Problems with code

Here the snippet:

Code:

---

#include <iostream.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <conio.h>

char ch; //Holds current input for evaluation.
int a; //Holds number of chain starts.
int b ; //Holds number of chain ends.
int sum ; //Sum of chains.

void main()
{   
      a = 0;
      b = 0;
      sum = 0;
      While(ch != '.')
      {
              ch = getch();
              if (ch == 'a')
                  a++;
              if (ch == 'b')
                  b++;
              if (ch == 'a' && b > 0)
              {
                  sum = sum + (a*b);
                  b = 0;
              }
              if (ch == '.' && ch == 'c')
              { 
                  sum = sum + (a*b);
                  a = 0;
                  b = 0;
              }
              cout << "\n << sum;
      }
      system("PAUSE");
}

---

As you can see, the program looks through a string as it is being typed and output the number sub-series in the string that start with 'a' end with 'b' and have no 'c' in the middle. So the string "dsacbsabxbxxa" would return 2 (for "ab" and "abxb").
This code won't compile in Dev-C++ with multiplile errors.
What's the problem?

Saw a typo - while shouldn't be capitalized....

What errors are you getting?

your while loop should not be capitalized.
and you're missing a " after the \n in your last cout statement to start with.

--system() calls are not always the best way to either.

Fixed the while capitalization thingy, thanks.
I get only one error now (instead of seven): "implicit decleration of function "int getchar()".

Whatever that means. I added cout only in this post, actually :), isn't in yet.

This should help:

http://www.cprogramming.com/cboard/s...&threadid=8935

Thanks! It compiles now. It still doesn't work though. And I had some glaringly obvious bugs in the first version. But I've only been coding for a couple of months and that only in school...
Please stick around, if I won't be able to figure this out I may need your help. BTW, latest version of code is:
EDIT: That code was still awfuly buggy. Here's the final algorithm. Still could use some tweaking, I know, but it works. I'm so full of myself it's sad.

Code:

---

/*Final version with a (finally) working algorithm*/
#include <iostream.h>
#include <conio_mingw.h>

char ch; //Holds current input for evaluation.
int a; //Holds number of chain starts.
int b ; //Holds number of chain ends.
int sum ; //Sum of chains.

void main()
{   
      a = 0;
      b = 0;
      sum = 0;
      while(ch != '.')
      {
              ch = getch();
              if (ch == 'a' && b > 0 && a > 0)
              {
                  sum += (a*b);
                  b = 0;
              }
              else if (ch == 'a')
                  a++;
              else if (ch == 'b' && a > 0)
                  b++;
             
              else if (ch == '.' || ch == 'c')
              { 
                  sum += (a*b);
                  a = 0;
                  b = 0;
              }
              putch(ch);
              cout << sum; //Used for debugging.
     
      }
      cout << "\n" << sum;
      getch();
}

---

> I'm so full of myself it's sad.

:D

One last thing - in the future - remember that main returns an int...