Declaring arrays in c language without initial size - c

Question

Write a program to manipulate the temperature details as given below.
- Input the number of days to be calculated. – Main function
- Input temperature in Celsius – input function
- Convert the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit.- Separate function
- find the average temperature in Fahrenheit.
how can I make this program without initial size of array ??
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void input(int);
int temp[10];
int d;
void main()
{
int x=0;
float avg=0,t=0;
printf("\nHow many days : ");
scanf("%d",&d);
input(d);
conv();
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
t=t+temp[x];
}
avg=t/d;
printf("Avarage is %f",avg);
getch();
}
void input(int d)
{
int x=0;
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
printf("Input temperature in Celsius for #%d day",x+1);
scanf("%d",&temp[x]);
}
}
void conv()
{
int x=0;
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
temp[x]=1.8*temp[x]+32;
}
}

Answer 1

In C arrays and pointers are closely related. In fact, by design an array is just a syntax convention for accessing a pointer to an allocated memory. *(see note for more details below)
So in C the statement
anyarray[n]
is the same as
*(anyarray+n)
Using pointer arithmetic.
You don't really have to worry about the details to make it "work" as it is designed to be somewhat intuitive.
Just create a pointer, and allocate the memory and then access it like as an array.
Here is some examples --
int *temp = null; // this will be our array
// allocate space for 10 items
temp = malloc(sizeof(int)*10);
// reference the first element of temp
temp[0] = 70;
// free the memory when done
free(temp);
Remember -- if you access outside of the allocated area you will have unknown effects.
To be clear it is the indexing operator ([ ]) that is translated to pointer arithmetic. This is not an array in the modern sense of the
type. Whether (or not) the pointer involved points to (dynamically) allocated
memory is inconsequential to how this operator works. In a more modern language you would be able to operate on the array as an abstract type (to see how big it is, for example), you can't do this in C.

Answer 2

An array without an initial size is basically just a pointer. In order to dynamically set the size of the array, you need to use the malloc() or calloc() functions. These will allocate a specified amount of bytes of memory.
In your code above, declare temp as an int pointer
int *temp;
Then allocate space for it using malloc() or calloc(). The argument that these functions take is is the number of bytes of memory to allocate. In this case, you want enough space for d ints. So...
temp = malloc(d * sizeof(int));
malloc returns a pointer to the first byte in the block of memory that was just allocated. Regular arrays are simply pointers to the first byte in a sectioned off block of memory, which is exactly what temp is now. Thus, you can treat the temp pointer as an array! Like so:
temp[1] = 10;
int foo = temp[1];
printf("%d", foo);
Outputs
10

Answer 3

You will need to declare temp as an int pointer (instead of an int array). Then, you can use malloc in your main (after your first scanf):
temp = malloc(d * sizeof(int));

Answer 4

If your compiler supports c99, then simply use VLA(variable length array).Use like this:
void input(int);
int d;
void main()
{
int x=0;
float avg=0,t=0;
printf("\nHow many days : ");
scanf("%d",&d);
int temp[d];
input(d);
conv();
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
t=t+temp[x];
}
avg=t/d;
printf("Avarage is %f",avg);
getch();
}
Now temp[] is defined inside main() after date input.

Answer 5

1-add #include<stdlib.h> at the top of your file. Then modify the conv() code as follows:
2- modify temp declaration as follows (global variable):
int *temp;
3- modify input(int d) function as follows (tested on Visual Studio 2010):
void input(int d)
{
int x=0;
temp=(int*)malloc(sizeof(int)*d);
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
printf("Input temperature in Celsius for #%d day",x+1);
scanf("%d",&temp[x]);
}
}

Answer 6

Allocate the "array" dynamically on the heap after you read the size.

Answer 7

I didn't change anything else so you may see it clearly.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h> //here
void input(int);
int *temp=0; //here
int d;
void main()
{
int x=0;
float avg=0,t=0;
printf("\nHow many days : ");
scanf("%d",&d);
temp=malloc(d * sizeof(int)); //here
input(d);
conv();
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
t=t+temp[x];
}
avg=t/d;
printf("Avarage is %f",avg);
getch();
}
void input(int d)
{
int x=0;
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
printf("Input temperature in Celsius for #%d day",x+1);
scanf("%d",&temp[x]);
}
}
void conv()
{
int x=0;
for(x=0;x<d;x++)
{
temp[x]=1.8*temp[x]+32;
}
}

Answer 8

Maybe it's late to answer but...
If you work with small embedded system you might not have malloc and free functions.
So you have to sacrifice memory for 366 * sizeof(your_type), define it statically and use as a circular buffer. Then you can always slice it by number of days you need to calculate an average value.
Of course this makes natural constrains. You can define it by yourself.