Question

Write a program that reads in five integers and determines and prints the largest and the smallest integers in the group. Use only the programming techniques you learned in this chapter.

Short answer

Initialize variables for storage, input five integers, compare each with the current largest and smallest, and finally, output the largest and the smallest.

Step-by-step solution

Initialize Variables

Start by declaring five variables to store the integers that will be input by the user. Also, initialize two additional variables to store the current largest and smallest integers. Initially, you can set these to the first integer that the user inputs.

User Input

Prompt the user to enter five integers. Use a loop to read each integer using the input function if permitted or simply read five inputs one after another if loop has not been covered yet.

Compare Integers

For each integer input by the user, compare it with the current largest and smallest values. If the current integer is greater than the current largest, update the largest variable. If the current integer is smaller than the current smallest, update the smallest variable.

Output the Results

After all five integers have been read and compared, print out the largest and smallest integers.

Key concepts

Variable Initialization in C++

Variable initialization in C++ is a fundamental concept that allows programmers to assign a value to a variable at the moment it's declared. Think of a variable as a storage box where you can keep different types of data—like numbers, characters, or even large collections of information. In the context of our exercise, initializing variables is particularly important because it ensures we have a starting point to compare the integers entered by the user.

For example, when you're tasked to find the largest and smallest integers out of a group, initializing two variables to hold these values is crucial. You might start by assigning the first user input to both these variables. Here's a simple illustration of how that might look in a C++ code snippet:

int largest, smallest, number;cin >> number;largest = smallest = number;

This sets the stage for the upcoming comparisons as you have a baseline to compare all subsequent inputs. Remember, without initialization, these variables might contain garbage values, leading to incorrect comparisons and results.

User Input in C++

For a program to interact with a user, it must be able to accept input. In C++, the most common way to get user input is by using the cin object, which stands for 'character input'. This object is used in conjunction with the extraction operator, which in code is denoted as '>>'.

In our exercise, we need to get five integers from the user. If the concept of loops has not been introduced yet, we'll ask the user to input integers one by one, like so:

cin >> firstInteger;cin >> secondInteger;cin >> thirdInteger;cin >> fourthInteger;cin >> fifthInteger;

Each line prompts the user for an input, which is then stored in a variable. It's like asking someone to drop a number into our 'boxes' one at a time. When using cin, remember to guide the user by printing a message before each input. This makes your program user-friendly and avoids confusion.

Conditional Statements in C++

Conditional statements are the decision-making core of a programming language, letting your program execute different code based on certain conditions. In C++, if, else if, and else are the basic conditional constructs that can be used to perform such decision-making tasks.

Returning to our exercise where we determine the largest and smallest integers, we use conditional statements to do the necessary comparisons. After initializing our variables and storing user inputs, we might have a series of checks as follows:

if (currentInput > largest) { largest = currentInput;}if (currentInput < smallest) { smallest = currentInput;}

Here, currentInput represents each number the user enters. With each user input, we check if it's larger or smaller than our current 'champions' for the largest and smallest values, respectively, and update them accordingly. It's like continually adjusting the 'king of the hill', ensuring by the end we know who has climbed tallest and who remained at the base.