Thread: Help Needed On A Program

Hey everyone, I recently started introduction to C and my professor gave us our first assignment and I have no idea where to start. I missed one day of class and I think it involves the material that I missed. So can you please read the instructions below and tell me where and how I should start? We are using Code:Blocks if you were wondering.

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Introduction: Arup’s Getting Married!!!
Arup got engaged this summer and now has been inundated with much more work than he anticipated in planning his wedding. He is in a bind and has decided that some C Programming skills could actually help him. In the following assignment, you’ll write three programs to help him make some decisions for his wedding planning. Hopefully, your programs will save him some time so that he can spend enough time teaching classes and still have time leftover for some UCF football!!!

I post the PDF document online because It will look like crap if I copy and Paste it.

Do read our homework policy.

I have read the Homework policy. I was just asking for help to try to explain this to me, I don't want you to do the assignment. I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

Originally Posted by Perspolice1993

No we don't use a book, he just uses powerpoint presentation to teach.

#1... Read my signature ... 4 simple steps. You haven't even tried step 1.
#2... Get a book 'cause you ain't gonna learn nothin' from powerpoint slides.
#3... Get a new teacher... one who actually knows about programming.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

#1... Read my signature ... 4 simple steps. You haven't even tried step 1.
#2... Get a book 'cause you ain't gonna learn nothin' from powerpoint slides.
#3... Get a new teacher... one who actually knows about programming.

Yes, I read your signature. I agree with you 100%. Believe it or not I read it like 4 times already and I just don't know where to start.

BTW could you please recommend a book to me? Some thing very effective and affordable. I have already spent over $500 on college books.

And to answer your last line, I can't get a new teacher, the deadline has passed to drop or swap the course. He is actually very intelligent, he graduated from MIT. It's like he just taught us 2+2=4 but now he's asking us to find the derivative of ln(9x+4g(x)).

Have you tried...oh, I don't know...talking to the professor or a TA about it? I mean, you are paying their salary to teach you. We get nothing out of this except satisfaction from the occasional student that actually wants to learn.

The TA is only available on thursday and tuesdays. He told us not to email him, email the TA. I have emailed him, but haven't received a response yet. I just don't want to wait till the last minute to do it. And I didn't have to pay for the class, I got full ride to the school.

So... sit down with a pencil and paper and analyse the problem until you understand how to do it manually...
Then... working with your non-existent textbooks and your Compiler's documentation plan out how to solve the problem in code.
Next... write the actual code to calculate the seating.
Finally... test your program with different combinations of data to be sure it works.

There isn't a programmer on this planet who can write code to solve a problem he doesn't understand...

I highly doubt your teacher took you from 2+2=4 to the derivative of ln(9x+4g(x)). Maybe from 12+26=38 to 494+1377=1871. And besides, exercises that only cover what everybody already understands and can do without putting in any thought or effort are a waste of time (think how you would feel if your teacher actually asked you to do pages of single-digit addition problems). A big part of college and a CS degree is about you developing your analytic, problem solving and critical thinking skills, so you can tackle new, unknown problems, instead of just those that fit the template you've been taught.

We don't even see int main(void), let alone you attempting to get input from the user. This is interpreted by us as laziness and do-my-work-for-me-ness, whether or not that's what you meant. Furthermore, we aren't here to teach you. There are an ungodly amount of tutorials on C programming all over the internet if you do a quick search (we even have some here: Cprogramming.com - Programming Tutorials: C++ Made Easy and C Made Easy).

But you shouldn't even be trying to code anything yet, since it seems clear that you don't understand the problem. As Tater is wont to say, "There is no programmer anywhere who can code the solution to a problem they don't understand". You need to figure out how to solve this by hand first. Draw some pictures like in the assignment (graph paper may help here to keep things proportional). Look for patterns. What's the smallest room that can fit 1 table? What about the smallest room that can fit 1 table high by two tables wide? 3 tables wide? What about 2 tables high? 3? What happens if you make the room 1 foot wider? 2 feet? 3? How much do you need to increase the width or height by to ensure room for a new row or column of tables with room for seating? The assignment even gives you a sample problem with a correct answer. Work that out and don't stop until you get the correct answer, and know why and how your method works. Then, do several more practice problems with a pencil and paper.

When you figure out how to do this by hand, most of the code should "fall into place". I'm not saying it will write itself in 10 lines, but the code for the solution will be much more obvious at that point. If you're still stuck, then you can post back with your code and specific questions, and get much better help.

EDIT: Not only is he wont to say it, but he just did while I was writing this post!

Originally Posted by anduril462

EDIT: Not only is he wont to say it, but he just did while I was writing this post!

LOL... It's MY line and I'll use it as I see fit!