Overlooking Something in an Array

Hello All!

I'm new to programming and am in my last few week's of an intro course. So far I've managed to understand most of it but I'm stumped with an example this week. I had to manipulate the code and sum the rainfall for each year. Unfortunately, I only get 1 answer instead of 4, and the answer is always 0.0000.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I wasn't able to find a close example in a forum search despite there being many rainfall posts.

Feralix

Code:

---

#define NUMMONTHS 12
#define NUMYEARS 5
#include <stdio.h>
 
// function prototypes
void inputdata();
void printdata();
 
// Global variables
// These are available to all functions
float Raindata[NUMYEARS][NUMMONTHS];
int sum = 0;
char years[NUMYEARS][5] = {"2011","2012","2013","2014","2015"};
 char months[NUMMONTHS][12] ={"Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"};
int main ()
{
  char enterData = 'y';
  printf("Do you want to input Precipatation data? (y for yes)\n");
  scanf("%c",&enterData);
  if (enterData == 'y') {
    // Call Function to Input data
    inputdata(); 
 
    // Call Function to display data
    printdata();
  }
  else {
    printf("No data was input at this time\n");
  }
  printf("Please try the Precipitation program again. \n");
  return 0;
}
// function to inputdata
void inputdata() {
  /* variable definition: */
  float Rain=1.0; 
  // Input Data
  for (int year=0;year < NUMYEARS; year++) {
      for (int month=0; month< NUMMONTHS; month++) {
          printf("Enter rain for %d, %d:\n", year+1, month+1);
          scanf("%f",&Rain);
          Raindata[year][month]=Rain;       
      }
  }
}
// Function to printdata
void printdata(){
// Print data
printf ("year\t month\t rain\n");
for (int year=0;year < NUMYEARS; year++) {
for (int month=0; month< NUMMONTHS; month++) {
sum = sum + Raindata[NUMYEARS][NUMMONTHS];
printf("%s\t %s\t %5.2f\n", years[year],months[month],Raindata[year][month]);
}
}
printf("Total rain: %f\n", sum);
}

---

I noticed you using the wrong format specifier for printing the sum and you had a index for Raindata. You might want to change sum to float, but I left it as an int since that's what you had.

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>#include <stdio.h>


#define NUMMONTHS 12
#define NUMYEARS 5


// function prototypes
void inputdata();
void printdata();


// Global variables
// These are available to all functions
float Raindata[NUMYEARS][NUMMONTHS];
int sum = 0;
char years[NUMYEARS][5] = {"2011","2012","2013","2014","2015"};
 char months[NUMMONTHS][12] ={"Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"};
int main ()
{
  char enterData = 'y';
  printf("Do you want to input Precipatation data? (y for yes)\n");
  scanf("%c",&enterData);
  if (enterData == 'y') {
    // Call Function to Input data
    inputdata();


    // Call Function to display data
    printdata();
  }
  else {
    printf("No data was input at this time\n");
  }
  printf("Please try the Precipitation program again. \n");


  system("pause");
  return 0;
}
// function to inputdata
void inputdata() {
  /* variable definition: */
  float Rain=1.0;
  // Input Data
  for (int year=0;year < NUMYEARS; year++) {
      for (int month=0; month< NUMMONTHS; month++) {
          printf("Enter rain for %d, %d:\n", year+1, month+1);
          scanf("%f",&Rain);
          Raindata[year][month]=Rain;
      }
  }
}
// Function to printdata
void printdata()
{
    // Print data
    sum = 0;


    printf ("year\t month\t rain\n");
    for (int year=0;year < NUMYEARS; year++)
    {
        for (int month=0; month< NUMMONTHS; month++)
        {
            sum += Raindata[year][month];
            printf("%s\t %s\t %5.2f\n", years[year],months[month],Raindata[year][month]);
        }
    }
    printf("Total rain: %d\n", sum);
}

---

Just a small nit-pick.

If you can, try not to use global variables in your code. Arrays can be passed to a
function (they are automatically passed by reference anyway) so any changes will
effect the calling code. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by swgh

Just a small nit-pick.

If you can, try not to use global variables in your code. Arrays can be passed to a
function (they are automatically passed by reference anyway) so any changes will
effect the calling code. :)

---

I agree and avoid using #define if possible. It's better to use const int in this case since you can see the value while you are debugging.

Quote:

---

I agree and avoid using #define if possible. It's better to use const int in this case since you can see the value while you are debugging.

---

Since this is a C program #defining a constant is correct, declaring a const is the C++ way.

Jim

Thank you for the quick response. I was able to get results now. I will also take your advice and change sum to a float.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by swgh

Just a small nit-pick.

If you can, try not to use global variables in your code. Arrays can be passed to a
function (they are automatically passed by reference anyway) so any changes will
effect the calling code. :)

---

Hi swgh. So one thing I've noticed in this course is that it assumes one knows something about programming. I don't. It's the first course I've taken and oddly it's a prerequisite to intro programming. The text we have was published in 1991, I had to look up the reference for "global variable" to understand what you meant. However, I do appreciate the tip and I will place it in the function below.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

Since this is a C program #defining a constant is correct, declaring a const is the C++ way.

Jim

---

http://http://stackoverflow.com/ques...define-vs-enum

This post discusses the benefits and cons of each method. It seems an enum would be the best option here.

Your post is correct since I have been reading C++ material, but a const is still an "ok" c solution, but not for globals.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Feralix

Hi swgh. So one thing I've noticed in this course is that it assumes one knows something about programming. I don't. It's the first course I've taken and oddly it's a prerequisite to intro programming. The text we have was published in 1991, I had to look up the reference for "global variable" to understand what you meant. However, I do appreciate the tip and I will place it in the function below.

---

No worries. I own a C book "Beginning C" published by Ron House from 1994 and they use global variables
from chapter 2 up to 6 before finally using function defined local ones and passing them via parameter
arguments. It's just the way things were back then. A lot of early C programs used global variables
just for the sake of it being "easier" and "quicker" to code.

Learning how to pass locally and by pointer reference (when needed) is a good practice to get into
from the off-set. Global variables do have a use however, generally when even a static variable cannot
be used in a given situation.