[SOLVED] Tried to write something "serious" and have failed once again

I've been re-reading the chapter about structures in the C book I downloaded, and I have some questions about the example below from it. I want to stress that the code below is exactly how it is written in the book, and thus is *not* my own code. Basically, the code below when run will ask you to enter a date, then based on the date you enter it will display the date for the next day. It doesn't seem to compile with treating warnings as errors, but should if you don't use the relevant arguments to compile it - again, it's not my code.

The first question is that; in the main function, is the following line (the very first line in the CODE block directly below) the prototype for the "dateUpdate" function? Because you'll note what as far as I can tell is the call to the same function below that, I think?

struct date dateUpdate (struct date today);
...
nextDay = dateUpdate (thisDay);

Because I've been getting quite confused trying to follow the code below. Also, is "thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" the "date" structure's variables as defined in the code below?

Here's the whole code;

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>

struct date {    
    int month;
    int day;
    int year;
};

// Function to calculate tomorrow's date

struct date dateUpdate (struct date today) {

    struct date tomorrow;
    int numberOfDays (struct date d);

   if ( today.day != numberOfDays (today) ) {
       tomorrow.day = today.day + 1;
       tomorrow.month = today.month;
       tomorrow.year = today.year;
   }
   else if ( today.month == 12 ) {
               tomorrow.day = 1;
               tomorrow.month = 1;
               tomorrow.year = today.year + 1;
   }
   else {
            tomorrow.day = 1;
            tomorrow.month = today.month + 1;
            tomorrow.year = today.year;
   }

   return tomorrow;
}

// Function to find the number of days in a month

int numberOfDays (struct date d) {

    int days;
    bool isLeapYear (struct date d);
    const int daysPerMonth[12] = { 31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31 };
  
    if ( isLeapYear && d.month ==2 )
         days = 29;
    else
            days = daysPerMonth[d.month - 1];

    return days;
}

// Function to determine if it's a leap year

bool isLeapYear (struct date d) {
  
    bool leapYearFlag;

    if  (  (d.year % 4 == 0 && d.year % 100 != 0) || d.year % 400 == 0 )
          leapYearFlag = true;
    else
             leapYearFlag = false;

    return leapYearFlag;

}

int main(void) {
   
    struct date dateUpdate (struct date today);
    struct date thisDay, nextDay;

    printf ("Enter today's date (mm dd yyyy): ");
    scanf ("%i%i%i", &thisDay.month, &thisDay.day, &thisDay.year);

    nextDay = dateUpdate (thisDay);

    printf ("Tomorrow's date is: %i/%i/%.2i.\n", nextDay.month, nextDay.day, nextDay.year % 100);

    return 0;

}

Sorry if the formatting is a little out of whack, kwrite for KDE 5 keeps messing up the formatting when copying and pasting.

Not sure I understand what your question is.

There is a structure defined and it is used as a return argument and also as a passing argument for that function.

Just think of it as a different variable type, such as int.

But instead of passing int, it is passing and returning that structure.

Aside: What I DON'T like is that they are using THAT as a passing argument. Use pointers instead. Structures can be huge in size. Eating stack.

I mean, in the main function below (for the same code above), it mentions the dateUpdate() function twice; is what's highlighted in bold below the prototype for the dateUpdate function? And where the dateUpdate() function is mentioned below that, is the actual call to call the dateUpdate() function?

int main(void) {
   
    struct date dateUpdate (struct date today);
    struct date thisDay, nextDay;

    printf ("Enter today's date (mm dd yyyy): ");
    scanf ("%i%i%i", &thisDay.month, &thisDay.day, &thisDay.year);

    nextDay = dateUpdate (thisDay);

    printf ("Tomorrow's date is: %i/%i/%.2i.\n", nextDay.month, nextDay.day, nextDay.year % 100);

    return 0;

}

And where it says struct date thisDay, nextDay; Is "thisDay" and "nextDay" the variables for the "date" structure?

Yes, the bolded-line is just a declaration of the function. It could very well be outside of 'main':

struct date dateUpdate (struct date today);

int main(void) {
    struct date thisDay, nextDay;
    ...

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 ... Also, is "thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" the "date" structure's variables as defined in the code below?

If by "date structure's variables" you mean its members then no. The members of the date structure are bolded below:

struct date { int month; int day; int year; };

"thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" are date structures, so each one contains the three bolded members above.

Many of the names are confusing though, 'dateUpdate' should be 'nextDay', 'numberOfDays' should be 'daysInCurrentMonth'

Originally Posted by Mechanikx If by "date structure's variables" you mean its members then no. The members of the date structure are bolded below:

Yeah, that's what I was thinking - after the dot, it's the structure's member variables, that's how I was trying to remember it anyway.

"thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" are date structures, so each one contains the three bolded members above.

That's pretty much what I was confused about; so "thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" are actually structures, not just the variables of the "date" structure? Because this is the part that just isn't clear to me.

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 That's pretty much what I was confused about; so "thisDay", "nextDay", "today" and "d" are actually structures, not just the variables of the "date" structure?...

You got it.

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 ...Because this is the part that just isn't clear to me.

Let's simplify things and just create a date structure that will hold today's date. First we create the template. This template will be used in the creation of other structures we want to be of type date.

struct date { int month; int day; int year; };

You can't assign any values to the template because it's a declaration so there's no memory allocated for it. If we want to use a date structure we have to create one:

struct date today;

today is now a date structure with the members month, day, year and we are able to assign values to them:

today.month = 8; today.day = 17; today.year = 2019;

Does this help clear things up?

Yeah, I think so. But just to make sure, and using the current example:

The structure is of "type date", with the three integer members "month", "day" and "year". The "today" structure is of "type date", with the same three integer members, that would look like "today->month", "today->day" and "today->year"?

Also, if I had something like below;

struct date {
int month;
int day;
int year;
struct time {
int seconds;
int minute;
int hour;
};
};

struct date today;
struct time thisDay;

It would look like "today->month", etc, etc, and for the nested "thisDay" structure of "type time", it would look like "today.thisDay->seconds", etc, etc?

I feel that it might have been best to have started a new thread some time ago.

What you say is not accurate:

struct date {
int month;
int day;
int year;
struct time {
int seconds;
int minute;
int hour;
};
};

struct date today;
struct time thisDay;

// And your comment/question:
It would look like "today->month", etc, etc, and for the nested "thisDay" structure of "type time", it would look like "today.thisDay->seconds", etc, etc?

None of those structures are pointers.

A better way to write that structure, containing another structure is the following (And note that indentation here helps, and that I've logically reordered the time elements):

struct date {
   int month;
   int day;
   int year;
   struct time {
      int hour;
      int minute;
      int seconds;
   };
};

You do not need to declare a struct time.

   struct date today; // declaration of a struct date variable name is today.

   // How you access the elements of the structure, all of them.
   today.month = 8;        // August
   today.day = 17;         // 17
   today.year = 2019;      // 2019
   today.time.hour = 11;   // 11:00
   today.time.minute = 26; // 26 minutes after the hour
   today.time.seconds = 5; // 5 seconds after the minute

   // This makes a structure of type 'date', variable named 'today' containing the data: August 17, 2019 11:26:05

If there were pointers you need to make sure said pointers are pointing to memory bolded there because I've detected this is a rather large problem.

struct time {
      int hour;
      int minute;
      int seconds;
   };

struct date {
   int month;
   int day;
   int year;
   struct time *tod;
};

For when you use that, you need to use malloc() or calloc() to declare a struct time OR you need to declare a struct time as a variable and then point to it using the "tod" pointer declared in the struct date.

   struct time now;
   struct date today;

   today.month = 8;
   today.day = 17;
   today.year = 2019;
   today.tod = &now;

   // And now you can use the -> reference, and have to because it is a pointer.
   today.tod->hour = 11;
   today.tod->minute = 26;
   today.tod->seconds = 5;

Recommend you don't play around with providing the values for the structure variables at time of declaration. I notice that you tend to do that, and get into trouble. Just advice there.

Originally Posted by rtmistler A better way to write that structure, containing another structure is the following (And note that indentation here helps, and that I've logically reordered the time elements): struct date { int month; int day; int year; struct time { int hour; int minute; int seconds; }; };

Not sure this makes sense, I get a warning when compiling it:

tmp.c:9:5: warning: declaration does not declare anything
    };
     ^

Originally Posted by ntubski Not sure this makes sense, I get a warning when compiling it: tmp.c:9:5: warning: declaration does not declare anything }; ^

I got the same warning so after trying a couple of things and failing I googled it and found this on stack overflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...structure-in-c

and it worked:

struct date {
    int month;
    int day;
    int year;
    struct time {
        int hour;
        int minute;
        int seconds;
    } time_current;
};

Originally Posted by rtmistler I feel that it might have been best to have started a new thread some time ago. ...

I figured that structures was relevant, that's why I continued with this thread. But that said, if the mod's feel the posts after post #131 (or whatever other post) should be split off into it's own thread, I don't have any issues with that - so I'll leave it up to the mod's/LQ to decide. Thanks for that post of yours tho RT, it was very helpful.

Anyway, I've been doing a little practice with nested structures, and I think I've got it. I had a look at both the C book and this site, and I've written some code that compiles without any warnings or errors. It just display's today's date (for where I live) and the time when I was writing the same code (I haven't used any pointers in it tho). But I'm still getting use to how to properly indent struct statements/structures tho, so sorry if my indenting is a little off (and kwrite keeps messing up my formatting when I copy and paste any code - written by myself or not).

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

    struct date {
        int day;
        int month;
        int year;
        struct time {
            int hour;
            int minute;
            int seconds;
        } now;
    };

    struct date today;
    
    today.day = 18;
    today.month = 8;
    today.year = 2019;
    today.now.hour = 1;
    today.now.minute = 51;
    today.now.seconds =  32;

    printf("Date and time is: %i/%i/%i %i:%i:%i\n", today.day, today.month, today.year, today.now.hour, today.now.minute, today.now.seconds);

    return 0;
}

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 kwrite keeps messing up my formatting when I copy and paste any code - written by myself or not

Could that be a due to a difference in tab size?

Originally Posted by ntubski Could that be a due to a difference in tab size?

Or perhaps the presence of tabs entirely. I suggest to never use TABS, except in a Makefile where they are required, or any other particular file similar in nature. C source files, I feel should all contain spaces as opposed to tabs.

Just my humble opinion.

And sorry once again for posting code, which was not compiled, just typed off the cuff. Obviously caused a bit of confusion there.