Using an RNG in a for loop inside of a function

Question

https://code.sololearn.com/c576Im1lWz16/?ref=app what im trying to do is insert an array into a function, have the function use a for loop to fill the array with random numbers ***From one to six*** the first number works and will be a number from 1-6 . the rest however will pretty much completely ignore the 1-6 rule and make big numbers.

Answer 1

https://code.sololearn.com/c3TnqbGDGp95/?ref=app

Answer 2

odd. I edited my answer to @Dennis after he did. and it says I posted first.. sololearn strikes again

Answer 3

here is a good article on arrays and pointers

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cplusplus/cpp_pointer_to_an_array.htm

Answer 4

have a look at the code I linked to see what I did to get it to work

Answer 5

yep. it works for this example. i saw and updated once I realised it wont work when more numbers are added

edit: yes based on what you said earlier :)

I usually just use std::array. much easier to use

Answer 6

How would I go about this in my case. I'm sorta new and pretty much never use pointers

Answer 7

Do not call srand(time(0)); every time.
Only do it once at the start of main and dont look at it again after that.

Also do not use (sizeof(x)/sizeof(x[0])) in a function this way.
It will not give you the correct array size.

In this case (sizeof(x)/sizeof(x[0])) returns 2.
So not the entire array gets initialized and you end up with weird values which probably explains why you get big numbers.

Instead you can pass in the size of the array together with the array, like:

void someFunction(int arr[], int size)

There are more ways to do it but this is probably the easiest to start out with.

Here's an example of *more ways:

template<size_t N>
void someFunction(int (&arr)[N])
{
std::cout << (sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0])) << std::endl;
std::cout << N << std::endl;
//Same results
}

Answer 8

"Do not call srand(time(0)); every time. Only do it once at the start of main and dont look at it again after that."

You still didn't do that, that's what causing your problem.

int main()
{
srand(time(0));
//Rest of the code
}

Answer 9

updated it and now the generator acts correctly. however the smallest function doesn't and I don't see the problem. the smallest function spits out some big number

Answer 10

@K1llJ0Y
I'm assuming you're trying to get the smallest of the array.
Do it like this:

int smallest(int x[], int size)
{
int smallest = 2147483647; //Biggest possible int
for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
if(x[i] < smallest)
{
smallest = x[i];
}
}

return smallest;
}

and then call it like:
int four_D_six[4];
int small;
const int SIZE = sizeof(four_D_six) / sizeof(four_D_six[0]);
//Yes, you can get the size here ^^

small = smallest(four_D_six, SIZE);

Answer 11

@jay
Probably cause I edited it too, my "returns size of type" wasn't completely correct so I quickly added something ^^

Answer 12

@jay
Nice try, but sizeof(x) will return the size of its type * its size. ( which it doesn't know in a function )
Which is an int, and the size of an int is 4 *, so it will always return 4 *

* (on computers where int is 4 :P)

Try it with any array that is bigger or less than 4 ^^

EDIT:

I see you edited it :P

Answer 13

thank you all. the program is complete, probably could've made it a bit more tidy and organized but I'm just happy I got it done. with the help of all of you of course.

Answer 14

so now my problem is that it generates the same number when I use the function multiple times