Problem with reading from file causing infinite loop - c++

Question

Ok this program I am working on seems to be all ok except there is a problem. Here is the code
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
/*
Function Name: CalculateBinary
CalculateBinary takes a number from the main function and finds its binary form.
*/
void CalculateBinary( long InputNum)
{
//Takes InputNum and divides it down to "1" or "0" so that it can be put in binary form.
if ( InputNum != 1 && InputNum != 0)
CalculateBinary(InputNum/2);
// If the number has no remainder it outputs a "0". Otherwise it outputs a "1".
if (InputNum % 2 == 0)
cout << "0";
else
cout << "1";
}
void main()
{
// Where the current number will be stored
long InputNum;
//Opens the text file and inputs first number into InputNum.
ifstream fin("binin.txt");
fin >> InputNum;
// While Input number is not 0 the loop will continue to evaluate, getting a new number each time.
while (InputNum >= 0)
{
if(InputNum > 1000000000)
cout << "Number too large for this program ....";
else
CalculateBinary(InputNum);
cout << endl;
fin >> InputNum;
}
}
Here is the text file I am reading in
12
8764
2147483648
2
-1
When I get to 8764, it just keeps reading in this number over and over again. It ignores the 2147483648. I know I can solve this by declaring InputNum as a long long. But I want to know why is it doing this?

Answer 1

That is the usual problem with such loops which you've written.
The correct and the idiomatic loop is this:
ifstream fin("binin.txt");
long InputNum;
while (fin >> InputNum && InputNum >= 0)
{
//now construct the logic accordingly!
if(InputNum > 1000000000)
cout << "Number too large for this program ....";
else
CalculateBinary(InputNum);
cout << endl;
}

Answer 2

That number is too large for a long to store, so fin >> InputNum; does nothing. You should always read as while(fin >> InputNum) { ... }, as that will terminate the loop immediately on failure, or at least check the stream state.

Answer 3

It would appear that the long type on your platform is 32 bits wide. The number 2147483648 (0x80000000) is simply too large to be represented as a signed 32-bit integer. You either need an unsigned type (which obviously won't work with negative numbers) or a 64-bit integer.
Also, you should check whether the read is successful:
...
cout << endl;
if (!(fin >> InputNum)) break; // break or otherwise handle the error condition
}

Answer 4

You don't check for EOF, thus being trapped in a loop forever. fin >> InputNum expression returns true if succeeded, false otherwise, so changing you code to something like this will solve the problem:
while ((fin >> InputNum) && InputNum >= 0)
{
// ...
}