CS 144 Programming Problem 3 Fall 2017 Dr. Diane Christie

Cs 144 Programming Problem 3fall 2017 Dr Diane Christiedue Tuesday

Design and implement a C++ class which represents a Book, and use this class in a main program which reads in information for multiple books from a data file and outputs them in a nice format to display what books are available for purchase. Requirements: A book has a title, an author (first and last names), a format (Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook, Audiobook), a publishing date, and a price. This should be a number since we will use it later to calculate the total cost of our purchases. As for member functions, you will want one (or more) constructor functions for this class, a Display function (nicely formatted, no more than 2 output lines per book), and “Get” and “Set” functions for each data member (“Get” functions are functions that return a particular data member, “Set” functions are functions that use a parameter value to set the value of a particular data member).

The main program will read a line from the file, process the data into a book, and display the book until you reach the end of the file. The algorithm for the main program is as follows: Open input file and check to see that it opened; Read one line containing book information; While not at the end of the file: Process one line of information into a book; Display the book; Read one line containing book information; Close the file. When implementing this algorithm, each step should either be one line of code or a function call. Later on, we will reuse our Book class in another main program for the next project. BE SURE TO SAVE A COPY OF IT.

Extras for Experts: 1. Output only the books that cost less than $25. 2. Ask the user for an author’s name, and output only the books by that author.

Paper For Above instruction

The assignment involves creating a comprehensive C++ program that models a bookstore inventory system through object-oriented programming, specifically focusing on a 'Book' class. This task emphasizes understanding class design, file input/output handling, and user interaction, applied within a real-world context. Efficiently implementing this requires careful attention to class encapsulation, member functions, and program flow control.

Class Design and Implementation

The core of the project is the 'Book' class, which must encapsulate essential attributes of a book: title, author's first and last names, format, publishing date, and price. Designing this class involves defining appropriate data members, constructors, accessor (getter) and mutator (setter) functions, and display functionality. The class should include at least one constructor that initializes all attributes, possibly through multiple overloads for flexibility.

The display function should output book details in a well-formatted manner, limited to no more than two output lines per book, enhancing readability for end-users. Additionally, getter and setter methods for every data member facilitate controlled access and modification, following encapsulation principles.

File Input/Output and Program Logic

The main program must handle input from a data file containing multiple book entries. The input process involves opening the file, verifying successful access, then repeatedly reading one line of data, creating a 'Book' object from this input, displaying the book details, and continuing until the end of the file is reached. Post-processing steps include closing the file to free resources.

Each step in this process should be efficiently coded—either as a single-line statement or as a function call—ensuring modularity and clarity. For example, reading data, processing it into a 'Book' object, and displaying output should be separated logically. This approach facilitates reusability of the 'Book' class in future projects and promotes clean code practices.

Additional Features and User Interaction

To enhance functionality, the program should optionally filter books costing less than $25. This requires arithmetical comparisons within the main loop, filtering and outputting only qualifying books. Moreover, the program will prompt the user to input an author's name, then search and display only those books written by the specified author. Performing this filtering involves traversing the list of books stored in memory after reading them from the file.

Implementation Considerations

Careful attention must be paid to code style. Proper indentation, descriptive variable names, and comments explaining each major step are critical. The project requires producing three files: 'MainBook.cpp' for the main program, 'Book.h' for the class declaration, and 'Book.cpp' containing definitions for class member functions. The entire codebase should be contained within a properly structured project folder, compressed into a zip file for submission.

Ethical and Academic Integrity

The assignment is individual, and all submissions must be original work. While conceptual discussions and the use of instructor-provided sample code are permitted, direct copying is prohibited. Students may seek assistance from teaching staff with prior planning, but sharing code or working collaboratively beyond the permitted scope is unethical. Internet sources should not be used for code solutions, ensuring academic integrity.

Conclusion

This project integrates multiple programming concepts: class design, file I/O, user interaction, and data filtering. Successfully completing it demonstrates proficiency in object-oriented programming in C++ and the ability to produce well-structured, maintainable code aligned with software development best practices. The generated program will serve as a useful foundation for future projects and showcase skills in designing and manipulating user-defined classes for real-world applications.

References

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