        if (outputFile == NULL){
           fputs("File error", stderr);
           exit(2);
           }
      
        snprintf(buffer, 80, "%d entries skipped out of a total of %d\0",m,n);
        fputs(buffer, outputFile);
        fputs("\n", outputFile);
        snprintf(buffer, 80, "Lag    Autocorrelation\0");
        fputs(buffer, outputFile);
        fputs("\n", outputFile);
        for (i=0; i<(number_of_values/2); i++){
            snprintf(buffer, 80, "%3d      %.8f\0", i, y[i]);
            fputs(buffer, outputFile);
            fputs("\n", outputFile);
            }
        fclose(outputFile);
        printf("File created: \"%s\"\n", new_filename);
        }

    return 0;
}

That can only mean one thing i.e. the m++ branch is never taken. Put debugging printf()'s in your code to see if the branch condition is being met

Code:

for (k=0; k<(number_of_values/2); k++) {
    /* print the value of k */
    for (t=0; t<(number_of_values - k); t++) {
        /* print t, x[t] and x[t+k] or whatever seems fit */
        if ((x[(t+k)] >= 0) && (x[t] >= 0)) {
            numerator += ((x[(t+k)] - x_average)*(x[t] - x_average));
        }
        else
            m++;

Originally Posted by itCbitC

Put debugging printf()'s in your code to see if the branch condition is being met

I disapprove of using this approach, perhaps using the debugger ( hopefully you have one ) would be a better idea. If you do not have one, I'd seriously consider getting one, that way you won't have to go down the road of "debugging printf's", making your code alot cleaner and saving time.

I just figured it out.

The !isalpha line at the beginning of the code was ignoring all hyphens at the start of strings, so I wasn't even picking those up in the program.

This has since been fixed. Thanks to all for helping.