LAB 5

DECISION MAKING
5.1 OBJECTIVES

- To learn the use of relational operators

- To get familiar with control structures
- To learn and practice if-else statements
- To practice multiple selection statements

5.2 PRE-LAB READING

5.2.1 RELATIONAL AND LOGICAL OPERATORS

In C++ the condition test is done with the help of Boolean expressions. Boolean functions always return
a bool value that is either true or false. The simplest and most common way to construct such an
expression is to use the relational operators.

x==y true if x is equal to y

x!=y true if x is not equal to y
x>y true if x is greater than y
true if x is greater than or equal to
x>=y
y
x<y true if x is less then y
x<=y true if x is less than or equal to y
Table 1 Relational/Comparison Operators

Note: Type compatibility is an important factor here. Beware of comparing two variables of different
data types. A character should be compared with a character not with an integer.

5.2.2 SELECTION STATEMENTS

You might be thinking that the statements of a program can only be executed one after another but it is
not the case every time. A programmer has complete authority to change the flow of his/her program
and of course any time. This can be done by using control structures that serve to control the behavior
of program, like what function it will perform first and when it will terminate/continue under certain
circumstances.
Control Structures
"Statements used to control the flow of execution in a program".

These could be of selection type or iterative. C++ provides three types of selection statements.

 The if selection statement

 The if...else statement
 The switch statement

THE if STATEMENT
This statement is used when someone has to make a choice to either skip a particular block of code or
execute it. The if keyword is used to execute a statement or block only if a condition is fulfilled. Its
general form is:

if (condition)
statement

Where condition is the expression that is being evaluated. If this condition is true, statement is
executed. If it is false, statement is ignored (not executed) and the
program continues right after this conditional structure.

A block is a group of
statements which are
separated by semicolons
(;) like all C++ statements,
but grouped together in a
block enclosed in braces:
{}

Figure 1 Flow chart of if-statement

For example, the following code fragment prints x is 100 only if the value stored in the x variable is
indeed 100:

1 if (x == 100)
2 cout << "x is 100";
In case you have more than one statement to execute upon meeting condition, don’t forget to enclose
it into braces like this:

1 if (x == 100)
2 {
3 cout << "x is 100";
4 x++;
5 cout << “After incrementing x is” << x;
6
7 }

THE if-else STATEMENT

Often it is desirable in a program to implement one decision upon meeting a certain condition and
another decision otherwise. If-else statements works in that case. Its general form is:
if (condition)
statement1;
else
statement2;

where statement1 is executed in case condition is true, and in case it is not, statement2 is
executed.

Figure 2. Flow chart of if-else

For example:

1 if (x == 100)
2 cout << "x is 100";
3 else
4 cout << "x is not 100";

This prints x is 100, if indeed x has a value of 100, but if it does not, and only if it does not, it
prints x is not 100 instead.

When there are multiple alternatives to implement a decision, the above methods do not work.
Then else-if statement makes things stress-free.

For example:

1 if (x > 0)
2 cout << "x is positive";
3 else if (x < 0)
4 cout << "x is negative";
5 else if (x == 0)
6 cout << "x is 0";
7 else
8 cout << "Invalid input";

Activity:
Write a program which takes the age of a person and categorize them according to the following:
Children: Less than 13
Teens: Less than 20 and more than 12
Adults: Less than 51 more than 19
Seniors: More than 50