Illegal indirection erors

[Groo]

Hi guys n gals,

I'm getting Illegal Indirection errors on lines 15 and 16 and I'm not sure why. I think it has something to do with pointers. Obviously I'm a beginner and could use any input you might have.

Thanks

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#define simp 0.10;
#define comp 0.05;
#define begin 100.00;

int main()
{
double daphne = begin;
double cleo = begin;
int years = 0;

while (cleo <= daphne)
{
daphne = begin * simp;
cleo = comp * cleo;
++years;
}

cout << "Years until Cleo's balance passes Daphne's: " << years << endl;
cout << "Daphne's balance: " << daphne << endl;
cout << "Cleo's balance: " << cleo << endl;
return 0;
}

[Disch]

Your problem is your #defines are wrong.

You shouldn't even be using #defines anyway. use constants:

const double simp = 0.10;   // this will fix your problem
const double comp = 0.05;
const double begin = 100.00;

There are many reasons why you should not use #define for constants. I won't get into them here, just trust me. Avoid #define.

To further explain what was going on:

#define simp 0.10;
#define begin 100.00;

// the semicolons here are problematic
// remember that #define effectively copy/pastes... so when you do this:

daphne = begin * simp;

// begin is #defined as "100.00;" and
// simp is #defined as "0.10;"
//  so you're left with:

daphne = 100.00; * 0.10;;

// the compiler assigns 100 to daphne, then doesn't know wtf you mean by *0.10; 

But yeah -- avoid #define

[Groo]

Excellent! Thank you for the input. It really helped.