Simple problem with bools and <cstring>

[Randeh]

Short story: in a beginning C++ class in college, was in a car accident that caused central spinal stenosis, some new Schmorl's nodes, disc problems and an incredible amount of pain. So far I've missed 2.5 weeks of lecture and there's only so much I can learn from my outdated book. I'm doing ye old palindrome checker, but instead of just ripping off code from others I tried it myself and I'm getting errors from my bool arguments. There's literally only 3 pages on bools in my textbook and none if it seems to help my situation. Here's the section of my code involving my bools:

 
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
 
const    int maxchars = 81;
char    test[maxchars];
bool    palindrome;
 
void main ()
{
//Input loop
while (1)
       {      
       cout << "Please enter a possible palindrome (no more than 80 characters):" << endl;
       cin.getline(test, maxchars);
 
       if (test == "END")
            break;
       else {
              if (palindrome(test)) //Getting an error here that says the function does not evaluate to a function taking 1 argument 
                   cout << test << " is a palindrome." << endl;
              else
                   cout << test << " is not a palindrome." << endl;
               }
         }
}
 
//bool definition
bool palindrome(test) //Getting an error here that says function style initializer appears to be a function style definition 
    {
    int length, middle, stop, place, revplace;
    length = strlen(test);
    if (length < 2)                    //short palindrome
        return true;
 
    middle = ((length - 1) / 2)
    if (2 * middle + 1 == length)    //length is odd
        stop = middle - 1;      //ignores middle character
    else                            //length is even
        stop = middle;
 
    revplace = length - 1;
    for (place = 0; place <= stop,; place++, revplace--)
        {
        if (test[place] != test[revplace])
            return false;
        }
    return true;
    } 

[willakawill]

Hi. There are a couple of problems with your code.
When you define a function like yours in c++ you need to use the following:

<return type> <function name>(<parameter type> <parameter name>);

the parameter cannot be something that has already been defined. You can use a global variable in your function instead of a parameter and declare your parameters as void. You have to repeat this syntax when you are defining the body of the function.

It is also better to use

if (strcmp(test, "END") == 0)

than to use:

if (test == "END")

Good Luck

[Randeh]

Alright, I changed the if statement to the strcmp like you suggest as well as changed:

bool palindrome(test)

to

bool palindrome(string ispal)

and the error on that line disappeared, but I'm still stuck with "error C2064: term does not evaluate to a function taking 1 arguments" in my repeating loop:

 
while (1)
     {
     cout << "Please enter a possible palindrome (no more than 80 characters):" << endl;
     cin.getline(test, maxchars);
          if (strcmp(test, "END") == 0)
    break;
          else {
    if (palindrome(test))
         cout << test << " is a palindrome." << endl;
    else
         cout << test << " is not a palindrome." << endl;
     }

I think my problem is with my if(palindrom(test)) statement, and I'm sure it's just imporperly formatted. Any ideas?

[willakawill]

That is not the problem. You have to re write the function header twice and the parameter is char* not string

bool palindrome; is not correct

[Randeh]

Thank you very much, I'll do my best to remember this formatting for functions in the future! You've been a great help.

[willakawill]

Thank you very much, I'll do my best to remember this formatting for functions in the future! You've been a great help.

You are very welcome