Beginner C++ projects

[Mirge]

I've been playing with C++, reading through some guides/tutorials and mostly reading and working through the examples & exercises in Accelerated C++ (loving the book so far, btw).

My only gripe is the examples they use so far (at least some of them)... involving computing median, average, etc of student grades. I mean, that's all fine and dandy, but it's boring and I'm losing interest... and am less inclined to actually TRY the examples & exercises.

So I went out looking for other "beginner c++ projects", so I'm not just reading a book and getting no actual experience... reading the book is fine, but if I don't actually build a program or 2 demonstrating what I just learned, I guarantee I'll forget everything 5 mins later after I close the book.

One site suggested making a double linked list... but not really what I had in mind. Another suggested a number guessing game... pretty simple, so I knocked that out (code posted below).

What I'm after is some more relatively easy beginner C++ projects that I can work on that'll give me just enough "hands on" experience so that I'll actually retain the knowledge I'm getting and give me a better understanding in general. Something that can be expanded upon would be great too!

So, I'm all ears... anybody have suggestions?


#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib> // for srand() and rand()
#include <ctime> // for time(NULL) in srand()

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int max_num = 50;
int max_tries = 5;

int random_number;
int guess = 0;
int current_tries = 0;

int low_guess = 1;
int high_guess = max_num;

srand(time(NULL));
random_number = rand() % max_num + 1;

while(current_tries < max_tries) {
cout << "Enter a number from 1 to " << max_num << " (" << max_tries-current_tries << " tries left - between "
<< low_guess << " and " << high_guess << "): ";
cin >> guess;

if(guess == random_number) {
cout << "Congratulations! You guessed correctly!" << endl;
break;
}

if(guess > random_number) {
cout << "Too HIGH!!" << endl;
if(guess < high_guess || high_guess == max_num) {
high_guess = guess;
}
}

if(guess < random_number) {
cout << "Too LOW!!" << endl;
if(guess > low_guess || low_guess == 1) {
low_guess = guess;
}
}

current_tries++;
if(current_tries >= max_tries) {
cout << "Outta tries! Better luck next time. The number was " << random_number << endl;
break;
}
}

return 0;
}

[Mirge]

"If you simply want to get practice with various C++ "isms" (particularly how to use the STL) then you could try rewriting some of the simple unix commandline utilities using the STL."

There's something I may try...

[Arppa]

Coding games has been fun for me so I recommend making some kind of simple game. When learning a new programming language, I have usually done simple tic-tac-toe -game for my first project. It's quite easy to program, yet many improvisations can be made under the hood. I suggest you try making a simple two player tic-tac-toe: no AI needed, console program, keyboard input. And when you have finished the basic version of the game, you can start polishing it further. You can even code a simple AI to kick the player's *** all the way down to Siberia!
Good luck and keep coding!

[dcraven]

The Practice Rooms at TopCoder.com have some very good and challenging problems to solve. That's my favourite source for coding practice problems.

Cheers,
~djc

[Mirge]

Thanks guys!

I've seen tic-tac-toe mentioned a few times too, but I really don't know how I'd code that on the console... I'll hafta think on that one.

Checking out the other site now...

This is where I got a couple ideas:
http://code.bluedinosaurs.com/beginner%20c++%20projects.html

[unknownPoster]

If you're into math, the problems over at Project Euler can be fun and challenging.

http://www.projecteuler.net

Here is the "easiest" problem there:

If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6 and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23.
Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000.

[Mirge]

Ok, I wrote a basic hangman style game. It works pretty well, surprisingly. Left room for expansion so I can make it better as I learn more, but it was a pretty fun learning experience!


#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <map>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <ctime>
#include <string>
#include <locale>

/* Design a hangman-type game on paper first.
Then build it here. It can be a rough first attempt...
*/

using namespace std;

int GetRandomElement(int max);
string strtolower(string str);
string ShowLettersUsed(map<string, int> letters);
string RevealWord(string hidden_word, string word, string letter);

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int total_possible_guesses = 10;
vector<string> possible_words;
possible_words.push_back("Mike");
possible_words.push_back("Aimy");
possible_words.push_back("Computer");
possible_words.push_back("Television");
possible_words.push_back("Movie");
possible_words.push_back("Book");
possible_words.push_back("Wedding");

string word = possible_words[GetRandomElement(possible_words.size())];
word = strtolower(word);

string hidden_word = string(word.length(), '-');

map<string, int> letters_used; // Keep track of individual letters used.
int guesses = 0; // Keep track of total guesses used.
string letter; // Buffer for the letter entered in the loop.

// Greeting / instructions.
cout << "A word has been selected at random... it is " << word.length() << " characters long. " << endl
<< "You have " << total_possible_guesses << " incorrect guesses allowed. Good luck! " << endl;

while(1) {
cout << endl << hidden_word << endl;

cout << "Guesses remaining: " << total_possible_guesses - guesses << endl;
cout << "Letters used: " << ShowLettersUsed(letters_used) << endl;
cout << "Enter a letter: ";
cin >> letter;
letter = strtolower(letter);

if(letters_used[letter]) {
cout << "Already used that letter!" << endl;
continue;
}

letters_used[letter]++; // Letter was not already entered. Mark it as used.
// A valid guess was made, increment the counter IF it's not in the word.
if(word.find(letter) == string::npos) {
guesses++;
}

// Lets re-generate our hidden_word, revealing each occurance of that letter if it exists.
hidden_word = RevealWord(hidden_word, word, letter);

// Is the word complete?
if(word == hidden_word) {
// Yes!
cout << "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU WON!!" << endl;
break;
}

// Is the player out of tries?
if(guesses == total_possible_guesses) {
cout << "Sorry, but you lost! The word was: " << word << endl;
break;
}
}

return 0;
}

// ##############################################
int GetRandomElement(int max) {
srand(time(NULL));

return rand() % max;
}

// #############################################
string strtolower(string str) {
locale loc;
string retval = str;

for(size_t i = 0; i < str.length(); i++) {
retval[i] = tolower(str[i], loc);
}

return retval;
}

// ##############################################
string ShowLettersUsed(map<string, int> letters) {
string retval;

for(map<string, int>::const_iterator it = letters.begin(); it != letters.end(); it++) {
retval += it->first;
}

return retval;
}

// ##############################################
string RevealWord(string hidden_word, string word, string letter) {
for(unsigned int i = 0; i < hidden_word.length(); i++) {
if(hidden_word[i] == '-' && word[i] == letter[0]) {
// This occurance should be revealed.
hidden_word[i] = letter[0];
}
}

return hidden_word;
}