How to print different arrangement of strings every time? - c

I was wondering how can I print out string variables in different order every time?
I thought about making a switch case with rand() but I think it is not that efficient with larger quantities.
`
char *mal = "Malfeasance", *por = "Portruding", *jos = "Jostled",
*gae = "Gaelet", *mor = "Morpheus", *sta = "Star";
switch (rand() % 3)
{
case 0:
printf("1. %s\n2. %s\n3. %s\n4. %s\n5. %s\nInput: ", mal, por, jos, gae, mor);
which_case=1;
break;
case 1:
printf("1. %s\n2. %s\n3. %s\n4. %s\n5. %s\nInput: ", sta, por, mor, jos, gae);
which_case=2;
break;
case 2:
printf("1. %s\n2. %s\n3. %s\n4. %s\n5. %s\nInput: ", gae, por, mor, jos, gae);
which_case=3;
break;
}
`

As pointed out in the comments, repeatedly shuffling an array scales well, and is easier to write and maintain.
A cursory example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
void shuffle(const char **data, size_t length)
{
while (length > 1) {
size_t n = rand() % (length--);
const char *t = data[n];
data[n] = data[length];
data[length] = t;
}
}
int main(void)
{
const char *names[] = {
"Malfeasance", "Portruding", "Jostled",
"Gaelet", "Morpheus", "Star"
};
size_t len = sizeof names / sizeof *names;
srand((unsigned) time(NULL));
while (1) {
shuffle(names, len);
for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i++)
printf("%s\n", names[i]);
if (EOF == getchar())
break;
}
}
Pressing the return key to advance:
Portruding
Gaelet
Malfeasance
Star
Jostled
Morpheus
Star
Morpheus
Portruding
Gaelet
Jostled
Malfeasance
Jostled
Gaelet
Morpheus
Portruding
Malfeasance
Star

Related

Coding challenge optimization

I am participating in a coding challenge that consistes in the following:
We start with a number(size of the string) followed by a string (ex: 5WWFAE) by stdin.
The letters given represent elements, F-fire, W-water, E-earth, A-air. Fire and Water cancel each other and Earth and Air cancel as well.
The goal is to simplify the string by canceling the elements and print it, but you can only cancel adjacent members, for example: "7AFEAWWE" would result in "AWE".
In this challenge the points are given depending on how fast the program runs and how little memory you spend, somehow some people still have more points than me. Could you help-me optimising it?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#define stack_is_empty() stack_index == -1
#define stack_push() stack[++stack_index] = c
#define stack_pop() --stack_index
#define can_join() (stack[stack_index] + c == 'F' + 'W') || (stack[stack_index] + c == 'A' + 'E')
void process_string(int len)
{
char c;
char *stack = malloc(len * sizeof(char));
register int stack_index = -1;
register int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i < len; ++i)
{
scanf("%c", &c);
if (stack_is_empty())
{
stack_push();
}
else if (can_join())
{
stack_pop();
}
else
{
stack_push();
}
}
printf("%*.*s\n", stack_index + 1, stack_index + 1, stack);
}
int main()
{
int len;
//* Input:
scanf("%d", &len);
if (len == 0)
{
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
process_string(len);
return 0;
}

how to see if there are 1 or 2 poker pairs in a hand in C

I am trying to develop a C program that checks if there are 1 or 2 pairs in a 5 card poker hand.
I am using a 5x3 array where every line is a card (the 3rd column being for the \0 character). Every time I execute the code it always shows the "two pairs" print.
I want to make sure that each letter (i, j, a, b) representing each line is different. Any help?
P.S.: This is for a university/college project, I have only started programming a few months ago from absolute scratch, so any detailed explanations on my mistakes would be very much appreciated :)
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
char (cards[5][3])=
{
"5S", "6D", "4H", "KD", "5C"
};
int main ()
{
pair (cards[5][3]);
return 0;
}
void pair (char (arg[n][0]))
{
int i,j,a,b;
if (i!=j!=a!=b)
{
if ((arg[i][0]==arg[a][0])&&(arg[b][0]!=arg[j][0]))
{
printf("2 -> pair");
}
if ((arg[i][0]==arg[a][0])&&(arg[b][0]==arg[j][0]));
{
printf("3 -> two pairs");
}
if ((arg[i][0]!=arg[a][0])&&(arg[b][0]!=arg[j][0]))
{
printf("there is no pair");
}
}
else
{
printf("there is no pair");
}
}
The posted code has several issues, both logical and syntactical, some have been pointed out in the comments.
Just to pick one, consider this line
if ((arg[i][0]==arg[a][0])&&(arg[b][0]==arg[j][0]));
{
// This body will never be executed ^
}
I'd suggest to restart from scratch and to proceed in small steps. See, for instance, the following minimal implementation
// Include all the needed header files, not the unneeded ones.
#include <stdio.h>
// Declare the functions prototype before their use, they will be defined after.
int count_pairs(int n, char const cards[][3]);
// Always specify the inner size, ^ when passing a multidimensional array
void show_score(int n_pairs);
int have_the_same_value(char const *a, char const *b);
int main (void)
{
char hand[5][3] = {
// ^^^^^^ You could omit the 5, here
"5S", "6D", "4H", "KD", "5C"
};
int n_pairs = count_pairs(5, hand);
// Always pass the size ^ if there isn't a sentinel value in the array
show_score(n_pairs);
return 0;
}
// This is a simple O(n^2) algorithm. Surely not the best, but it's
// a testable starting point.
int count_pairs(int n, char const cards[][3])
{
// Always initialize the variables.
int count = 0;
// Pick every card...
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
// Compare (only once) with all the remaining others.
for (int j = i + 1; j < n; ++j)
{ // ^^^^^
if ( have_the_same_value(cards[i], cards[j]) ) {
++count;
}
}
}
return count;
}
int have_the_same_value(char const *a, char const *b)
{
return a[0] == b[0];
}
// Interpret the result of count_pairs outputting the score
void show_score(int n_pairs)
{
switch (n_pairs)
{
case 1:
printf("one pair.\n");
break;
case 2:
printf("two pairs.\n");
break;
case 3:
printf("three of a kind.\n");
break;
case 4:
printf("full house.\n");
break;
case 6:
printf("four of a kind.\n");
break;
default:
printf("no pairs.\n");
}
}
Note that my count_pairs function counts every possible pair, so if you pass three cards of the same kind, it will return 3 (given AC, AS, AD, all the possible pairs are AC AS, AC AD, AS AD).
How to correctly calculate all the poker ranks is left to the reader.
Major improvements can be made to the pair function to make it slimmer. However, this answers your questions and solves several corner cases:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void pairCheck(char hand[][2])
{
int pairCount = 0;
int tmpCount = 0;
char tmpCard = '0';
char foundPairs[2] = {0};
// Check Hand One
for(int i =0; i < 5; i++)
{
tmpCard = hand[i][0];
for(int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
{
if(tmpCard == hand[j][0] && i != j)
{
tmpCount++;
}
if(tmpCount == 1 && (tmpCard != foundPairs[0] && tmpCard != foundPairs[1]))
{
foundPairs[pairCount] = tmpCard;
pairCount++;
}
tmpCount = 0;
}
}
printf("Pair Count Hand One: %i\r\n",pairCount);
//Reset Variables
foundPairs[0] = 0;
foundPairs[1] = 0;
tmpCard = '0';
pairCount = 0;
// Check Hand One
for(int i =0; i < 5; i++)
{
tmpCard = hand[i][1];
for(int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
{
if(tmpCard == hand[j][1] && i != j)
{
tmpCount++;
}
if(tmpCount == 1 && (tmpCard != foundPairs[0] && tmpCard != foundPairs[1]))
{
foundPairs[pairCount] = tmpCard;
pairCount++;
}
tmpCount = 0;
}
}
printf("Pair Count Hand Two: %i",pairCount);
}
int main ()
{
char cards[5][2] = { {'5','H'},{'6','D'},{'4','H'},{'K','D'},{'5','C'}};
pairCheck(cards);
return 0;
}
This function will treat three, four, or five of a kind as a single pair. If you want a different behavior the change should be easy.

Optimizing for() loop in C

my teacher said i could optimize this for() loop, but i can't see how, any help would be great
void vowels(char strng[])
{
int i, j, word_len, vowels_len, vowel_count;
char vowels[] = "aeiouAEIOU";
word_len = strlen(strng);
vowels_len = strlen(vowels);
vowel_count = 0;
for (i = 0; i < word_len; ++i) {
for (j = 0; j < vowels_len; ++j) {
if (strng[i] == vowels[j]) {
++vowel_count;
break;
}
}
}
printf("%s: %d vowels\n", strng, vowel_count);
}
One approach would be to remove the nested loop altogether, replacing it with an array that maps character codes to a flag indicating whether or not the char is a vowel:
int isVowel[256] = {0};
for (int i = 0 ; vowels[i] != '\0' ; i++) {
isVowel[(unsigned char)vowels[i]] = 1;
}
Now the main loop can be optimized as follows:
for (int i = 0; i != word_len ; i++) {
vowel_count += isVowel[(unsigned char)string[i]];
}
You can achieve a comparable performance with a switch statement:
for (int i = 0; i != word_len ; i++) {
switch(string[i]) {
case 'a':
case 'e':
case 'i':
case 'o':
case 'u':
case 'A':
case 'E':
case 'I':
case 'O':
case 'U':
vowel_count ++;
break;
}
}
Not sure if your teacher would consider this cheating, but this is one possible way to hunt for vowels that would be more optimal than using 2 nested for loops.
char *pos;
int vowel_count=0;
pos=strng;
while(pos)
{
pos=strpbrk(pos,"aeiouAEIOU");
if(pos)
{
vowel_count++;
pos++;
}
}
An optimization more simplistic than Dasblinkenlight's is:
char vowels[] = "AEIOU";
vowels_len = sizeof(vowels)-1;
...
for (char c=strng[i]&~32, j = 0; j < vowels_len; ++j) {
if (c == vowels[j]) {
(c&~32 is toupper in ascii.)
In order to optimize code, you must first realize what's the bottlenecks. On the algorithm-level, you have the following basic performance problems:
You must realize that strlen goes through the whole string in search of a null terminator and therefore you traverse the same string strng twice. This is inefficient - the optimal would be to check for null termination at the same time as you check the data.
The literal "aeiouAEIOU" is a constant so you know the size of it at compile-time. No need to calculate this in run-time with strlen(). You could use sizeof instead, which is evaluated at compile-time.
By checking for both upper case and lower case, you double the work. Instead, temporarily convert the character you look for to upper case, then only look among upper case vowels for a match.
You also have a major bug, namely that the function doesn't return the result.
The first step of "naive" manual optimization would therefore be something like this:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
int vowels(const char str[])
{
const char VOWEL_LOOKUP[] = "AEIOU";
int vowel_count = 0;
for(; *str != '\0'; str++)
{
char ch = toupper(*str);
for(size_t i=0; i<sizeof(VOWEL_LOOKUP)-1; i++)
{
if(ch == VOWEL_LOOKUP[i])
{
vowel_count++;
break;
}
}
}
return vowel_count;
}
int main (void)
{
const char str[] = "Stack Overflow"; // 4 vowels
printf("%s: %d vowels\n", str, vowels(str));
}
On an advanced level, you would look at the number of branches needed for the algorithm, as these tend to kill performance the most, blocking the CPU's branch prediction.
You could then consider replacing the inner loop with a look-up table. This may or may not improve performance - but at least it will make performance deterministic. And you'll probably start to sacrifice readability at this point, so you shouldn't optimize further unless this is a known bottleneck.
A look-up table version might look something like this evil, not-recommended code, which exploits the fact that symbol tables usually list letters in alphabetic order (EBCDIC did not, so this won't compile on various wildly retarded legacy systems).
int vowels(const char str[])
{
_Static_assert('Z' - 'A' == 25, "Weird symbol table."); // compile-time sanity check
const bool VOWEL_LOOKUP['U'-'A'+1] = // compromise between sacrificing RAM or speed
{
['A'-'A'] = true,
['E'-'A'] = true,
['I'-'A'] = true,
['O'-'A'] = true,
['U'-'A'] = true,
};
int vowel_count = 0;
for(; *str != '\0'; str++)
{
char ch = toupper(*str);
if(ch >= 'A' && ch <= 'U') // always 2 branches instead of 5
{ // but comes with a bit of calculation overhead:
ch -= 'A';
vowel_count += (int)VOWEL_LOOKUP[(size_t)ch];
}
}
return vowel_count;
}
This is not necessarily faster... always benchmark it.
Fastest thing ever.
void ultravowulator(const char strng[])
{
char vowels[] = "aeiouAEIOU";
int vowelscnt = strlen(vowels);
int vocabular[256] = {0};
for(; *strng != '\0'; strng++) {
vocabular[*strng]++;
}
int total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < vowelscnt; i++){
total += vocabular[vowels[i]];
}
cout << total << endl;
}
main()
{
char word[] = "Stack overflow";
ultravowulator(word);
}

C programming: ouput two strings as two columns next to each other

I have a question regarding an issue with a program in C I am making. I am going to write two different strings next to each other in two columns. I haven't found clear answers to my question since they almost always give examples of numbers with a known length or amount.
I have two strings, with a maximum length of 1500 characters, but to me unknown length. Let's for the sake of learning given them these values:
char string1[] = "The independent country is not only self-governed nation with own authorities.";
char string2[] = "This status needs the international diplomatic recognition of sovereignty.";
I want to write them next to each other, with a column width of twenty characters. I have set the difference between the columns to a regular 'tab'. Like this:
The independent coun This status needs th
try is not only self e international dipl
-governed nation wit omatic recognition o
h own authorities. f sovereignty.
I have tried with the following code but it isn't effective since I can't figure out how to adapt it to the length of the strings. It also just adapted to write five rows. I also get the below error.
Could someone please give me an example of how this could be done, and maybe with a pre-defined c-function in order to avoid using the for-loops.
void display_columns(char *string1, char *string2);
int main()
{
char string1[] = "The independent country is not only self-governed nation with own authorities.";
char string2[] = "This status needs the international diplomatic recognition of sovereignty.";
display_columns(string1,string2);
}
void display_columns(char *string1, char *string2)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
printf("%c",string1[j]);
}
printf("\t");
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
printf("%c",string2[j]);
}
}
}
I guess this is more generic way to do it.
void print_line(char *str, int *counter) {
for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
if (str[*counter] != '\0') {
printf("%c", str[*counter]);
*counter += 1;
}
else { printf(" "); }
}
}
void display_columns(char *string1, char *string2)
{
int counter = 0, counter2 = 0;
while (1) {
print_line(string1, &counter);
printf("\t");
print_line(string2, &counter2);
printf("\n");
if (string1[counter] == '\0' && string2[counter2] == '\0') {
break;
}
}
}
To print a single character, use:
printf("%c",string1[j]);
or
putchar(string1[j]);
This is the reason for the warnings and segmentation fault.
With this fix, the program somewhat works, you just have to print a newline as the last part of the loop:
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
putchar(string1[j]);
}
printf("\t");
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
putchar(string2[j]);
}
putchar('\n');
}
Update: For the function to work with strings of variable lengths, try this:
void display_columns(char *string1, char *string2)
{
int i,j;
int len1 = strlen(string1);
int len2 = strlen(string2);
int maxlen = (len1 > len2) ? len1 : len2;
int numloops = (maxlen + 20 - 1) / 20;
for(i=0; i<numloops; i++)
{
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
if (j < len1)
putchar(string1[j]);
else
putchar(' '); // Fill with spaces for correct alignment
}
printf("\t");
for(j=0+20*i;j<20+20*i;j++)
{
if (j < len2)
putchar(string2[j]);
else
break; // Just exit from the loop for the right side
}
putchar('\n');
}
}

Input line freezing, segmentation fault

I'm working on a project for a class and have been stuck for quite a while. When I unit tested the input earlier, it accepted the values for numOfDataSets and createDataSets without error. Now, however, after typing in any set of values for createDataSets, the code freezes after the first input until I enter any character (such as 1 or a), then errors with a segmentation fault. I am not sure what went wrong, and I would appreciate any help.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
// Function to return the number of data sets the user wants.
int numOfDataSets(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter number of data sets: ");
scanf("%d", &ret);
return ret;
}
// Function that creates the data sets in the input arrays.
void createDataSets(float **inputArr, int inputLength, int *lengths) {
int i = 0, j, k;
float value, *currentSet;
// For every element in inputArr...
while (i < inputLength) {
printf("Enter the number of values in this data set, followed by the values: ");
scanf("%d", &j);
*(lengths + i) = j;
currentSet = (float*)calloc(j, sizeof(float));
k = 0;
while (k < j-1) {
scanf("%f", &value);
*(currentSet + k) = value;
k++;
}
scanf("%f", &value);
*(currentSet + j - 1) = value;
*(inputArr + i) = (float*)&currentSet;
i++;
}
}
// Function to get int value of data set to choose.
int chooseDataSet(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter the number of the data set on which you wish to do calculations: ");
scanf("%d", &ret);
ret = ret - 1;
return ret;
}
// Gets the number option of the operation that the user wants to do.
int getOption(void) {
int ret;
printf("Enter one of the following numbers:\n");
printf("1. Find the minimum value.\n");
printf("2. Find the maximum value.\n");
printf("3. Calculate the sum of all the values.\n");
printf("4. Calculate the average of all the values.\n");
printf("5. Sort the values in ascending order (i.e., from smallest to largest).\n");
printf("6. Select a different data set.\n");
printf("7. Exit the program.\n");
scanf("%d", &ret);
return ret;
}
// Function to find the minimum value of a dataset.
void minimum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float min;
min = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
if (*(ptr + i) < min) {
min = *(ptr + i);
}
i++;
}
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %d\n", min);
}
// Function to find the maximum value of a dataset.
void maximum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float max;
max = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
if (*(ptr + i) > max) {
max = *(ptr + i);
}
i++;
}
printf("The maximum value of the set is: %d\n", max);
}
// Function to find the sum of the values of a dataset.
void sum(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float sum;
sum = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
sum = sum + *(ptr + i);
i++;
}
printf("The sum of the set is: %d\n", sum);
}
// Function to find the average of the values of a dataset.
void average(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1;
float sum;
sum = *(ptr);
while (i < length) {
sum = sum + *(ptr + i);
i++;
}
sum = sum / length;
printf("The average of the set is: %d\n", sum);
}
// Function to sort the values of a dataset.
void sort(float *ptr, int length) {
int i = 1, j;
float temp;
while (i < length) {
j = i;
while ((j > 0) && (*(ptr + j - 1) > *(ptr + j))) {
temp = *(ptr + j);
*(ptr + j) = *(ptr + j - 1);
*(ptr + j - 1) = temp;
j--;
}
i++;
}
printf("The sorted array is: ");
i = 0;
while (i < length) {
printf("%f\t", *(ptr + i));
i++;
}
printf("\n");
}
// Main method...
int main(void) {
int *lengths, outerLength, userChoiceSet = 0, userChoiceOption = 0, breakOutterLoop = 0;
float **outer;
outerLength = numOfDataSets();
outer = (float**)calloc(outerLength, sizeof(float*));
lengths = (int*)calloc(outerLength, sizeof(int));
createDataSets(outer, outerLength, lengths);
while (breakOutterLoop == 0) {
userChoiceSet = chooseDataSet();
while ((userChoiceOption != 6) || (userChoiceOption != 7)) {
userChoiceOption = getOption();
switch (userChoiceOption)
{
case 1:
minimum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 2:
maximum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 3:
sum(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 4:
average(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 5:
sort(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
break;
case 7:
breakOutterLoop = 1;
default:
break;
}
}
}
return (0);
}
The type of input to expect from the user would be something like:
2
3 1.2 2.3 3.4
4 4.5 5.6 6.7 7.8
Your main problem is this, in createDataSets():
*(inputArr + i) = (float*)&currentSet;
What this actually does is assign the address of currentSet to each element of inputArr. This address doesn't change on each iteration, so each element of inputArr gets set to the exact same value. Moreover, this address refers to a variable local to createDataSets() which will be destroyed when that function returns, so the address will be invalid. All the arrays you're dynamically creating are just being discarded, because you're not storing the addresses.
What you should have is:
inputArr[i] = currentSet;
As you mention in the comments, your compiler warned you about this, because what you were doing was trying to store a float ** in a float *, which is rarely a good idea. By adding the cast you silenced the warning, but you didn't fix the problem it was warning you about. The number of occasions in C where a cast is actually what you want to do are relatively few. None of the casts in your program are either necessary, or wise.
A few other points...
You use the wrong format specifier in many of your printf() calls. The %d here:
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %d\n", min);
for instance, should be an %f, because min is a float.
You are overusing pointer notation which makes your code very difficult to follow. That includes very difficult for you, too. For instance, your minimum() function could be much better written as so:
void minimum(float *ptr, int length) {
float min = ptr[0];
for ( int i = 0; i < length; ++i ) {
if ( ptr[i] < min ) {
min = ptr[i];
}
}
printf("The minimum value of the set is: %f\n", min);
}
Similarly, in your switch statement, something like:
average(*(outer + userChoiceSet), *(lengths + userChoiceSet));
is much more clearly written as:
average(outer[userChoiceSet], lengths[userChoiceSet]);
You are missing a call to fflush(stdout) in a few places, where you prompt for input but do not end the prompt with an '\n'. When I ran this code on my system, the prompt did not show before it sat to wait for the input. Interactive output is line-buffered by default, in C, and if you want things to be predictable, then you need to output a '\n' or call fflush(stdout) when output needs to be displayed.
You would benefit from defining your variables closer to the time of use. Restricting the scope of your variables to the minimum feasible is generally good. For instance, in your main() function, your variable userChoiceSet is never used outside of the outer while loop, so define it inside with:
while (breakOutterLoop == 0) {
int userChoiceSet = chooseDataSet();
You don't check the return from calloc() anywhere - you must do this, because the allocation might fail. malloc() and friends return NULL on failure. There's also no real point using calloc(), here - malloc() would be more normal.
You seem to use while loops in places where for loops would be much more natural.
You haven't done too bad a job with this one, but you'll find writing larger programs easier if you make each function do just one thing. For instance, your minimum() function should just calculate the minimum, but right now it calculates it and prints it. Particularly when it comes to dealing with input in the wrong format (see point 9 below) wrapping this up in a separate function will make the functions that use that input much less cluttered, and it's easy to get a function correct and to visually debug it if it's not doing a bunch of different things at once. Also, your opportunity for reusing code goes up when you do this (e.g. right now you couldn't use that minimum() function at any place where you wanted to calculate the minimum without also printing it).
Overall, having one array for your values, and a second for their lengths, is not a good approach. Far better would be to have an array of structs, each struct having a member for the array, and a member for the length, so the two related pieces of data are packaged together.
Also, your use of scanf() is potentially troublesome. If you enter input that's not expected, your program will not fail gracefully. For instance, if you enter anything other than a number in your main menu, then you'll go into an infinite loop. Generally better is to use fgets() to read in an entire line, and use sscanf() to parse its contents. At a minimum, you should check the return from scanf() to see if it successfully read a value, and if it did not, take appropriate remedial action (like reading all the characters in the input buffer and going back to ask for more input).
Overall, bearing all of the above in mind except for the last two points, your createDataSets() function would be better looking something like this:
void createDataSets(float **inputArr, const int inputLength, int *lengths) {
for ( int i = 0; i < inputLength; ++i ) {
printf("Enter the number of values in this data set, "
"followed by the values: ");
fflush(stdout);
scanf("%d", &lengths[i]);
float * currentSet = malloc(lengths[i] * sizeof *currentSet);
if ( !currentSet ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory in createDataSets()");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
for ( int j = 0; j < lengths[i]; ++j ) {
scanf("%f", &currentSet[j]);
}
inputArr[i] = currentSet;
}
}
Much easier to debug, easier to follow, and easier to not get wrong in the first place.
Since I've got a bit of time on my hands, here's how I'd figure it:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <ctype.h>
/* Maximum length of input buffer */
#define MAX_LINE 1024
/* Dataset structure */
struct dataset {
float * data;
size_t length;
};
/* Gets a single integer from user */
int getInteger(const char * prompt)
{
int value;
bool first_try = true;
char buffer[MAX_LINE];
do {
printf("%s%s: ", first_try ? "" : "Try again - ", prompt);
fflush(stdout);
fgets(buffer, MAX_LINE, stdin);
first_try = false;
} while ( sscanf(buffer, "%d", &value) != 1 );
return value;
}
/* Gets a bounded integer from user */
int getBoundedInteger(const char * prompt, const int min, const int max)
{
bool bad_input;
int value;
do {
bad_input = false;
value = getInteger(prompt);
if ( value < min ) {
printf("Too low, try again - ");
bad_input = true;
}
else if ( value > max ) {
printf("Too high, try again - ");
bad_input = true;
}
} while ( bad_input );
return value;
}
/* Gets a list of floats from user - caller must free */
float * getFloats(const char * prompt, const int num)
{
float * values = malloc(num * sizeof *values);
if ( !values ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory in getFloats()");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
bool bad_input = false;
do {
printf("%s%s: ", bad_input ? "Try again - " : "", prompt);
fflush(stdout);
char buffer[MAX_LINE];
fgets(buffer, MAX_LINE, stdin);
char * ptr = buffer;
int num_read = 0;
bad_input = false;
while ( *ptr && num_read < num ) {
/* Skip leading whitespace */
while ( *ptr && isspace(*ptr) ) {
++ptr;
}
/* Get and check input */
char * endptr;
float val = strtof(ptr, &endptr);
if ( ptr == endptr ) {
bad_input = true;
break;
}
/* Advance ptr and store input if good */
ptr = endptr;
values[num_read++] = val;
}
if ( num_read < num ) {
bad_input = true;
}
} while ( bad_input );
return values;
}
/* Returns the number of data sets the user wants. */
int numOfDataSets(void)
{
return getInteger("Enter number of data sets");
}
/* Creates the data sets */
void createDataSets(struct dataset ** sets, const int set_length)
{
for ( int i = 0; i < set_length; ++i ) {
struct dataset * new_set = malloc(sizeof *new_set);
if ( !new_set ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory for dataset");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
new_set->length = getInteger("Enter number of values in set");
new_set->data = getFloats("Enter values", new_set->length);
sets[i] = new_set;
}
}
/* Gets the number of data set to choose */
int chooseDataSet(const int min, const int max)
{
return getBoundedInteger("Choose data set", min, max) - 1;
}
/* Gets a menu choice from the user */
int getOption(void)
{
printf("Enter one of the following numbers:\n");
printf("1. Find the minimum value\n");
printf("2. Find the maximum value\n");
printf("3. Calculate the sum of all the values\n");
printf("4. Calculate the average of all the values\n");
printf("5. Sort the values in ascending order\n");
printf("6. Output the data set\n");
printf("7. Select a different data set\n");
printf("8. Exit the program\n");
return getInteger("Choose option");
}
/* Returns the minimum value in a data set */
float minimum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float min = set->data[0];
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
if ( set->data[i] < min ) {
min = set->data[i];
}
}
return min;
}
/* Returns the maximum value in a data set */
float maximum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float max = set->data[0];
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
if ( set->data[i] > max ) {
max = set->data[i];
}
}
return max;
}
/* Returns the sum of the data in a dataset */
float sum(const struct dataset * set)
{
float sum = 0;
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i) {
sum += set->data[i];
}
return sum;
}
/* Returns the arithmetic average of the data in a dataset */
float average(const struct dataset * set)
{
float sum = 0;
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
sum += set->data[i];
}
return set->length > 0 ? sum / set->length : sum;
}
/* Sorts the elements of a dataset in place */
void sort(struct dataset * set)
{
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
for ( size_t j = i; j && set->data[j-1] > set->data[j]; --j ) {
float temp = set->data[j];
set->data[j] = set->data[j-1];
set->data[j-1] = temp;
}
}
}
/* Prints a dataset */
void print_set(const struct dataset * set) {
for ( size_t i = 0; i < set->length; ++i ) {
printf("%.4f ", set->data[i]);
}
putchar('\n');
}
/* Main function */
int main(void)
{
/* Get and initialize sets */
const int num_sets = numOfDataSets();
struct dataset ** sets = malloc(num_sets * sizeof *sets);
if ( !sets ) {
perror("Couldn't allocate memory for sets");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
createDataSets(sets, num_sets);
/* Main menu */
int chosen_set = chooseDataSet(1, num_sets);
bool keep_going = true;
while ( keep_going ) {
switch ( getOption() )
{
case 1:
printf("Minimum value is %f\n\n",
minimum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 2:
printf("Maximum value is %f\n\n",
maximum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 3:
printf("Sum of values is %f\n\n",
sum(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 4:
printf("Average of values is %f\n\n",
average(sets[chosen_set]));
break;
case 5:
sort(sets[chosen_set]);
break;
case 6:
print_set(sets[chosen_set]);
break;
case 7:
chosen_set = chooseDataSet(1, num_sets);
break;
case 8:
keep_going = false;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
/* Free memory for sets */
for ( int i = 0; i < num_sets; ++i ) {
free(sets[i]->data);
free(sets[i]);
}
free(sets);
return 0;
}

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