My Projects Thread

[Hart]

About this thread:
I've decided to start a single thread to track progress on different projects I am working on (whether it be school related or not). I'd like constructive criticism from the community, while keeping in mind that I have had almost no real experience with programming before this last semester of college. If you can give me an example of how I can do something in a better way then, by all means, share. Also, if you have any suggestions for generally improving my project (naming, conventions, whatever), please post them. All of these projects will be written in C.

I expect a detailed reason or argument on your point, advice, whatever (if applicable/possible, of course). Links to reputable resources are very good.


Current project:
Character creation program
I've decided to create a very basic character creation and saving system. I'll use structs for the players and an item system later. I'll also use enums for a rights system later. I've written a small objective list...

Spoiler for PlayerSystem.txt:

Player system. (branch?)

Create structs for player entity, inventory system. Create rights system that
uses enumerated data type and implement it into the player entity struct.

Use command line argument to search for existing character. If character file
exists, load .txt. If not, print warning and exit program.

Should create an item system that contains bonuses to skills. Maybe create a
base item struct and initialize an array of item type to store all items and
their bonuses in.

Player structure contains:
Hitpoints, attack, strength, defence, inventory, equipped items.

I've begun work on it and in about 10 minutes I've come up with this:

Spoiler for playerEntity.h:

/*
 * playerEntity.h declares the player entity struct.
 *
 *  Created on: Feb 29, 2016
 *      Author: Nathan Harder
 */

#ifndef PLAYERENTITY_H_
#define PLAYERENTITY_H_

typedef struct Player_STRUCT {
	char username[32];
	int hitpoints;
	int attack;
	int strength;
	int defence;
}Player;

Player initPlayerChar(Player character);

void loadPlayerChar();

#endif

Spoiler for playerEntity.c:

/*
 * playerEntity.c defines functions declared in playerEntity.h.
 *
 *  Created on: Feb 29, 2016
 *      Author: Nathan Harder
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>
#include "playerEntity.h"

/**
 * @initPlayerChar initializes a new player's skills.
 */

Player initPlayerChar(Player character) {
	character.attack = 1;
	character.strength = 1;
	character.defence = 1;
	character.hitpoints = 10;

	return character;
}

/**
 * Search for player file and load/return the Player.
 */

void loadPlayerChar() {
	const int CHAR_LIMIT = 17; //17 to include the null terminator
	char char_name[CHAR_LIMIT];

	printf("Please enter your character's name:\n");

	do {
		LOOP:
		fgets(char_name, CHAR_LIMIT, stdin);
	} while(char_name[0] == '\n');

	for(int i = 0; i < strlen(char_name) - 1; ++i) {
		if(isalpha(char_name[i]) == 0) {
			printf("That username is not acceptable, please try again.\n");
			goto LOOP;
		}
	}

	printf("%s\n", char_name);

	return;
}

Spoiler for main.c:

/*
 * This project creates a simple player entity system with a simple item
 * system, rights system, and character saving. This project is for
 * learning experience.
 *
 *  Created on: Feb 29, 2016
 *      Author: Nathan Harder
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include "playerEntity.h"

void startup();

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
	startup();

	return 0;
}

void startup() {
	char user_input;

	printf("Welcome.\n");
	printf("This is a basic character-creation program.\n");
	printf("Have you created a character? [y/n]\n");

	LOOP:
	user_input = getchar();

	switch(user_input) {
		case 'y':
			loadPlayerChar();
			break;
		case 'n':
			//TODO: prompt for name and create file
			break;
		default:
			goto LOOP;
		}
}

Please understand that this is just an exercise to help me grasp the use of structs, file i/o, enums, and headers in C.

[Arth]

Good job! This is clear and very well written. Just a few questions. Why are you using the following libraries?

#include <stdbool.h>
#include <ctype.h>

I have't checked the documentation but I'm assuming the 'put' function defined there? If so, since you are already using standard input output wouldn't you just use printf for regular output statements?

[Hart]

Good job! This is clear and very well written. Just a few questions. Why are you using the following libraries?

I have't checked the documentation but I'm assuming the 'put' function defined there? If so, since you are already using standard input output wouldn't you just use printf for regular output statements?

I forgot to remove those libraries, I was previously using them to make sure that the user was using alphabetic characters only.

[Arth]

I forgot to remove those libraries, I was previously using them to make sure that the user was using alphabetic characters only.

Do you follow any specific standard? Also what flags do you use when compiling?
i use wall and c99, sometimes pedantic.

[Hart]

Do you follow any specific standard? Also what flags do you use when compiling?
i use wall and c99, sometimes pedantic.

Whatever the default is that comes with Ubuntu and GCC.

[Hart]

Sorry for the double post.

What would be the difference between using:

char* userInput[256];

and not using a pointer? I mean I understand the difference, but I see a lot of example programs from others using this pointer instead of a regular variable declaration.

[Hart]

Updated the OP with a Java version of reverseString. Not sure how to handle the possibility of a buffer overflow in Java at this time.

I'm about ready to move on to a new project. I'm thinking a pig-latin converter would be a good project. Thoughts?

triplePost++;

[Arth]

Sorry for the double post.

What would be the difference between using:

char* userInput[256];

and not using a pointer? I mean I understand the difference, but I see a lot of example programs from others using this pointer instead of a regular variable declaration.

char* userInput[256];

i kind of like to think of it as 256 String variables where as,

char userInput[256];

A string with 256 characters

[Hart]

Updated OP with new project. This one should prove a bit more of a challenge than any other.

I'd like to ask for input on any usage of pointers/pass by reference in my program if I should do something different and use pointers or not. Any other constructive criticism is welcome, too.

[Arth]

/*
 * This project creates a simple player entity system with a simple item
 * system, rights system, and character saving. This project is for
 * learning experience.
 *
 *  Created on: Feb 29, 2016
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include "playerEntity.h"

void startup();
char getUserInput();

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
	startup();

	return 1;
}

void startup() {
	printf("Welcome.\n");
	printf("This is a basic character-creation program.\n");
	printf("Have you created a character? [y/n]\n");

	if(getUserInput() == 'y') {
		//TODO: prompt for character name and load file
	} else if(getUserInput() == 'n') {
		//TODO: prompt for character name and creation
	} else {
		printf("That input is not accepted.\n");
		getUserInput();
	}
}

char getUserInput() {
	char userKey = '\0';

	scanf("%c", &userKey);

	return userKey;
}

Good job so far! I really have doubts when using scanf because it only reads up until the first space character. Although in a situation like this, its fine. When prompting for data be sure to use something more secure like fgets.

Also

else {
		printf("That input is not accepted.\n");
		getUserInput();
	}

You are calling the getUserInput function although the program is terminating after that, you are doing nothing with the value that is returned.

It's the least of my concerns but usually i have my function

initPlayerChar

of type struct player.

Also, its great that you're learning pointers as well as i/o. Also take a look at memory allocation. Learn malloc and a little about what happens behind the scenes in terms of stack and heap!

Careful when you use Pass by reference and pass by address.

Pass by reference is when the compiler makes a copy of the variable argument in the parameter. The actual value never changes.
Pass by address is actually sending the variable address to the function. The actual value does change.

Seems like you're on the right path with documentation, and style looks great. I personally like to follow c99 standard. If you are using the command like GCC to compile then
the it goes as follows.

gcc -Wall -stc=c99 main.c playerEntity.c -o Program

Nevertheless great job! Will be keeping up with this thread to see your progress.