Hello drepper,

I am back to C++ after a short break.

I have uncounted a problem and I wonder if you have had the same. After writing and testing a short programme, if I go back to it after a while and make changes and save them, these changes do not compile and it is still the original version that comes on the console. Looking at the time and date of the various files, only the .cpp file has the new date and time, all the other files still show the original date and time. To make things even more difficult to understand, some programmes show the changes while some other keep showing the original version…
As an example on the code snippet Ex2_01.cpp (page 40), if I change the numbers of fruits, I have no problem the new total reflects my changes, but on some other programmes, the original version keep coming back. I must have made some errors somewhere which prevents the new version to compile.
Being very impatient I tried to jump forward (running before walking!) and I have investigated the <time.h> pre-processor. Ultimately, if I ever manage to get something out of C++ that will be one of the functions I will need to rewrite my GBasic programme (running on W95 with a parallel port and a homemade interface!). I can print the date and the time but I have not succeeded in getting the “day of the year”. The thing to get is ‘tm_yday’ giving the number of days since January 1st (0 to 365). But no success there so far…
Perhaps I should open a new thread on ‘time’ as I am sure someone must have used <time.h> before. Pity Horton does not mention it in the book. But not being very familiar with the Forum, I don’t know how a new thread is created.

Best regards

com64

Hey there com64,

It was getting lonely out here. It appears that only three of us are active in this forum. I only have time to address part of your reply right now. I will return to give more replies as time permits, hopefully later today. If not later today, I am sure that tomorrow will allow me the time.

I am going to start with starting a new thread. This topic will provide you with the best basic information for pursuing answers to your own questions. The instructions which follow are specific to this web site, but the basics are the same for all forums I have participated in. Bear with me. I am making this detailed enough for a rank computer newbie for the benefit of others who may read this post. This would be much easier if the forum allowed images to be included in the posts. Verbal instructions may be a little harder to follow because written descriptions don't create the visual connection.

1) First of all, log in with your user name and password.
2) Navigate to the sub forum of your choice. Obviously in this case it is Book: Ivor Horton's Beginning C++ 2010.
3) Click on the entry for the desired forum.
4) You will be greeted by introductory information about the forum which terminates with a free e-books link. You can tell that it is a link by hovering the mouse over th graphic for free s-books. The cursor turns into a hand. Immediately after the introductory information. look on the left side of the screen. You will see a button which says new thread. (This is above the title bar for the listing of threads included in the forum.)
5) Click the new thread button.
6) Enter your topic in the title window, and compose your post in the text editor.
7) Preview the post using the preview post button below the text editor, and make necessary changes.
8) Once all changes have been made, scroll down to additional options and find thread subscription/notification type. Choose the type of notification you desire form the options provided in the menu. I like instant email notification so I know when there is a reply.
9) Click the submit reply button.

Please feel free to critique the instructions above. My forum experience may have caused me to fail to properly communicate steps which are intuitive to me and very abstract to you.

My next post will address any questions you ask and/or critiques you provide regarding opening a new thread. I will also include some explanations about how I use Visual C++ which fall under two categories:

• manually performing tasks, rather than using short cut keys
• methods I learned in class that differ from Horton's instructions.

I believe that attacking replies to your questions will be much more profitable if I do this step-wise. The methods I intend to explain next will provide you with much more freedom as you attempt things beyond the scope of the book's instructions.

By the way ... I would like to know if you are using the Express (free) version or the paid version of Visual C++. The free version, which I use, is not as full featured as the paid version.

I will continue when time permits. Feel free to reply before my next post if you find it to be convenient to do so.

regards,
drpepper

EDIT: See the following post also.

I'm back again very briefly, com64.

There are a few things I need to add to my previous reply (post#12 above) before continuing.

To aid effective communication, I need to let you know what my habits are when referring to previous posts. I will either include a hyperlink or refer to the post by post number. The post number I use is located in the upper right corner of the post. This post is shown to be "#13 (permalink)." A special note is necessary here. In this forum the post number is not shown when you are actively replying. When you are viewing the post the post number is visible.

Our complete dialog on your post #11 will by necessity span several replies. (Being from the paper generation, I have begun to construct an outline on paper to guide me through the topics which I believe need to be addressed. There are six major topics.) I fully understand your desire to attempt "running before walking" because I constantly find myself tempted to do the same. I am hopeful that you have the patience to work through this in a step-wise process. I believe that I can provide you with some tools and techniques which will allow you to use your greater programming experience more fully.

I believe we may profit from providing ourselves with the facility to use private messaging within the forum. This does not involve direct emails using our email accounts. It is an internal feature for the website. Our dialogs will not be visible to anyone else. Off topic communication will not ruin the continuity for others who read the threads. On topic dialogs can still be used in the normal thread dialog style. The research I have performed on this site's methods are a little different from other forums I am familiar with; so a little experimentation may be necessary to make it work properly.

If you are interested in private messaging, try opening a thread as described earlier. We can move on from there. This will also provide me with the time to compose posts to directly address your current observations and questions.

If you prefer jumping straight into your queries, we can do that. I fear that some foundational information may be bypassed if this path is chosen.

regards,
drpepper

Hello drpepper,

Thank you for your #12 and #13.
Thank you for the instructions for opening a new thread. I shall do that but being also a “paper” person, I shall have to scribble it first…

I also shall tick on the personal notification on this new thread. I agree that “running before walking” would leave “black holes” but it sometimes makes life more interesting!...

Regards

com64

You are indeed adventurous, com64. I suspect that your experience with programming in other languages gives you a better foundation for forging ahead than I possess.

I am happy to see that my instructions proved helpful. Do you want to address the problems with the book exercises or enabling person messaging also? If so, one of us could open a thread devoted to either or both of these topics. I have already rough drafted my thoughts in anticipation of replying to the issues you described.

regards,
drpepper