Funky beginning to program

[rickypatel18]

I have been coding this program that runs the game Snake. However, whenever it runs it takes a long time loading and shows all these different characters before the game actually starts. Could someone help me figure out why?

also what does the symbol "&" used for in programming, my teacher looked at just my program and kept including it everywhere but didn't tell me why i needed them??



#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <time.h>

using namespace std;

void draw(char main[][75], int score);
void reset(char main[][75]);
void move(char main[][75], int &parts, int pastCounter, int past[][2],
int &apples, int &score, int &quit);
void check (int &direction);
void directionn(int direction, int &pastCounter, int past[][2]);
void apple (int &apples, char main[][75]);
void quitGame (int score);


int main()
{ //past is an array to help direct when the snakes body will go,
//did it like this so the behind pieces will follow the snakes head
int past[1000][2]; //second bracket: 0 is up, 1 is side
int parts = 3; //number of pieces for the snake
char main[23][75]; // dimensions for the game
int pastCounter = 6;
int direction = 0;
int apples = 0;
int score = 0;
int quit = 0;
int playAgain = 1;
srand(time(0));


past[pastCounter][0] = 1; //keep the game from crashing because if you hit the wall it kicks you from the wall
past[pastCounter][1] = 1;
while(quit == 0)
{ //main rotation through all the game's functions.
draw(main, score);
check(direction);
directionn(direction, pastCounter, past);
reset(main);
move(main, parts, pastCounter, past, apples, score, quit);
Sleep(25); //pause to keep the game a normal speed...
if (apples == 0)
{ //place more apples only if they are all gone
apple(apples, main);
}

}
quitGame(score);
Sleep (10000);


}
void draw(char main[][75], int score)
{ //draws the screen
system("cls");
cout<< "Score : "<<score<<endl;
for (int x = 0; x < 23; x ++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < 75; y ++)
{
cout<< ("%c", main[x][y]);
}
cout<<endl;
}

}

void reset(char main[][75])
{ //resets the array to keep it from being filled with parts of snake that shouldn't be there after the snake has moved on
for (int x = 0; x < 23; x++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < 75; y++)
{
if (main[x][y] == '@')
{ //doesn't reset the apples
main[x][y] == '@';
}
else
{
if (x == 0 || x == 22 || y == 0 || y == 74)
{ //doesnt reset the border
main[x][y] = 177;
}
else
{
main[x][y] = ' ';
}
}
}
}
}

void move(char main[][75], int &parts, int pastCounter, int past[][2],
int &apples, int &score, int &quit)
{ //moves the snake head, and has the body follow it
if (past[pastCounter][0] == 22 || past[pastCounter][0] == 0)
{ //if the snake is on the border of the game you loose
quit = 1;
}
if (past[pastCounter][1] == 74 || past[pastCounter][1] == 0)
{
quit = 1;
}

for (int x = 0; x < parts; x++)
{
if (main[past[pastCounter - x][0]][past[pastCounter - x][1]] == '@')
{ //if the snake (technically any part of the snake) eats and apple the following would occur
apples--;
parts++;
score += 10;
}
if (main[past[pastCounter - x][0]][past[pastCounter - x][1]] == 'o')
{ //if the snake eats itself game will end
quit = 1;
}
else
{ //else the snake's new location is determined
main[past[pastCounter - x][0]][past[pastCounter - x][1]] = 'o';
}
}
}
void check (int &direction)
{//checks if there has been user input
int key = 0;
if (kbhit())
{
key = -getch();
switch (key)
{
case -72:
direction = 2;
break; //up
case -77:
direction = 0;
break; //right
case -80:
direction = 3;
break; //down
case -75:
direction = 1;
break; //left
}
}

}
void directionn(int direction, int &pastCounter, int past[][2])
{ //based on user input, detects which directing the snake head should be going
int right;
int down;
right = past[pastCounter][1];
down = past[pastCounter][0];
switch (direction)
{ //directs the snake based on direction
case 0:
right ++;
break;
case 1:
right --;
break;
case 2:
down --;
break;
case 3:
down ++;
}

pastCounter ++;
past[pastCounter][0] = down;
past[pastCounter][1] = right;
}
void apple (int &apples, char main[][75])
{ //places apples on the screen
int up = 0;
int left = 0;
apples = 3;

for (int x = 0; x < apples; x ++)
{ //places appples, only if theres no border of part of the snake already in the space
up = (rand() % 22);
left = (rand() % 74);

if (main[up][left] == 'o')
{
apple(apples, main);
}
if (main[up][left] == '*')
{
apple(apples, main);
}
else
{
main[up][left] = '@';
}
}
}




void quitGame (int score)
{ //quits and displays score

int quit = 0;
system ("cls");
cout<< "GAME OVER"<<endl;
cout<<"Your score is: "<<score;
cout<<"Ricky's Highscore is 290!!!";
cout<<"Matt's Highscore is 250!!!";
cout<<"If you can beat either of them you get $1,000,000,000";
}

[TheIdeasMan]

I will take a stab at this one: try renaming the array which you have called "main".

main is not a reserved word according to cppreference.com, but it is a special function, only to be called once in an entire application. It should not be used for any other purpose.

The & has multiple uses in C++:

1. used after a variable type it is a reference;
2. used before a variable name in an assignment, it takes the address of the variable (a pointer);
3. 2 of them after a variable type is a r-value reference;
4. A single & is a bitwise operator. There are lots of these.

Have a look at the reference section - top left of this page.

Hope all goes well at your end & have a great festive season.

EDIT: I haven't looked at anything else in detail.

[MikeyBoy]

Please read http://www.cplusplus.com/articles/jEywvCM9/ and use code tags to make your code more readable.