Program Ideas

[mcqueen]

Can anyone give me pretty advanced program ideas. Thanks a lot!

[Zhuge]

I think you should be more specific. What skill level are you looking for?

[webJose]

I would love to see a library of classes that can calculate anything! Examples of classes: Temperature, Distance, Mass. They all require a specification of the units. Example: Temperature can be in Celsius, Kelvin, Farenheit or Ranking (I think! hehe, I'm not 100% of the last one). I want to be able to operate on them without regard of the units of the two objects:

Temperature T1(30, Celcius);
Temperature T2(50, Farenheit);
Temperature sum = T1 + T2; //and sum should represent the value 40 Celsius. 

Another example: Be able to divide 100 meters by 10 feet and obtain the proper dimensionless value of 32,808398950131233595800524934383.

If all this is too simple, then start thinking about compound dimensions. Examples: Speed (distance/time), acceleration (distance/time/time), force (mass * acceleration), etc.

[mcqueen]

Thanks, that sounds good, and long, so ill have to think of a way to shorten it.

[Computergeek01]

Here's a question, how would you implement webJoses code as it? As in don't require the user to pass a string? There's a pretty simple solution, don't over think it.

[mcqueen]

Use switch function

[Computergeek01]

And?...

[mcqueen]

Not sure...

[mcqueen]

Oh, classes

[Computergeek01]

Not quite. I was refering to "enum{...}". Although classes would work enumerating the values would be much less work.

[mcqueen]

Want to work on a library of classes together? We could make a great program! So who's up for the idea?

[mcqueen]

I have created a library of classes topic. Work for the program will be on that topic.

[Computergeek01]

Sure, start with a base class for webJose's idea. Something that would take the value passed to the constructor and set that as a base value for the object. Let's also use the enumerated value to designate the function pointer which would determine the format of the value >:D!!!! This could be FUN! It's getting so obfuscated I'm having trouble describing what's going through my head!

[mcqueen]

Post your idea on Library of Classes topic.

[mcqueen]

We'll continue working there.

[webJose]

hehe, don't think for a second that this is trivial in any way. This is complex anywhere you look at it. Good luck guys. I can promise it will be fun, though.

One more degree of complication: My temperatures example is really not accurate. Temperatures are like times: They have a "zero reference". You can add a time span to a time and get a time, and you can add a temperature difference to a temperature and get a temperature, but it is incorrect to add two times or two temperatures. The sumation doesn't have physical meaning. In pseudo code:

Temperature T1(30, Celsius);
Temperature T2(40, Farenheit);
TemperatureDifference dT = T2 - T1; //This is OK.
Temperature T3 = T1 + T2; //This really isn't OK.  This should not be allowed.
Temperature T3 = Temperature(100, Kelvin) + dT; //This is OK as it adds a temp. difference to a temperature object. 

Same goes for times. For temperatures it is more critical. Example: 10 C - 9 C = 1 dC (dC = "delta" Celsius). If you don't treat this as a different class, a conversion from C to F would incorrectly say that 1 dC = 33.8 dF, when in fact it is only 1.8 dF.

hehe, am I ruining the fun? :-) Again, good luck!

[mcqueen]

So how should we start it off? Of course with:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

[Computergeek01]

You shouldn't use any namespaces when you're building libraries. It may cause problems if anyone else tries to use it.

EDIT: Also what is cstdlib.h for?

[webJose]

hehe, the million bucks question! You need to start getting away from the keyboard and design. If you rush into code you will not hit the mark. For example: How will you be treating the different units? Enumerations? Classes? If classes, will you use a base Unit class for all classes for all dimensions? Are you going to tackle compound dimensions like area, speed, acceleration? If yes, how will you make those work so that a programmer can do:

Distance = testedDistance;
cout << "Enter the distance traveled by the test vehicle: ":
cin >> testedDistance;
Time runningTime;
cout << "Enter the time the vehicle took to travel the distance: ";
cin >> runningTime;
Speed measuredSpeed = testedDistance / runningTime;
//Or using a constructor so I can decide the speed units, like kilometers per hour:
Speed measuredSpeed(testedDistance, runningTime, Kilometer, Hour);
cout << "The measured speed was " << measuredSpeed << "." << endl;

And that raises another question: Is Kilometer any different from meter? Or should the Kilo part be translated as it is, a multiplier of 1000? What about all other prefixes like Deca, Hecto, Mega, Giga, Tera? What about the small ones (deci, centi, milli, micro, etc.)?

This is no small project, I tell ya!

[Computergeek01]

I just answered this in the other thread that the OP created. A different base class for each of the observable dimensions.

EXAMPLE:

template<class M>
class Base_Class_One
{
            private:
                   M magnitude;
/* Code code code...*/
};

template<class M, class D>
class Base_Class_Two
{
           private:
                   M magnitude;
                   D direction;
/* Code code code...*/
};

And so on...