Thread: Newbie baffled

Hello everyone! This is my 1st post here, in fact I just stumbled across these forums as I attempted to solve a problem I have come across. I am a novice programmer trying to teach myself C using IvorHorton's Beginning C 3rd ed.

I'm only at the end of chapter 3 and although I've been enjoying things I'm stumped. One of the exercises in Chapter 3 is to write a simple fahrenheit to celsius converter program. I made what I though was a pretty good fist of it but I can't get it to compile using either Visual C++.Net 2003 or Dev C++. Interestingly, both compilers seem to be complaining not necessarily about my code, but about some lines in the #included stdio header file.

Specifically, VC++ reports error C2059: syntax error : 'type' and the offending line it flags up in stdio.h is:

"typedef _W64 unsigned int size_t;"

Does this have anything to do with the fact that my PC is an Athlon64? Is there perhaps updated header fils I should download, or is my code just borked?

Anyway, here's my source code:

Code:

/**************************************
 *                                      *
 * Solution to Exercise 3.1, page 140 *
 * Temperature converter program      *
 * By Steven MacDiarmid. 16/2/05      *
 *                                      *
 ************************************/*
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 int main(void)
 {
    int choice;
    double temp = 0.0, fahr = 0.0, celsius = 0.0;
    
    printf("\n*******************************************************");
    printf("\nTemperature Converter\n");
    printf("\n(C) 2005 SGM Systems");
    
    printf("\n\n1. Convert temperature from degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit.");
    printf("\n2. Convert temperature from degrees Fahenheit to Celsius.");
    scanf("%d", &choice);
    
    switch(choice)
    {
        case 1:
            printf("\n\nPlease enter a temperature in Celsius: ");
            scanf("%lf", temp);
            
            fahr = temp * 1.8 + 32.0;
            printf("\n\n%lf degrees F = %lf degrees C", temp, celsius);
            break;
            
        case 2:
            printf("\n\nPlease enter a temperature in Fahrenheit: ");
            scanf("%lf", temp);
            
            celsius = (temp - 32.0) * 5.0 / 9.0;
            printf("\n\n%lf degrees C = %lf degrees F", temp, fahr);
            break;
            
        default:
            printf("\n\nInvalid selection, enter 1 or 2.");
            break;
    }
    
    system("pause");
    
    return 0;
}

I'm sure it's a pretty ham-fisted attempt but given my limited knowledge I think this should compile. If anyone can spot something amiss I'd be very grateful.

Many thanks, Steve