Birthstones, Months, Strings and Functions!

Alright, I'm working on this program in C++ condole that will pretty much Greet you, ask some birthday questions and display information... Good thing is. I got it working, But then I re-read the instructions and I was suppose to use a function to get the Month and Birthstone...

Sorry if my Pseudocode is crap

(long)

Code:

#include "stdafx.h" #include <iostream> //Includes standard input-output library #include <string> //Allows use of String #include <cstdio> //Used for getchar using std::cin; //Standard output stream using std::cout; //Standard output stream using std::endl; //End line command using namespace std; //Uses namespace Std int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[]) //Start Program execution { string name; //Uses name as a String int choice; //Choice for the Menu int month,day; //Day and month of birth string months;//Name of months string stone; //Name of birthstones int key; //A Wildcard for While loop cout<<"Soo... what's your name?"<<endl; cin>>name; cout<<endl<<"What day(1-31) were you born?"; cin>>day; cout<<endl<<"Which month(1-12) is that?"; cin>>month; switch(month) { case 1: months="January"; stone="Granet"; break; case 2: months="Febuary"; stone="Amethyst"; break; case 3: months="March"; stone="Aquamarine"; break; case 4: months="Apirl"; stone="Diamond"; break; case 5: months="May"; stone="Emerald"; break; case 6: months="June"; stone="Pearl"; break; case 7: months="July"; stone="Ruby"; break; case 8: months="Augest"; stone="Peridot"; break; case 9: months="September"; stone="Sapphire"; break; case 10: months="October"; stone="Opal"; break; case 11: months="November"; stone="Topaz"; break; case 12: months="December"; stone="Turquoise"; break; } cout<<"Thank you."<<endl<<endl; while(key) { cout<<"____________________________________"<<endl;//Displays the Diamond Header cout<<"|* * * * *|"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| ** *** *** *** ** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| *** ***** ***** ***** *** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| ** *** *** *** ** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| * * * * * |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"------------------------------------"<<endl;//^^ cout<<" Welcome "<< name << "!" <<endl;//Welcome User cout<<" Born: "<<months<<" - "<<day<<endl;// Displays Birthday Info cout<<"____________________________________"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| (1)Birthstone |"<<endl;//Displays Menu cout<<"| (2)Astrological |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| (3)Season |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| (9)Exit |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"|__________________________________|"<<endl;//Displays the Diamond Footer cout<<"| * * * * * |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| ** *** *** *** ** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| *** ***** ***** ***** *** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"| ** *** *** *** ** |"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"|* * * * *|"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"------------------------------------"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"Select Number catagory you wish to view."<<endl;//Prompts User cin>>choice; //User's input switch(choice)//Chooses Menu Options { case 1: //If Option 2 cout<<"_____________"<<endl;//Display cout<<"|Brithstone!|"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"-------------"<<endl;//^^ cout<<"Ok, let's see... You were born on "<<months<<endl;//Displays Text & Month cout<<"So that means your birthstone is "<<stone<<endl;//Displays Text & Stone break; case 2: //Option 2 cout<<"Not Avaiable"<<endl<<endl;//Display break; case 3: // Option 3 cout<<"Not Avaiable"<<endl<<endl; break; case 9: // Option 9 cout<<"Exit"<<endl<<endl; return 0; //Ends Program break; default: // If no other option is made cout<<"Please choose options 1-3 or 9 to Exit"<<endl<<endl;; break; } } }

As you can see, it works. at least as far as i got. Birthstones and all with a endless menu loop unless 9, makes return 0 and ends the program.

I somehow have to convert the first "cases" into a function to call on to determin the birthstone for the month.. but I used the switch for the month Number to Text conversion and birthstone code... I tried a few different ways from

With these as global declarations

Code:

int month(int);//Global Month integer string months; strong stone;

Code:

int getBirthstone(int) { switch(month) { case 1: months="January"; stone="Garnet"; break; case 2: months="February"; stone="Amethyst"; break; case 3: months="March"; stone="Aquamarine"; break; case 4: months="April"; stone="Diamond"; break; case 5: months="May"; stone="Emerald"; break; case 6: months="June"; stone="Pearl"; break; case 7: months="July"; stone="Ruby"; break; case 8: months="August"; stone="Peridot"; break; case 9: months="September"; stone="Sapphire"; break; case 10: months="October"; stone="Opal"; break; case 11: months="November"; stone="Topaz"; break; case 12: months="December"; stone="Turquoise"; break; } }

Help if you can, I'll still be looking around.

you seem to have the right idea. global variables are (almost) always avoidable--and should be avoided.

to fix this, you could pass the months and stone variable by reference to your new function (as well as your integer month variable as you have already, which is 'pass by value'). i will try and give a (somewhat silly but hopefully helpful) example that you could use to make yours.

Code:

// headers, etc void ComputeTax( float orig_price, float& total_price) { float tax = 1.15; // the 1 is to simplify the calculation later, the 15 is 15% tax total_price = orig_price * tax; } int main(int argc, char** argv) { float originalPrice; float totalPrice; cout << "enter the price of the product: "; cin >> originalPrice; ComputeTax(originalPrice, totalPrice); cout << "the total price will be $" << totalPrice; return 0; }

notice no global variables are used, yet it allows for variables to be passed between the functions by reference. this means that whatever ComputeTax does to the second parameter (total_price) it will actually affect the original variable where the function was called (totalPrice in main).

Wow, thank you, Quick response. I'm trying to help another newer user atm so I'll study this in a moment and try to apply it to my current project. :)

It would be good style to use const here:

Code:

const float tax = 1.15; // the 1 is to simplify the calculation later, the 15 is 15% tax

And of course, you could, if you wanted to, use a table (array) to define what the name of the month is and the birthstone that goes with it.

--
Mats

I'm still lost. That example and your advice on (No global variables) helped me clean up another program but I still don't see how I can use getBirthstone(int month, string months, string stone) and still deliver a switch to enter it into the program...

here's what I tried

Code:

void getBirthstone(int& month, string months, string stone) { switch(month) { case 1: months="January"; stone="Granet"; break; case 2: months="Febuary"; stone="Amethyst"; break; case 3: months="March"; stone="Aquamarine"; break; case 4: months="Apirl"; stone="Diamond"; break; case 5: months="May"; stone="Emerald"; break; case 6: months="June"; stone="Pearl"; break; case 7: months="July"; stone="Ruby"; break; case 8: months="Augest"; stone="Peridot"; break; case 9: months="September"; stone="Sapphire"; break; case 10: months="October"; stone="Opal"; break; case 11: months="November"; stone="Topaz"; break; case 12: months="December"; stone="Turquoise"; break; } } int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[]) //Start Program execution { string name; //Uses name as a String int choice; //Choice for the Menu int day; //Day and month of birth string stone; //Name of birthstones int key; //A Wildcard for While loop cout<<"Soo... what's your name?"<<endl; cin>>name; cout<<endl<<"What day(1-31) were you born?"; cin>>day; cout<<endl<<"Which month(1-12) is that?"; getBirthstone(int &month); cin>>month; cout<<"Thank you."<<endl<<endl;

You have the & backwards -- no on the month, yes on the months and the stone. (Those are the ones you need to change.)

also, your getBirthstone function you declared to (properly) accept the three arguments (note, however, what tabstop said above, which of course he is correct). however, you call it in main as "getBirthstone(int &month)", only passing one parameter. you should be passing all three. when you call it you dont have to worry about putting "&" in this case. also you shouldnt pass the argument as "int month"; leave out the datatype int.

one final thing: lets assume you have already fixed up the getBirthstone function and are calling it with the three arguments properly. when in this function you will do "switch" on the month variable. however, you are calling this function before month is initialized. it is quite unlikely that the (somewhat) random value that is assigned to the month variable falls in the range [1,12]. to solve this, think about the order your program will follow, focusing on: the print statement asking for month, calling getBirthstone, and reading the month variable from console. this fix is very simple so dont overthink it.

hope it helps

Thank you for all your help but i figured it out in some way to find out it's harder.

Code:

string getBirthstone(int month) { string stone; switch(month) { case 1: stone="Granet"; break; case 2: stone="Amethyst"; break; case 3: stone="Aquamarine"; break; case 4: stone="Diamond"; break; case 5: stone="Emerald"; break; case 6: stone="Pearl"; break; case 7: stone="Ruby"; break; case 8: stone="Peridot"; break; case 9: stone="Sapphire"; break; case 10: stone="Opal"; break; case 11: stone="Topaz"; break; case 12: stone="Turquoise"; break; } return stone; }

So I can return, just stone and have it otuput correctly using

Code:

cin>>month; stone = getBirthstone(month);

The instructions also say use
[code][enum Months{JAN=1,FEB,MAR,...,DEC};
Which would turns to be pointless but nesseary for the program.. Anyways, I got it all figured out except now

What I want to do now is made a option to list all birthstones, probably will use a cleaver cout and just list them all. Which will be accepted.

But what I need help with is how to have the program list the month as a name instead of a number. But in order to use return to get = stone, there could only be one variable.

I don't want to do a whole other case to change each number month into a string to say the months name like 1=january

As it shows up now, it will say

Code:

cout<<" Welcome "<< name << "!" <<endl;//Welcome User cout<<" Born: "<<month<<"-"<<day<<endl;// Displays Birthday Info

It will display 3-8 for march 8th... need to figure out a eays way to convert back to text.

Thanks for all your help so far.

You could try a parallel array and just index all the answers.

Code:

month = LookupMonth[mo]; stone = LookupStone[mo];

Just be careful of fencepost errors. "mo" should index the right month.

And because we need to return two variables from this function now, references would be a prudent choice.

Why not impliment a struct or a class to hold this information?

Example:

Code:

#include <exception> #include <string> class whatever { public: whatever(int _month) : month(_month) { if(month < 1 || month > 12) throw std::out_of_range("What calendar are you using, buddy?"); } whatever(const whatever &o) : month(o.month) { } virtual ~whatever() { } const std::string getBirthstone() const { switch(month) { case 1: return "Granet"; case 2: return "Amethyst"; case 3: return "Aquamarine"; case 4: return "Diamond"; case 5: return "Emerald"; case 6: return "Pearl"; case 7: return "Ruby"; case 8: return "Peridot"; case 9: return "Sapphire"; case 10: return "Opal"; case 11: return "Topaz"; case 12: return "Turquoise"; } } const std::string getMonth() const { switch(month) { case 1: return "January"; case 2: return "February"; case 3: return "March"; case 4: return "April"; case 5: return "May"; case 6: return "June"; case 7: return "July"; case 8: return "August"; case 9: return "September"; case 10: return "October"; case 11: return "November"; case 12: return "December"; } } private: int month; };

[Edit] This is not the most efficient way, as you should immediately notice. Perhaps if you combined my code with some of the other suggestions... (That was my subtle hint of the day) [/edit]

Thank you all for your support so far, hopefully I'm not too annoying. The Reasons I haven't used class, struct or arrays are because I haven't learned them yet. The class on Classes and Arrays is on Monday. So until then I'm doing my best to learn and reverse engineer your code to understand and each myself.

How would I index all the answers if I used a parallel array? Can you give me an example?

Perhaps this will help:

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_array

In computing, a parallel array is a data structure for representing arrays of records. It keeps a separate, homogeneous array for each field of the record, each having the same number of elements. Then, objects located at the same index in each array are implicitly the fields of a single record. Pointers from one object to another are replaced by array indices. This contrasts with the normal approach of storing all fields of each record together in memory. For example, one might declare an array of 100 names, each a string, and 100 ages, each an integer, associating each name with the age that has the same index.

But since you can't use arrays yet I don't think it matters. Use someone else's idea.

true, but I want to learn, this will be my career someday and in that pursuit I'm going to give my all to learn as much as quick and thoroughly as possible.. "believe it".. (lulz)

Anyways. Thanks for the link, I've been trying a fre different ways from other tutorials and guides but they are all for int, not string/names. I keep getting can't convert to string from int, etc

Here's what i got,

Code:

Removed

Edit: Yeah I'm an idiot, useing Months(string) and trying to make it output to month(int)... I am an idiot
It doesn't have errors but it still displays the number instead of the array name. I only did Jan and Feb to save time, didn't work with 1 as the answer to month

Would this work months(month);?

It Worked! Yes!

I'll post code n a moment. :)

Thanks again to all who helped +rep(ocn)

This isn't over tho :) This is an ongoing project. I'm happy to be a new part of this awesome community. :)

Code:

removed

Also, if you got any ideas or suggestions for proper Pseudocode, let me know

I warned you about fencepost errors earlier remember? C++ arrays range from index 0 to n-1. You'll have to adjust your variable to index the right month.

OHH, i get it... 1 for Jan will be 1 for Feb, Thank you. Noticed it when debugging. so i should put a "Null" for the first index(Wrong) I just did a months[1-month](wrong); ... Now I'm confused...

Ok i got it.. was reverced had to use month[month-1]; which adjusts it to the previous index. :) +rep

Listen, I appreciate all of your time and knowledge helping me with this.

But it's not over, it's a on-going project. Hopefully I'll be smart and stay with the class but you never know.

odd request but can someone delete this topic? Or edit the code out of all the messages? It seems that when the teacher made up this project, he wanted to use it again. So having it here is a google search of answers to week 3. So please edit out the code or just delete the topic, thank you.

You can edit your own post bud. Just click edit. I see that you are aware of the editting capability since you did edit the post prior to this one. It would probably just be easier to delete the whole thread though.... Your code had been rehashed like 1000 times.