How to use a while loop with an array? - c++

Question

I've created a program that allows the user to enter 10 grades. I've used a while loop to store grades in the array, but if the user only has 5 grades to input, he can type done to exit the program.
After the loop has finished, it will then calculate and display. the highest grade, lowest grade, and the average grade within the array
Unfortunately, when the user types done, the program will display the rest of the grade lines that were not entered.
Can you help me find out how to stop the while loop from displaying the rest of unentered grades of the loop?
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
const int SIZE = 10;
int grade[SIZE];
int count = 0;
int lowestGrade;
int highestGrade;
bool done = false;
cout << "This program is limited to entering up to 10 grades." << endl;
while ( grade[count] != done && count < SIZE)
{
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or done to quit: ";
cin >> grade[count];
count++;
}
//LOWEST GRADE
lowestGrade = grade[0];
for (count = 0; count < SIZE; count++)
if (grade[count] < lowestGrade)
{
lowestGrade = grade[count];
}
//HIGHEST GRADE
highestGrade = grade[0];
for (count = 0; count < SIZE; count++)
{
if (grade[count] > highestGrade)
{
highestGrade = grade[count];
}
}
//AVERAGE GRADE
double total = 0;
double average;
for (int count = 0; count < SIZE; count++)
total += grade[count];
average = (total / SIZE);
cout << endl;
cout << "Your highest grade is: " << highestGrade << endl;
cout << "Your lowest grade is: " << lowestGrade << endl;
cout << "Your average grade is: " << average << endl;
system("pause");
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Here are two problems with your code.
First:
....
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or done to quit: ";
cin >> grade[count];
count++;
....
The code above will attepmpt to read word "done" into integer variable, producing 0. Not what you want to do!
Second:
...
for (count = 0; count < SIZE; count++)
...
Code above will try to iterate over all possible elements (SIZE). However, you might have enetered less than that! You need to use count calculated in the previous loop as your boundary (and of course, use a different name for control variable in the loop).

Answer 2

There are a couple of things to unpack here.
Basically, the input you are retrieving is a char * and the >> operator is casting that to an int to fit into your array of grades.
Next what you are checking with grade[count] != done is if the integer in "grade" at the id "count" is not equal to the bool false. This will always return true in this case.
For your use case what you want to be checking is if your input is equal to the char * "done"
This cannot be happening in the predicate of the while loop because your grade array stores only int.
Therefore the simplest solution to the problem in my opinion, is to check whether the input is equal to "done".
If it is you want to set the done boolean to true
Otherwise we can try to cast it to an int and store that in the grades array.
Here is the revised loop:
while (!done && count < SIZE)
{
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or done to quit: ";
string input = "";
cin >> input;
if (input == "done")
{
done = true;
}
else
{
grade[count] = stoi(input);
}
count++;
}
The following is somewhat outside the scope of the question, but an additionnal advantage to using stoi() is that it ignores input that is not a number, which will shield against someone entering invalid input like "potato". This is why I immediately cast the input into a string.

Answer 3

Use another variable to store the amount ofgrades the user entered. You also cannot store a string in your integer array:
std::string input = "";
while(count < SIZE)
{
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or done to quit: ";
getline(cin, input);
if(input == "done")
break;
try
{
grade[count] = std::stoi(input);
count++;
}
catch(std::invalid_argument)
{
cout << "not a valid number\n";
}
}
int actualsize = count;
and then use this variable to abort your for loops:
for (int i = 0; i < actualsize; i++)

Answer 4

There are two simple ways to solve your problem:
You can read strings instead of integers and in case the read string is "done", break the loop, else, convert the read string to an integer, something as follows:
```
// rest of the code
int total_count = 0;
while (count < SIZE) {
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or done to quit: ";
string temp;
cin >> temp;
if(temp == "done") {
break;
} else {
grade[count] = stoi(temp);
count++;
total_count = count;
}
}
// rest of the code
```
If you don't want to use strings, then, assuming grades will be non-negative, you can stop reading input when the user types a negative number, say "-1". So, you will need to do something as follows:
```
// rest of the code
int total_count = 0;
while (count < SIZE) {
cout << "Enter a grade #" << count + 1 << " or -1 to quit: ";
int temp;
cin >> temp;
if(temp == -1) {
break;
} else {
grade[count] = temp;
count++;
total_count = count;
}
}
// rest of the code
```
Also, don't forget to replace SIZE by total_count in rest of the loops i.e. the ones computing 'LOWEST GRADE', 'HIGHEST GRADE' and 'AVERAGE GRADE'.
NOTE: You will have to do #include <string> at the top as well, if you use the first option.