Stuck on C# code

Question

Ok so im completely lost i have never done any kind of c# coding and am trying to learn.

The task I have to do:

Calculate the parking fee for each customer, and put that out together with the hours parked.

There is a maximum parking fee of $20.00.

Calculate and output the average of the parking fees.

Overall Tasks: Read the data file ‘hours.txt’ into an array of data type integer Calculate the parking fee for each customer and output the hours parked and the parking fee.

Calculate the average parking fee Output the average parking fee (formatted to 2 decimal places) for now, declare your array and assign the numbers as shown below.

This is what i have come up with so far. And plaese remember that like i said im very NEW to this and I´m looking for some guidence.

        int[] hours;
        hours = new int[30];
        const decimal HOURLY_RATE = 2.50m;
        const decimal MAX_FEE = 20.00m; //Capped at S20.00
        decimal parkFee;
        decimal parkingCost = HOURLY_RATE;

        int[] hoursArray = { 8, 24, 9, 7, 6, 12, 10, 11, 23, 1, 2, 9, 8,  8, 9, 7, 9, 15, 6, 1, 7, 6, 12, 10, 11, 23, 1, 2, 9, 8 };

        Console.WriteLine("Hours " + "Parking Fee ");

        int total = 0;
        double average = 0;
        for (int index = 0; index < hours.Length; index++)

        if (parkingCost > MAX_FEE)
            {
                parkFee = parkingCost * MAX_FEE;
                Console.WriteLine("Hours " + "Parking Fee ");
            }


        average = (double)total / hours.Length;
        Console.WriteLine("Average = " + average.ToString("N2"));
        Console.ReadKey();`

Answer 1

You never calculate your fee before you check if it's bigger than the maximum rate. Therefore you don't see any results, since your fee is never calculated (always 0). Also, you miss some braces for the for loop, so it will not loop through your code under the for loop.

A quick fix:

int[] hours = new int[30]{ 8, 24, 9, 7, 6, 12, 10, 11, 23, 1, 2, 9, 8,  8, 9, 7, 9, 15, 6, 1, 7, 6, 12, 10, 11, 23, 1, 2, 9, 8 };
const decimal HOURLY_RATE = 2.50m;
const decimal MAX_FEE = 20.00m; //Capped at S20.00

Console.WriteLine("Hours and fee's parked per person");

decimal total = 0;
for (int index = 0; index < hours.Length; index++)
{
    decimal parkFee = HOURLY_RATE * hours[index];
    if (parkFee > MAX_FEE)
        parkFee = MAX_FEE;

    total += parkFee;
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: {0}. Parking Fee: {1}", hours[index], parkFee);      
}

decimal average = total / hours.Length;
Console.WriteLine("Average = {0}", average.ToString("N2"));
Console.ReadKey();

I also cleaned up some variables that are double and moved some variable declarations to the place where they are calculated. I also made a decimal value out of your total variable. You were using int which will only give you whole numbers which will lead to an inaccurate total amount of fee's. By using decimal you solve this problem. Lastly, I also changed you average value to a decimal, which seems to make more sense in this case since you use decimal for all variables so far.

EDIT: since you specifically ask for reading the array from a text file. This is how you create your hours array from your text file instead of declaring it in code:

const decimal HOURLY_RATE = 2.50m;
const decimal MAX_FEE = 20.00m; //Capped at S20.00

// See http://stackoverflow.com/a/556142/7397065 why you should use @ here
string path = @"C:\your\path\here.txt";
string stringFromFile = File.ReadAllText(path);
// Since your array is delimited on whitespace, use null as parameter
// You also need int's instead of string. So directly convert the results to int.
// We now make a List(), which also gives you more flexibility.
// Want to change your delimiter? See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b873y76a(v=vs.110).aspx
List<int> hours = stringFromFile.Split(null).Select(int.Parse).ToList();

Console.WriteLine("Hours and fee's parked per person");

decimal total = 0;
// Let's change this to a foreach. That's clearer to work with.
foreach (int parkingTime in hours)
{
    decimal parkFee = HOURLY_RATE * parkingTime;
    if (parkFee > MAX_FEE)
        parkFee = MAX_FEE;

    total += parkFee;
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: {0}. Parking Fee: {1}", parkingTime, parkFee);
}

// We have to use .Count now, since we use List()
decimal average = total / hours.Count;
Console.WriteLine("Average = {0}", average.ToString("N2"));
Console.ReadKey();

Answer 2

Easiest solution would be to just iterate through hoursArray and check for the lowest value between each park period times rate and maximum fee. Then just add this to your total fees and after all divide this by your array's length :

for ( int i = 0; i < hoursArray.Length; ++i )
{
    // get the lowest value
    parkFee = Math.Min(hoursArray[i] * HOURLY_RATE, MAX_FEE);
    // add to total fees
    total += parkFee;
    // print current iteration state
    Console.WriteLine("Hours : {0}, Parking fee : {1}", hoursArray[i], parkFee);
}

// calculate the average
average = total / (double)hoursArray.Length;
// print results
Console.WriteLine("Average : {0}", average.ToString("N2"));