Functions passing to functions

Hello all,
It maybe that I have thought about this and stared at it too long. I don't want the answer just the idea. I have a problem that is all functions. The first function gathers three sperate ints. Ask for the employee ID. Ask for the plan they want
(1,2 or 3). Then their number of dependents. This is all in one function. How do I get the three ints from this function back to the main without reference variables. Then a function to gather this information together and display it. I had it written and then I looked again and it was wrong. I was soing it without some of the functions. I will look at it again later, maybe it will come to me. Fatigue has the better of me now. 12 hour of thinking and doing it wrong once has taken its toll.
Thanks,

I have looked every where.

Since you don't want reference variables maybe you could pass a struct with those 3 variables by value and return it to main

It's an asignment and we haven't touched structs, I was going to do just that, then he would probably fail it.

edit: The above 2 post were made while I was typing this one, and are based on assumptions(such as the ability to use structs) later ruled out.

The C way would be to make at struct:

Code:

---

struct employee{
  unsigned int id;
  unsigned char plan;
  unsigned int dependents;
};

---

but to only define the struct in the .c, typedefing in the .h. Then to make a bunch of functions for manipulating employee_t's(eg. A function for getting id, another for getting plan, etc., one for init'ing one for fini'ing.). The C++ way would be to make an employee class and methods for manipulating it.

I suggest you learn the C way and it's faults then when you try to lean C++, you'll know why it's OOP is a god send.

I've attached a simple array lib I've been working on lately, it uses the C-style model. Notice how it is possible to seamlessly use the array_t type w/o ever needing to know what it really consists of.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hausburn

It's an asignment and we haven't touched structs, I was going to do just that, then he would probably fail it.

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Then you're SOD.
Take a pick. References or struct.
Otherwise you can't return 3 values at once.

OK, real programmers please look away... for an assignment... you are probably expected to use global variables. But please don't try this at home or in a real application.

Ewww... global variables... nvgoit's probably right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by User Name:

Ewww... global variables... nvgoit's probably right.

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Urgh. Probably.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hausburn

It's an asignment and we haven't touched structs, I was going to do just that, then he would probably fail it.

---

If your instructor/teacher/professor/what-have-you fails you because you used something you've learned about on your own but it hasn't been officially introduced by the course, and the assignment requirements didn't specifically state that, no, you can't use anything not covered so far, well, I'd file a formal complain with the faculty. Because it's BS.

Sometimes there is a reason, actually. I know from one of my own course which was an obligatory introduction to programming. Every week, students had to review other students' code and grade it. To give some experience in looking at others code and so. But since there were students who were new to programming, using advanced features not yet learned was forbidden.

I've had professors forbid me from using anything not yet discussed in class. He saved structs for the last of the semester. It's best just to do what the professors say. Otherwise, you wont like having points deducted from assignments regardless of if there is a better way to do something. Professor wanted me to implement bubble sort exactly by his algorithm. Mine was better so I used mine, got points deducted.

To be fair, if you are in a company as a programmer and they want you to implement the algorithm in the worst (for you) way, you implement it in the worst way. Simple as that. A requirement is a requirement. It is part of the job. If you want to change the requirements that is another story. The same is with the professor. If he specifically asks you to, why change it? If you want to change it ask him/her in advance.

The same with not using things that are not introduced in the class. Maybe the professor wants to teach you another way as well to do things. He should find an example that you wouldn't use things that are not introduced, but, hey, it is simpler just to restrict you. If he wanted to teach you how to read a line and split it with a delimiter using only getchar() and array manipulation then it would make no sense if you just used fgets() and strtok() instead, would it?

Eh, global variables maybe have a lot of downsides but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be used. Practically they can be used very safe with proper planning and naming. For example

Code:

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int MyWhateverFunctionCounter = 1;
void MyWhateverFunction() {...}

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You are using a global variable in one function, there is no real confusion or anything. The same for using one flag to synchronize threads etc etc.
Now, if you were to do things like

Code:

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int result;

int main()
{
    ...
    result = x * y;
    AddToResult(100);
}

---

where AddToResult() updates the global variable result then you have a MESS.

But I would prefer instead of avoiding global variables like the plague to teach people about using them in one logic unit. Because you don't have classes in C to limit the scope of them doesn't mean that you cannot use them. You just have to assign them yourself on a logic unit (like 4 functions that are used for a single logical operation) and not use them out of that.

If you avoid something you never learn about it. There are some things that you can avoid entirely (like gets() or goto) but finding a way to avoid a global variable doesn't mean that your code will be better. It might as well become more complicated. You might as well waste time trying to find a workaround instead of focusing on more important parts.

Those instances where I end up passing a variable to every single function are the times that I use global variables.

Just accept that every function needs that variable. If there are many, make a struct.
There are times and places for everything, but globals are best avoided for most parts.