Sorting class array in ascending order - c++

Question

Quite new to programming and in need of some help, I'm looking to sort an class array in ascending order based on age, but I can only get the code to work in descending order. I may be overlooking something small since I've worked on this far too long so I'd appreciate any help!
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Person
{
public:
string name;
int age;
Person(string name = "empty", int age = 0)
{
setName(name);
setAge(age);
}
void setName(string x) {
name = x;
}
string getName() {
return name;
}
void setAge(int y) {
age = y;
}
int getAge() {
return age;
}
void displayinfo()
{
cout << "Name: " << name; cout << " Age: " << age << endl;
}
};
void swap(Person &p, Person &q)
{
Person temp;
temp.name = p.name;
temp.age = p.age;
p.name = q.name;
p.age = q.age;
q.name = temp.name;
q.age = temp.age;
}
int main()
{
int userValue;
Person po("Jessica", 24);
Person po2("Robert", 49);
Person po3("Maria", 47);
Person po4("John", 19);
Person family[4] = {po,po2,po3,po4};
int sort(family[4].getAge());
{
for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
if (family[i].getAge() < family[i+1].getAge())
{
swap(family[i], family[i+1]);
}
}
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
family[i].displayinfo();
}

Answer 1

int sort(family[4].getAge()); is not a function declaration (and you can't implement a function inside of another function). It is actually a variable declaration. It is declaring a variable int sort that is initialized with the value from family[4].getAge() (which is undefined behavior since index 4 is out of bounds of your family[] array).
So, you are declaring an unused sort variable, and then you enter your for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++) loop, which DOES NOT perform a full sort of the array. For what you are attempting, use the standard std::sort() algorithm instead, eg:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;
class Person
{
public:
string name;
int age;
Person(string name = "empty", int age = 0)
{
setName(name);
setAge(age);
}
void setName(string x) {
name = x;
}
string getName() const {
return name;
}
void setAge(int y) {
age = y;
}
int getAge() const {
return age;
}
void displayinfo() const
{
cout << "Name: " << name; cout << " Age: " << age << endl;
}
};
int main()
{
Person po1("Jessica", 24);
Person po2("Robert", 49);
Person po3("Maria", 47);
Person po4("John", 19);
Person family[4] = {po1, po2, po3, po4};
std::sort(family, family + 4,
[](const Person &p1, const Person &p2) {
return p1.getAge() < p2.getAge();
}
);
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
family[i].displayinfo();
}
return 0;
}
Live Demo
Note that your family[] array holds copies of the Person objects that you initialize it with. To avoid the overhead of those copies, you can sort pointers instead, eg:
int main()
{
Person po1("Jessica", 24);
Person po2("Robert", 49);
Person po3("Maria", 47);
Person po4("John", 19);
Person* family[4] = {&po1, &po2, &po3, &po4};
std::sort(family, family + 4,
[](const Person *p1, const Person *p2) {
return p1->getAge() < p2->getAge();
}
);
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
family[i]->displayinfo();
}
return 0;
}
Live Demo
Or, you can get rid of the individual p0... objects altogether and initialize the array directly instead, eg:
int main()
{
Person family[4]{
{"Jessica", 24},
{"Robert", 49},
{"Maria", 47},
{"John", 19}
};
std::sort(family, family + 4,
[](const Person &p1, const Person &p2) {
return p1.getAge() < p2.getAge();
}
);
for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
family[i].displayinfo();
}
return 0;
}
Live Demo