Compile error declaring my char vector array - c++

Question

I've done some self learning in the past with c++ online but gave up, till I bought a textbook on it and giving it another go. In my past research, I never read anything on vector arrays (or maybe I did and don't remember, who knows).
Anyway it says like regular arrays, vector arrays can be created for any data type and I'm trying to get a char vector array going and I'm running into some compile errors take a look.
I want an array of 26 that houses all the letters in the alphabet capitalized. So 65 to 91 I think. If there is and easier way to initialize the array with the letter I'm interested in learning that way.
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
vector <char> vchChar(26, 65);
for (int iii = 0; iii < vchChar.size(); iii++ )
{
for (int jjj = 65; jjj < 91; jjj++)
{
vchChar(iii) = jjj;
cout << "vchChar(" << iii+1 << ") is:\t" << vchChar(iii) << endl;
}
//cout << "vchChar(" << iii+1 << ") is:\t" << vchChar(iii) << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Originally I had square brackets instead of the parenthesise, fixed that and had hoped it would work but that got a whole set of new problems when I tried changing them in the cout statements. When I had them in square brackets it printed out in the terminal fine no compile errors. So now I have the cout statements like
cout << "vchChar(" << iii+1 << ") is:\t" << vchChar[iii] << endl;
I thought vector arrays where incremented by one from the element before it. But all I got when I printed vchChar into the terminal where all 'A's. So I tried playing around with another for loop to assign them by one from the element before it. I got some different outputs then I'd desired, and cant find the right algorithm to do it.
I'll keep at it, but an answer on this post is just as good for me. I have little idea what I'm doing so post everything you've got, but keep in mind that I probably wont have any idea what you're talking about :S. I've probably left something out because I've change the code a bit when troubleshooting, so if there are any question ask, and thank for your time.

Answer 1

I do not see any sense in your code. If I have understood correctly what you need is the following
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <numeric>
int main()
{
std::vector<char> vchChar(26);
std::iota( vchChar.begin(), vchChar.end() , 'A' );
for ( char c : vchChar ) std::cout << c << ' ';
std::cout << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Or you can write it even the following way
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <numeric>
int main()
{
std::vector<char> vchChar( 'Z' - 'A' + 1 );
std::iota( vchChar.begin(), vchChar.end() , 'A' );
for ( char c : vchChar ) std::cout << c << ' ';
std::cout << std::endl;
return 0;
}
If your compiler does not support standard algorithm std::iota and the range-based for statement then you can write
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <numeric>
int main()
{
std::vector<char> vchChar( 'Z' - 'A' + 1 );
for ( char c = 'A'; c <= 'Z'; ++c ) vchChar[c - 'A'] = c;
for ( std::vector<char>::size_type i = 0; i < vchChar.size(); ++i )
{
std::cout << "vchChar[" << i << "] is:\t" << vchChar[i] << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}
Take into account that it is a bad idea to use magic numbers as 65 or 91. For example if the program will run in an IBM mainframe then the result will be unexpected because there is another coding system, that is EBCDIC instead of ASCII.
As for statement
vchChar(iii) = jjj;
then it is invalid. Expression vchChar(iii) means a call of the operator function with one argument that is not defined in class std::vector.

Answer 2

You have at least the following issues in your code:
Setting a vector element is not done by myVector(index), but myVector[index], so basically the operator[]. In this special case, however, you can just push them in a row to the back.
You are trying to print one element of the array with vchChar(iii), but you should use the .at(index) method.
It is not crucial, but in this special case, you could use the iterator pattern to go through the vector rather than dealing with the indexing. Even if you do not do that, it is needless to use iii and jjj for variable names instead of the regular i and j.
I would prefer to use size_t or the vector<char>::size_type for the loop counters as you compare one of them against the vector size.
You are setting the elements more than once because you have a nested loop.
You are needlessly constructing the vector differently than the default.
You are using hard coded integers rather than actual characters.
Therefore, your correct code would look like this:
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
vector <char> vchChar;
for (char c = 'A'; c <= 'Z'; ++c)
vchChar.push_back(c);
for (vector<char>::size_t i = 0; i < vchChar.size(); ++i)
cout << "vchChar(" << i+1 << ") is:\t" << vchChar.at(i) << endl;
return 0;
}
Disclaimer: this is just compilation and runtime fix. I have not dealt with use case and design issues. There are better solutions as I partially mentioned them, but I decided to make your code with the least impact.

Answer 3

You do not need nested loops.
{
vector<char> vchChar;
for (char letter = 'A'; letter <= 'Z'; ++letter) {
vchChar.push_back(letter);
}
for (int i = 0; i < (int) vchChar.size(); ++i) {
cout << vchChar[i];
}
}