Generate random letter array and count occurences - c++

Question

Hello I am trying to generate a random array of the length that the user inputs. My array should then print and display the occurences of those letters in the array. So far this only prints up to the letter g and the occurences are incorrect. If someone could tell me what I am doing wrong it would help alot. Thank you.
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <ctime>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
srand(time(0));
int i, num;
char ch;
char chars[]={'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z'};
int freq[26]={0};
cout << "How many letters do you want in your string? ";
cin >> num;
for (i=0; i < num; i++)
{
ch = chars[rand()%26];
chars[i]=ch;
freq[i] +=1;
cout << ch;
}
for (char lower = 'a'; lower <='z'; lower++)
{
cout << "\nLetter" << lower << "is " << freq[lower] << "times";
}
}

Answer 1

Problem 1
The lines
chars[i]=ch;
freq[i] +=1;
are not right. You need to use:
int index = ch - 'a';
freq[index] += 1;
Problem 2
The index in the for loop for printing the data is not correct either.
You need to use:
for (char lower = 'a'; lower <='z'; lower++)
{
int index = lower - 'a';
cout << "\nLetter" << lower << "is " << freq[index] << "times";
}
Important Note
It is worth noting that the C++ standard does not guarantee that lower case letters are contiguous. (Thanks #MartinBonner). For instance, if your system uses EBCDIC encoding your program won't work.
To make your code robust, it will be better to use a std::map.
int main()
{
srand(time(0));
int i, num;
char ch;
char chars[]={'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z'};
std::map<char, int> freq;
// Initialize freq.
for ( ch : chars )
{
freq[ch] = 0;
}
cout << "How many letters do you want in your string? ";
cin >> num;
for (i=0; i < num; i++)
{
ch = chars[rand()%26];
freq[ch] +=1;
}
for (auto item : freq )
{
cout << "\nLetter" << item.first << "is " << item.second << "times";
}
}

Answer 2

You might wanna give a look to C++11 Pseudo-random number generation here is a short way of generating the range that you want using this:
#include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#include <random>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int arraySize = 35;
mt19937 engine{random_device{}()};
uniform_int_distribution<> dist{'a', 'z'};
vector<char> vec;
generate_n(back_inserter(vec), arraySize, [&]() { return static_cast<char>(dist(engine); }));
//To count occurrences
array<int, 26> freq;
for (auto c : vec) { ++freq[c-'a']; }
return 0;
}

Answer 3

You should not write into chars, and freq should be extended to cover the a...z range (the ASCII codes), which it does not. Also, increase at index ch, not at i.
I do not even know that range from the top of my head, but it could be modified to track all possible bytes instead (0...255), see result on https://ideone.com/xPGls7
List of changes:
int freq[256]={0}; // instead of int freq[26]={0};
// chars[i]=ch; is removed
freq[ch] +=1; // instead of freq[i] +=1;
Then it works.

Answer 4

Using lambda functions to do most of the work.
#include <algorithm>
#include <functional>
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <numeric>
#include <ostream>
#include <random>
#include <string>
#include <utility>
#include <vector>
using namespace std::string_literals;
int main()
{
std::mt19937::result_type seed = std::random_device{}();
auto engine = std::mt19937(seed);
auto dist = std::uniform_int_distribution<>('a', 'z');
auto random_letter = [&engine, &dist]() { return static_cast<char>(dist(engine)); };
std::cout << "How many letters do you want to generate? "s;
int n;
if (!(std::cin >> n)) { return EXIT_FAILURE; }
auto letters = std::vector<char>();
std::generate_n(std::back_inserter(letters), n, random_letter);
auto zero = std::map<char, int>();
auto const frequencies = std::accumulate(std::cbegin(letters), std::cend(letters), zero,
[](auto& acc, auto c)
{
++acc[c];
return acc;
});
for (auto const [c, freq] : frequencies)
{
std::cout << "The letter '"s << c << "' appeared "s << freq << " times." << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}