Primary Example of Coding in C++


Before reading this page, you should read your instructor's Problem Solving Example to familiarize yourself with the terminology and documentation used by programing professionals when solving a sequentially structured problem.

Coding - The Physical Part of Programming

Only after an analysis (the logical part of programming) has been completed and verified by a desk check, should a programmer consider the physical part of programming and move on to the act of translating the algorithm (in conformance with the other analysis documentation) into source code (statements written in a computer programming language.)

The source code shown below represents a translation of the analysis for the Problem Solving Example on this web site into C++. For an explanation of the statements in the source code below, study chapters 2 and 3 in your textbook and the coding examples on this web site.

SOURCE CODE IN C++

/********************************
 *  Tax Calculating Program     *
 *  Written by: Randy Gibson    *
 *  Date: January 01, 2011      *
 ********************************/

#include <iostream>  // holds definitions of cout and cin objects
using namespace std; // defines lang. vocabulary context for cin and cout
#include <iomanip>   // holds definitions of setprecision() and fixed objects
#define  RATE  0.065 // defines symbolic constant for the tax rate

int main ()
{
 double PUR, // Purchase amount (in dollars)
        TAX, // Sales tax (in dollars)
        PAY; // Total payment (in dollars)

 /*
  The identifier RATE could be defined as a "named constant" instead of a "symbolic constant"
  by removing the #define statement above and replacing it here with the declaration:
  const float RATE = 0.065;
 */
       
 /* Intro. & Instructions */
 cout << "Sales Tax Calculator\n\n";
 cout << "Written by Randy Gibson - 01 January 2011\n\n";

 cout << "This program will request a purchase amount and then calculate\n";
 cout << "the sales tax based on a " << RATE*100 << "% tax rate and display the result\n";
 cout << "rounded to 2 decimal places.\n\n";

 /* Data Input Section */
 cout << "Enter the purchase amount: $";
 cin >> PUR;

 /* Calculation Section */
 TAX = PUR * RATE;
 PAY = PUR + TAX;

 /* Output Section */
 cout << setprecision(2) << fixed;
 cout << "\nThe sales tax for that amount is: $" << TAX << endl;
 cout << "The total payment with tax is: $" << PAY << endl;

 return 0;  /* Return zero error code to parent process */
}

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