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I am working through the exercises in the book Accelerated C++. I wanted to get some feedback on proper use of the Standard Library, correctness, overall style, portability, etc.

/*******************************************************************************
Accelerated C++ Chapter 3

Write a program to count how many times each distinct word appears in its input
*******************************************************************************/

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Enter a list of words followed by end-of-file: ";

    typedef std::vector<std::string>::size_type vector_sz;
    std::vector<std::string> words;
    std::string word;
    while (std::cin >> word)
    {
        words.push_back(word);
    }

    vector_sz size = words.size();
    if(size == 0)
    {
        std::cout << "Please enter some words!";
        return -1;
    }

    std::vector<int> frequency;
    std::vector<std::string> unique_words;
    int count = 0;
    bool isUnique;

    unique_words.push_back(words[0]);

    for(unsigned i = 0; i < words.size(); ++i)
    {
        isUnique = true;

        for(unsigned j = 0; j < unique_words.size(); ++j)
        {
            if(words[i] == unique_words[j])
            {
                isUnique = false;
            }
        }
      if(isUnique)
      {
          unique_words.push_back(words[i]);
      }
    }

    for(unsigned i = 0; i < unique_words.size(); ++i)
    {
        for(unsigned j = 0; j < words.size(); ++j)
        {
            if(unique_words[i] == words[j])
            {
                count += 1;
            }
        }
        frequency.push_back(count);
        count = 0;
    }

    for(unsigned i = 0; i < unique_words.size(); ++i)
    {
        std::cout << unique_words[i] << "   " << frequency[i] << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}
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3 Answers 3

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You could cut your code in half if you used a map:

typedef   std::map<std::string, unsigned int> Map;

Map tMap;
while(std::cin >> word)
{
    // When accessing a map with `[]` If the value does not exist
    // it is created and initialized to zero.
    //
    // The plus plus then increments the stored value
    tMap[word]++;
}

// Iterate through map and print frequency

Couple other notes from the code you have:

  • After unique_words.push_back(words[0]); you can start the i loop at index 1 instead of 0.
  • When checking for uniqueness in the first pair of loops, once you determine uniqueness to be false you can stop looping for that word: while(j < unique_words.size() && isUnique) ...
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4
  • \$\begingroup\$ On the correct line but you can simplify. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2012 at 4:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ At first glance, I don't quite understand how this works, but I will research how to use a map, thank you! \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 11:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ Assuming a new compiler and no requirement to print the results in order, you might also consider std::unordered_map instead of std::map. Also, though it makes no difference here, absent a reason to do otherwise, you generally want to use pre-increment instead of post-increment (++tMap[word];). \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2012 at 16:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Jerry Coffin Yes I am using a new compiler, Thank you for your help! \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 21:44
6
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See @sfpiano about using a map directly to count each word.

This is perfectly fine.

    std::vector<std::string> words;
    std::string word;
    while (std::cin >> word)
    {
        words.push_back(word);
    }

But if you want to learn the STL then you can replace the above with a single line:

    std::copy(std::istream_iterator<std::string>(std::cin),
              std::istream_iterator<std::string>(),
              std::back_inserter(words));

You don't need to store the value (especially since you don't re-use it)

    vector_sz size = words.size();
    if(size == 0)

Do this in a single line:

    if (words.size() == 0)

But this test is embodied in a single call.

    if (words.empty())

Here you use two vectors.

    std::vector<int> frequency;
    std::vector<std::string> unique_words;

This can be replaced by a std::map (see sfpiano) for details.

Declare as close to the use point as possible.

    bool isUnique;

This is not used outside the loop. So declare it inside the loop (and initialize at declaration.

    // So it should look like this.
    for(unsigned i = 0; i < words.size(); ++i)
    {
        bool isUnique = true;

Also you should start using iterators rather than using the index.

    for(auto loop = words.begin(); loop != words.end(); ++loop)
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  • \$\begingroup\$ I thought about using iterators, but that accesses elements at random right? \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 11:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ @newToProgramming: No. For vectors. begin() is index 0 and ++ moved through the vector in order. For Map/Set the order is the sorted order of the container. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 7, 2012 at 15:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ I am having trouble implementing std::copy from your code snippet, but I will figure it out, thank you for all of the corrections, I clearly have a lot to learn about using c++ correctly. Thanks. \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 22:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ ok, i figured it out, the second argument in std::copy is initialized with the istream_iterator default constructor which points to end-of-file, so it should be istream_iterator<std::string>() or just omit the paranthesis entirely. Is that correct? \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 22:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ Fixed the std::copy() above. You need the braces in this context. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 8, 2012 at 3:37
3
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As long as you've typedef'ed std::vector<std::string>::size_type as vector_sz, use it in the code

for(vector_sz i = 0; i < words.size(); ++i)
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3
  • \$\begingroup\$ You are right of course, but I think I will switch to using an iterator. \$\endgroup\$
    – Average
    Jun 7, 2012 at 21:51
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ It's not about this case, it's about the general rule for loop coding. \$\endgroup\$
    – fogbit
    Jun 8, 2012 at 7:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can just use auto. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 28, 2016 at 9:39

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