Beginner help!

[aaron]

I have a question in my class.. hoping to get some help
I need to create a program that will print
firstName middleName lastName
then their initials

User will input:
John Smith Doe

Output:
John
Smith
Doe
JSM

I can easily create the strings and cout the names but having trouble
finding how to print the first letter of each string
(cannot use array)
am I to use ignore function somehow?
can anyone help me????

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* aaron:

I have a question in my class.. hoping to get some help
I need to create a program that will print
firstName middleName lastName
then their initials

User will input:
John Smith Doe

Output:
John
Smith
Doe
JSM

I can easily create the strings and cout the names but having trouble
finding how to print the first letter of each string
(cannot use array)
am I to use ignore function somehow?
can anyone help me????

std::string, which you should be using to represent each name, has a
number of member functions you can use to extract the first character.

The 'at' member function, for example.

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

[aaron]

thank you...
Please understand this is the very beginning of a intro to comp
programming class
this at member function is never mention as of yet...

I am including string...
All I need now is to find out how to just print the first character
maybe the use of the ignore function?

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string first;
string middle;
string last;

cout << "Enter a name in the format First Middle Last: ";
cin >> first;
cin >> middle;
cin >> last;

cout << first << endl << middle << endl << last << endl;

return 0;

}

[Jim Langston]

"aaron" <aa***@yadavis. com> wrote in message
news:11******** **************@ g44g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .

thank you...
Please understand this is the very beginning of a intro to comp
programming class
this at member function is never mention as of yet...

I am including string...
All I need now is to find out how to just print the first character
maybe the use of the ignore function?

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string first;
string middle;
string last;

cout << "Enter a name in the format First Middle Last: ";
cin >> first;
cin >> middle;
cin >> last;

cout << first << endl << middle << endl << last << endl;

return 0;

}

Oh, if they are 3 seperate strings it's even much easier.

first[0] is the first character of the std::string first.
middle[0] is the first character of the std::string middle, etc..

so

std::cout << first[0] << middle[0] << last[0] << std::endl;

would print their initials.

It is [0] instead of [1] because in C, and C++, array elements start at 0,
not 1.

[aaron]

Thank you Jim
That does work... but is this an array?
I have been instructed not to use arrays.

[benben]

aaron wrote:

thank you...
Please understand this is the very beginning of a intro to comp
programming class
this at member function is never mention as of yet...

I am including string...
All I need now is to find out how to just print the first character
maybe the use of the ignore function?

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string first;
string middle;
string last;

cout << "Enter a name in the format First Middle Last: ";
cin >> first;
cin >> middle;
cin >> last;

cout << first << endl << middle << endl << last << endl;
Don't use std::endl in this way. Just use '\n'.

return 0;

}

Well if first is "hello" then first[0] will be 'h'.

You work out the rest.

ben

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* benben:

Well if first is "hello" then first[0] will be 'h'.

I recommend the at function, first.at(0), as mentioned.

Especially for a beginner.

To the OP: no, std::string is not an array; using std::string is
probably what your instructor meant by no arrays.

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

[aaron]

Here is the actual question I've been presented with...

Write a program that reads a person's name from the keyboard in the
format First Middle Last. It should then (1) print each of the names on
a separate line and (2) print the person's initials on the fourth line.
Assume that each person has exactly 3 names, that the first name begins
in the first position on a line (there are no leading blanks) and that
the names are separated from each other by a single blank.

Do not use arrays in this assignment.

[Jim Langston]

"aaron" <aa***@yadavis. com> wrote in message
news:11******** **************@ g44g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .

Thank you Jim
That does work... but is this an array?
I have been instructed not to use arrays.

You are correct. std::string is not an array. But, the same syntax used
for char arrays to get to the individual characters is the same syntax used
for std::string to get to individual characters. Which is the array element
syntax of [] and std::string actually stores it's data in a char pointer it
gets to internally using arrays.

When you use [] to get to an element, it is 0 bound instead of 1 bound for
the low value.

And what do you mean it doesn't work? Did you try it?

[roberts.noah]

aaron wrote:

Here is the actual question I've been presented with...

Write a program that reads a person's name from the keyboard in the
format First Middle Last. It should then (1) print each of the names on
a separate line and (2) print the person's initials on the fourth line.
Assume that each person has exactly 3 names, that the first name begins
in the first position on a line (there are no leading blanks) and that
the names are separated from each other by a single blank.

Do not use arrays in this assignment.

Have you told your instructor that you do not understand the material
in his lectures and the book well enough to do this assignment? If you
need help you should be asking your instructor. Hire a tutor if you
need to; this service is quite common in college and in fact that is
how I fed myself during those years. The assignment is quite easy and
your inability to figure it out indicates that you don't understand the
material in the class and reading materials either because the concepts
are difficult for you (this is pretty normal actually because
programming requires a certain way of thinking that people are not used
to) or you didn't listen/read. If the former, you really need to get a
tutor and/or approach your instructor because it only gets worse (my
experience indicates at least half of the students drop out of any
introductory programming class after midterms), if the later then read
the damn book.