Creating a presentation in c++ ( I'm stuck )

Question

I'm working on a school project (I'm in seventh grade) and it's about why I want to be a computer programmer. I have to make a presentation of sorts about what a computer programmer is and what they do. I thought it would be a good idea to code my own presentation in a way. I've coded some of it already but i'm stuck. This is what I have so far,

    #include <iostream>
    #include <string>

    using namespace std;

    int main()
    {
      string question;
      cout << "Type [1] to begin...";
      cin >> question;
      if(question == "1")
    {

      cout << "A computer programmer figures out the process of 
   designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source c 
   ode for computer programs";   

         return 0;
     }

    }

Now what i want to be able to do is add a "goto" type of statement where it can go to something like "int second()" and cout something new like "what are programming languages?" and then a description of what they are after the user inputs something like "yes". Any help would be appreciated. I'm really new to c++. Thanks :)

Answer 1

I think this question is more suited for codereview, but since the code does not compile as is, we may as well help you with your broken code (and then you take it to codereview)

First, let's format your code. This is a useful skill to learn because it helps other coders help you write better code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main() {
    string question;
    cout << "Type [1] to begin...";
    cin >> question;
    if(question == "1") {

        cout << "A computer programmer figures out the process of
        designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source c
        ode for computer programs";

        return 0;
    }
}

Easiest way to format is to copy it into an IDE, use the IDE to format, then copy it back here, select the code and press the button.

---

Now to solve this problem.

Your question seems centred around controlling the flow of the program - being able to transition from one stage to the next in a way that puts the user in control and only delegates control back to your program once the user has made a decision.

The problem

1. Ask the user to enter a 1
2. Display the following text

A computer programmer figures out the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code for computer programs

3. Ask the user if they wanted to continue
4. If so, display the following:

what are programming languages?

4b. If not, end the program.

5. Ask the user if they wanted to continue
6. etc, etc

---

As you can see, there is indeed a pattern and this pattern comes down to the following:

• Ask what the user wants to do
• Do it
• Repeat until you run out of slides or the user doesn't want to continue

And just like that, we have abstracted away the complexity and are only focused on following the pattern.

Pay attention to the repeat part because that is what allows this pattern to work for more than one slide of your presentation. There are many ways to represent the repeat part, and for that you should find some good tutorials to teach you some of them. I won't bother describing all of them (just search youtube, you will find tons), but for this particular problem, the best way to represent your pattern is with a do-while loop.

Here is what it will look like:

do {
    // Ask the user a question
    // Get the user's input
    // validate the user's input
    // if they want to see the slide show it
    // other wise, leave this loop
while (I have not run out of slides);

This is psuedo-code, but here is how it transforms your code:

#include <iostream>// cin, cout
#include <string>  // string
#include <vector>  // vector
#include <cstddef> // size_t

using namespace std;

int main() {
    vector<string> slides = {
            "A computer programmer figures out the process of"
            "designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source c"
            "ode for computer programs",

            "what are programming languages?",

            // Add more here
    };

    size_t current_slide_index = 0;

    string user_response;

    do {
        cout << "Type [1] to continue: ";
        cin >> user_response;

        cin.ignore(100, '\n'); // This is used to skip to the next line

        if (user_response == "1") {
            cout << slides.at(current_slide_index) << std::endl;
        } else {
            break;
        }

    } while (++current_slide_index < slides.size());

    cout << "Happy learning\n";

    return 0;
}

---

A few notes

• I used a vector to hold the slides. This is the most recommended collection type in C++. There are many others, but for the most part, a vector will serve you well.
• cin >> does not normally go to the next line after reading something, so I had to manually shift it to the next line. That's the reason for cin.ignore(100, '\n');

---

As I said in the beginning, this question is more suited for codereview, so take what I've shown you here, make your changes as you learn more about it, and later on have it reviewed once again by the folks at https://codereview.stackexchange.com/.

Answer 2

I think you can try a pattern like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

void q1()
{
    cout << "A computer programmer figures out the process of "
            "designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source "
            "code for computer programs.\n";
}

void q2()
{
    cout << "what are programming languages? ...\n";
}

// void q3() ... ... ...

int main()
{
    string question = "1";
    cout << "Type [1] to begin... ([99] for quiting): ";

    cin >> question;

    /* while loop: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/while */
    while (question != "99") {

        /* if statement: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/if */
        if (question == "1") {
            q1();   // this is a "function call", you are invoking q1() 
        }

        else if (question == "2") {
            q2();
        }

        // else if(... q3() ... q4() ... and so on.

        /* read a new response for checking in the while condition */
        cout << "Next? ";
        cin >> question; 
    }

    return 0;

}

Answer 3

Using the the goto can be accomplished as below. You can also use the SWITCH..CASE to accomplish the same.

int main()
    {
      string question;
      label:
      cout << "Type [1,2,....] to begin...";
      cin >> question;
      if(question == "1")
    {

      cout << "A computer programmer figures out the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code for computer programs" << endl;   
        goto label;

     }
     if(question == "2")
     {
         cout << " A programming language is a type of written language that tells computers what to do in order to work" << endl;
    }

Answer 4

First of all it's fantastic that you want to be a programmer and I wish you luck on your assignment. You can certainly ask about learning c++ here, but this site is focused on question and answer, not on teaching. You have a pretty specific question here, but it can be solved in a broad variety of ways, which I'm sure you'll learn about soon.

What I would recommend for a presentation is to ignore the input so you don't have as many branches in your code. Then you can simply add the next part directly after the first.

  string question;
  cout << "Type [1] to begin...";
  cin >> question;

  cout << "A computer programmer figures out the process of 
     designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source c 
     ode for computer programs";   

  cout << "Type [1] to continue...";
  cin >> question;

  cout << "Part 2";   


  return 0;

Answer 5

On the language choice: C++ is definitely the wrong language to start. Because it's the most complicated programming language in existence(it's not an opinion, it's Science). You can't fully understand C++ without understanding other subset languages it contains. For example, C.

Don't listen to people that say you can code without complete understanding. You'll waste your time and won't become real engineer.

C is most stable and continuously respected programming language in Human History. Most modern CS celebrities like Mark Zucker., etc, started with C.
C can look as impressive as C++, if that's what you're interested in.

On the problem: What you're doing is console dialog with finite determined input. In CS it's called "finite automata" or "state machine". State machine can be represented as a bunch of circles(states) and arrows between them: "Do this if the next input is that". Pick a starting circle and the end circle. i.e. your program terminates when it gets there. Such diagram are really that simple.

Step-by-step solution(fill in blanks):

0)Define IO. Your input: 1 integer:

 int input;

Your output: const strings of characters.

1) Draw state machine diagram, with states and arrows between them. Denote each arrow as Integer, output_string. For example, '1, "A computer programmer figures.."' - is an arrow from the starting state (0) to some other state (1). 2) Create integer for states: int state = 0; 3) Translate your state machine into diagram as following:(You don't need goto's. Loop can play as a goto)

while(scanf("%d", &input)){
   switch(state){
   case 0:
      switch(input){
       case 1:
       printf("A programmer blabla\n");
       state = 2;
       break;
       case 2:
       ...
      {
   break;
   case 1:
    ...
   case 10: // - last state
       switch(input){
       ...
       default:
       printf("goodbye");
       return 0; // terminate the program;
       }
   }
}

You need to know about while loops, Switch statements, printf() and scanf(). Wikipedia is ok.

After you did this put the code inside main function and make necessary includes and you're good to go. You need to complete your homework yourself.