Trouble with Beginner's C++ Game of Life Program - c++

Question

Background: I am quite a beginner at programming. This is what I have so far in my rough draft for the Game of Life:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
//INTRODUCTION
int arraySize;
cout << "What is the length of your square-shaped grid? Enter an integer value greater than 0. Too big will cause problems.";
cin >> arraySize;
int original[arraySize][arraySize];
//REQUESTS INPUT FOR ARRAY
for (int n = 0; n < arraySize; n++)
{
for (int x = 0; x < arraySize; x++)
{
bool ValInput;
cout << "\n" << n << "," << x << "...";
cin >> ValInput;
original[n][x] = ValInput;
}
}
cout << "\n\n\n";
//DISPLAYS ARRAY
for (int row = 0; row < arraySize; row++)
{
for (int column = 0; column < arraySize; column++)
{
cout << original[row][column] << " ";
if (column == arraySize - 1)
{
cout << "\n";
}
}
}
cout << "Next frame.\n\n";
//FORMS NEXT FRAME WITH VALUES OF # OF LIVE NEIGHBORS
int liveNeighbors = 0;
for (int z = 0; z < arraySize; z++)
{
for (int h = 0; h < arraySize; h++)
{
liveNeighbors = 0;
if (z - 1 > -1)
liveNeighbors += original[z - 1][h];
if (z + 1 < arraySize)
liveNeighbors += original[z + 1][h];
if (h - 1 > -1)
liveNeighbors += original[z][h - 1];
if (h + 1 < arraySize)
liveNeighbors += original[z][h + 1];
if (z - 1 > -1, h - 1 > -1)
liveNeighbors += original[z - 1][h -1];
if (z - 1 > -1, h + 1 < arraySize)
liveNeighbors += original[z - 1][h + 1];
if (z + 1 < arraySize, h - 1 > -1)
liveNeighbors += original[z + 1][h - 1];
if (z + 1 < arraySize, h + 1 < arraySize)
{
liveNeighbors += original[z + 1][h + 1];
}
cout << liveNeighbors << " ";
}
}
}
The problem appears in the last step I have made so far (which is showing how many live neighbors each cell has.
Example: If the sample input is first "4" for a 4x4 grid and then you enter in a variety of 1s and 0s, the liveNeighbors value is not realistic. It may be in the hundreds, when the maximum should be only 8.
If you could help me find a solution to my problem, that would be nice. However, please keep in mind that I am a novice.
Thank you :)

Answer 1

Some of your conditions are wrong :
if (z - 1 > -1, h - 1 > -1) /* ... */
if (z - 1 > -1, h + 1 < arraySize) /* ... */
if (z + 1 < arraySize, h - 1 > -1) /* ... */
if (z + 1 < arraySize, h + 1 < arraySize) /* ... */
The comma does not do what you expect, what you need is probably a logical 'and' which in C++ is the operator && :
if ((z - 1 > -1) && (h - 1 > -1)) /* ... */
if ((z - 1 > -1) && (h + 1 < arraySize)) /* ... */
if ((z + 1 < arraySize) && (h - 1 > -1)) /* ... */
if ((z + 1 < arraySize) && (h + 1 < arraySize)) /* ... */
Extra parenthesis added for readability only, they are not required.
Just so you know, this is the standard definition of the comma operator :
A pair of expressions separated by a comma is evaluated left-to-right and the value of the left expression is
discarded.
In your case, the comparisons on the left side of the commas were basically not playing any role in the if condition.

Answer 2

I think that your problem is in this code:
if (z - 1 > -1, h - 1 > -1)
Your intuition is completely correct here, but the way that you've written this in code doesn't mean what you want. In C++, the comma operator is an esoteric operator that means "do both things, but discard the result of the first operation.". In this case, that means "check if z - 1 > -1, then completely discard that result, then see whether h - 1 > -1," which isn't at all what you want. To check and see if both of these conditions hold true, use the && operator:
if (z - 1 > -1 && h - 1 > -1)
That should help fix your bug.
Hope this helps!