Am new to c++ and programming in general , can you please hep me with this exercise?

[Zetrox]

i have this exercise where i have to find the error in some code and correct it in some cases , i already did what i managed to figure out by myself but i still have this one code that i cant figure whats the error in it since am still new to the course and some of the consepts there are still new to me , thank you in advance .
notice : there are two errors in this code!

int search(int a[n], int numberUsed, int target)
{
    int index = 0;
    bool found = false;
    
    while ((!found) && (index < numberUsed))
        if (target = a[index])
            found = true;
        else
            index++;
    
    if (found)
        return index;
    else 
        return -1;
}

[Ganado]

First, the indentation is awful, and is really detrimental to the readability of the code.

int search(int a[n], int numberUsed, int target)
{
    int index = 0;
    bool found = false;
    
    while ((!found) && (index < numberUsed))
        if (target = a[index])
            found = true;
        else
            index++;
    
    if (found)
        return index;
    else 
        return -1;
}

Once I stop focusing on the indentation, it becomes clear that = is being used in your condition on line 6 instead of ==.

[Zetrox]

Hello ganado ,i hope u re doing well, first i want to thank u for ur help and ur remark , i just edited it to make it clear
i forgot to mention that there are two errors in this code,
thank you again!

[Ganado]

The only thing you did was double-space the code, and maybe change the indents a bit :) The indentation is still inconsistent. I already posted the better indentation excerpt, so no worries.
<Edit: The indentation was since updated again, after I posted this.>

I don't see two errors in the code. The code could be simplified and perhaps guarded against future changes with more { } pairs inserted, the 'n' in the function signature is unnecessary and implies there is a global const n somewhere, using the variable name 'numberUsed' to mean the size of the search space of the array is questionable, but I don't see an obvious runtime problem except the = sign in the function alone.

[Zetrox]

someone said that the second error in the this following line :
Error in Line 1:

int search(int a[n], int numberUsed, int target)

it must be replaced by:

int search(const int a[], int numberUsed, int target)

What do u think about that ? , thanks again for ur help and remark , i really appreciated!

[Ganado]

Making the array data const is certainly a best practice and definitely recommended here, but strictly speaking I wouldn't consider it an "error".

Like I said in the previous post, the existence of the 'n' there is unnecessary.

For example, this will compile:

#include <iostream>

using std::cout;

const int n = 42;

int search(int a[n], int numberUsed, int target)
{
    int index = 0;
    bool found = false;
    
    while ((!found) && (index < numberUsed))
        if (target == a[index])
            found = true;
        else
            index++;
    
    if (found)
        return index;
    else 
        return -1;
}


int main()
{
    int arr[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5,  6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
    cout << search(arr, 10, 5) << '\n';
}

But that 'n' being in the function signature is at best useless, and at worst, misleading.
It would be an error if there wasn't a definition of 'n' for the compiler to see. Since I do not have the full context of the program, it is impossible to determine whether or not the excerpt will compile without more information.

So yes, remove the 'n'. It does you no good.

[Zetrox]

Yes you re right ! n need to be removed to fix this code !
I am grateful for your support!

[anup30]

the search function can be much easier:

int search(int ar[], int size, int num){
	for(int i=0; i<size; i++){
		if(ar[i]==num) return i;
	}
	return -1;
}