Thread: Not sure how to do this, but Im sure you know how

Ok, lets say I have ten stones. In addition I have one pocket. I could easily write a program which lets me pick up stones, put them in a pocket, and take them out. In addition such a program could keep track of how many stones were in the pocket, and how many weren't.

But lets say I have two pockets, in that case I would have to do:

Code:

int numberofstonesinpocketone=0;
int numberofstonesinpockettwo=0;

But what if, I had x pockets. It would be easy to write code which lets me change the number of stones in my system, a simple

Code:

cin>>numberofstones;

would accomplish that, but what if I don't know the number of pockets? I could do:

Code:

int numberofstonesinpocketone=0;
int numberofstonesinpockettwo=0;
int numberofstonesinpocketthree=0;
int numberofstonesinpocketfour=0;
...
int numberofstonesinpockettenbillionthreehundredthousandandfiftytwo=0;
int numberofstonesinpockettenbillionthreehundredthousandandfiftythree=0;

which although a tedious task, could be done...however, the problem with that method is that I am then left with using excessive memory, if i make my program capable of knowing the contents of 50 pockets then, if I only use 15 pockets, I am wasting memory remembering that 45 pockets aren't being used.

What can I do? I suspect that objects are what I need to use but it seems every tutorial I find doesnt really address any of my questions, always focusing on some other aspect of the concept.

It would be beneficial if a group of users worked together to write tutorials, referring those who ask questions to the tutorials, and improving the tutorials over time.