CS107 - Lab 9

Overview: C++ functions and recursion.

As you write your programs remember to pay attention to the following issues of style:

• On the first line in your program include a comment with your name and a short description of what the program does.
• Document what your code does with comments.
• Choose descriptive naming of variables.
• Use consistent indentation.
• Separate logical blocks of code with with space (blank lines).

Problems

1. Binary search

   Write a program that allows the user to search for a target value in an array using binary search. Your program should ask the user to enter a sorted array and a target value and then call a binary search function. Write your binary search function such that it is recursive.

   
   //search for target in array a[] between positions start and end, inclusive. 
   //Return the index where it is found, or -1 if not found.
   int binarySearch(int a[], int start, int end, int target) {
   
   }
   
   //read an array of specified size from the user
   void readArray(paramter-list) {
   
   }
   
   
   void provideFeedback(parameter-list) {
   
   }
   
   
   
   int main() {
   
      const int n = 100; 
      int a[n], target;   
   
      //read the array from user
      readArray(a,n);
   
      cout << "Enter target: ";
      cint >> target;
   
   
      int index;
      index = binarySearch(a, 0, n-1, target);
   
   
      //let the user know whether the target has been found or not
      provideFeedback(index); 
   }
   
   

   Remember how binary search works: you compare the target with a[middle], and depending on the result of the comparison you search for it left or right. How would you express this recursively? That is, can you express the problem of searching left (right) as another binary search problem?

   ---

2. I'm thinking of a number...

   Write a program that implements a binary-search-like guessing game: the program picks a random number and asks the user to guess it; the user is told, for each guess, whether it is too high or too low.

   Your program should:

   • explain the game to the user
   • generate a random number from 1 to 1024
   • allow the user to play the guessing game
   • report the result

   Design your program so that your main program looks exactly as below:

   int main() {
    
    const int GUESS_LIMIT = 1024; 
    const int NB_GUESSES = 10;
   
   
    //seed the random number generator with the current time so that you
    //get different numbers each time you run it (you don't need to do
    //anything further with this).
    srand(time(0));
   
   
    //explain the program to the user. you do not need to ask whether
    //they want to use it --- assume they do.
    explainProgram();
   
   
    //generate a target from 1 to GUESS_LIMIT, inclusive
    int target = generateTarget(GUESS_LIMIT);
   
    //allow the user to play the guessing game; if the user does not
    //guess the answer in NB_GUESSES guesses they lose 
    int won = playGuessingGame(GUESS_LIMIT, target, NB_GUESSES);
   
    //let them know whether they won or not
    provideFeedback(won);
   
   }
   

   Note that the way the functions are used in main tells you exactly what the function header (the first line of a function that specifies the return type, function name and parameter list) should look like. For example, given this function:

   int target = generateTarget(GUESS_LIMIT); 
   

   you know that the function returns an integer value and has a single parameter which must be an integer. So the function will look like this:

   //generate a random number in the range 1..upperLimit inclusive 
   //and return this value
   int generateTarget(int upperLimit) { 
   
   }
   

What to turn in:

• The two programs (the .cpp file).

Send me only the .cpp files in the XCode project. Rename the main.cpp in the XCode folder to something from which I can easily identify the author, the lab number, and the problem number (no spaces in the name, please!)

If you work in a team submit only one file per team.

Make sure you include your name on the top line of all your .cpp programs!!