Output of given programming segment

[darkstar7]

Hey all,
I just found a problem which I don't understand at all.
Please explain to me what will be the output and how it is got.

Turbo C++

(Assuming all the required header files are included in the program):

char*NAME = "a ProFiLe";
for(int x=0;x<strlen(NAME);x++)
if(islower (NAME[x]))
NAME[X]= toupper (NAME[x]);
else
if(isupper (NAME[x]))
if(x%2!=0)
NAME[x]= tolower (NAME[x-1]);
else
NAME[x]--;
cout<<NAME<<endl;

P.S : I don't understand why there aren't any code blocks {} following the loop and the if statements but this is how it is given in my textbook.

[kbw]

It's not an error but it's pretty poor style, especially for a book. I hope this indentation helps you to understand the nested if statement.

char*NAME = "a ProFiLe";
for(int x=0;x<strlen(NAME);x++)
    if(islower (NAME[x]))
        NAME[X]= toupper (NAME[x]);
    else
        if(isupper (NAME[x]))
            if(x%2!=0)
                NAME[x]= tolower (NAME[x-1]);
            else
                NAME[x]--;
cout<<NAME<<endl;

[Intrexa]

First the ps: You don't need code blocks around a single statement, so the following:

 x = 3;
if( someCondition)
   doThis();
y = 4;
if( someOtherCondition)
{
   doThis();
   doThat(x, y);
}

if line 2 is true, it will only execute the next single statement, which is doThis();, the brackets on line 6 tell the if statement to do multiply statements if it evaluates to true.

Now, to explain your code: There are several functions, bool isLower(char) checks if a character is lower case, char toUpper(char) returns an upper case character, with the other 2 functions doing the opposite of that. With that, you should be able to figure out what the code does.

[1yR4jE8b]

You don't need code blocks around a single statement

While you certainly don't need them, I don't recommend doing this. There is no harm in putting braces around a single line if, unless you're in some deranged competition where you win by having the least lines of code.

if(someCondition)
    doThis();
    y = 4;


if(someCondition)
{
    doThis();
    y = 4
}

The two if-statements look nearly identical thanks to incorrect identation, but behave differently thanks to the braces (or lack thereof). A novice may be hard-pressed to know *why* if they are looking at a snippet of code that is causing problems.

[darkstar7]

Thnx for all of your help.
Found that the output will be A OROoIiE.
For eg:
The letter P is stored in NAME[2]...
Since it is already upper , it is either converted into lowercase of the last character or it is decremented entirely.
Since x=2, x%2!=0 renders false and hence , the character gets decremented.
SO P becomes O.

The letter F is stored in NAME[5].
It is upper case and x%2!=0 renders true. Hence it is converted into the lowercase of the previous character which is o.

If the character is lowercase , it is simply converted to uppercase.

Spaces are printed out in the same way.

Agreed that the program is pretty poorly written.