Thread: Whats wrong with this program?

Someone told me that my programming methods are "weird" and not proper. I want some C++ veterans to look at my code and give me some pointers(not *).

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream.h>
#include <conio.c>
#include <string>
#include <windows.h>

class streaming
{
 public:
 void UserInfo();
 void Fout();
 void Fread();
 streaming();
 ~streaming();

 protected:
 ofstream x;
 ifstream y;
 char filename[20];
 string line;
 string word;
 string name;
 unsigned short int age;
 unsigned char response[20];
}io;

streaming::streaming()
{
 line="";
 word="";
}

streaming::~streaming()
{
}

void streaming::UserInfo()
{
 cerr << "Input your character's name: ";
  cin >> name;
 cerr << "\nInput your character's age: ";
  cin >> age;
 io.Fout();
}

void streaming::Fout()
{
 cerr << "\nInput the name of the file we will print out to: ";
  cin >> filename;
 char *file;
 file=new char[20];
 file=&filename[20];
 x.open(file);
 x << "Name: " << name << endl;
 x << "Age: " << age << endl;
 x.close();
 delete [] file;
 file=NULL;
}

void streaming::Fread()
{
 char *file;
 file=new char[20];
 file=&filename[20];
 cerr << "\nHow would you like us to read the file, line by line or word by word?";
  cin >> response;
 if (response[0]=='l' || response[0]=='L' || (response[0]=='l' && response[1]=='i' && response[2]=='n' && response[3]=='e') || (response[0]=='L' && response[1]=='i' && response[2]=='n' && response[3]=='e') ) {
  y.open(file);
  while (y.good() ) {
  std::getline(y, line);
  if (!y.eof()) {
  cerr << line;
  y.clear(); }
  else {
  y.close(); }
  }
  y.close();
 }

 else if (response[0]=='w' || response[0]=='W' || (response[0]=='w' && response[1]=='o' && response[2]=='r' && response[3]=='d') || (response[0]=='W' && response[1]=='o' && response[2]=='r' && response[3]=='d') ) {
  y.open(file);
   while (y >> word) {
    if (!y.eof()) {
    cerr << word << " ";
    y.clear(); }
    else {
    y.close(); }
    }
  y.close();
 }

 else {
 cerr << "\nCouldn't understand your input, bailing out of here!!" << endl;
 cin.get(); }

 delete [] file;
 file=NULL;
}

int main()
{
 streaming *x;
 x=new streaming;
 x->UserInfo();
 Sleep(1000);
 cerr << endl;
 x->Fread();
 delete x;
 x=NULL;

 getch();
 return 0;
}

>Someone told me that my programming methods are "weird" and not proper

Dont listen to that person....its all about style....

>cerr

this is one thing i am wondering about....why are you using cerr? cerr is generally used for displaying error messages, why not use cout?

My reason for using cerr may shock you.....as you say its style................I view cerr and cout as the same thing(I know its not), I'm just trying to program a little different from people. As long as the function display text on screen, theres no problem using it.

Treveller is absolutely right

I really don't see a problem with your style, you have good habits and some bad ones but overall it seems okay.

>file=&filename[20];
This isn't good. filename is defined as a char array with an index of 0-19 and you are passing the 20th element of filename to the 0th element of file. You can't be sure what is at filename[20] and it certainly isn't memory that you own, so this is bad.

>file=NULL;
I love you. This is a habit that I love seeing and everyone should adopt for safety reasons. If anyone tells you to stop NULLing out your pointers after freeing memory, don't listen to them.

I do have a bit of a problem with your class methods though. Generally, it's considered better to not request and accept input inside the method, instead you should ask for and take input outside of the class workings and then pass that data as parameters to the method. This way you can maintain a distance from the class and it's data and the rest of the program. But there's nothing wrong with the way you have it, so it's up to you.

>I'm just trying to program a little different from people.
Being different for the sake of being different is a bad idea. If you have a different style from everyone else then you'd better have very good reasons for backing up your choices when asked for an explanation. For example, when asked I can detail exactly how my coding style works and why I do what I do in incredible detail. I can do this not only because I am asked to explain on occasion, but also because I put a lot of thought into my style so as to make it as easy to follow as possible while still being correct and aesthetically pleasing. Usually, different means difficult to follow, which is bad.

-Prelude

Prelude... are you GOD???