Application: Rainfall Statistics

In this week's lecture on sorting we discussed a stable, straightforward algorithm in selection sort as well as a recursive algorithm known as merge sort. This lab will provide an opportunity to appreciate the significance of a stable sort in analyzing data for rainfall statistics accrued over a calendar year.

Make sure you have read and understood

• Unit module 4
• C++ Coding Style Guidelines

before submitting this assignment. Hand in only one submission.

Lab Assignment Objectives

1. Implement a stable O(n^2) sort with efficient space requirements.
2. Apply the selection sort heuristics to a practical statistical analysis.

Understand the Application

Write an interactive program that obtains user entry for the total monthly rainfall in their geographical area. Use a selection sort algorithm to sort the statistical rainfall data in increasing order.

The Program Specification

Selection Sort Algorithm Description

The first iteration of selection sort selects the smallest element and swaps it with the first element. The second iteration selects the second-smallest element(which is the smallest remaining element) and swaps it with the second element. This process continues until the last iterations selects the second-largest element and swaps it with the second-to-last index, leaving the largest element in the last index. At the ith iteration, the smallest i elements are sorted into the first i elements.

Interactive Data Collection

Obtain user input for rainfall figures for each of 12 months. Based on the user input data generate the following statistical report values over the 12 month period: total amount of rainfall, average amount of rainfall, the largest recorded monthly rainfall, the smallest recorded monthly rainfall.

Use a selection sort to arrange the data for your report.

Generate a report summary to display your monthly rainfall statistical findings.

Testing Specification

Input Errors

Negative input figures are not to be accepted for rainfall figures. Pigeonhole the user to obtain valid input data.

Test Run Requirements

Submit a test run validation to demonstrate the successfully collected and sorted statistics. Include a demonstration of user input validation.

Example Test Run

Here is an example run:

/* ---------------------- Sample run --------------------------------------- Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #1: 0 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #2: 0 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #3: 1 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #4: -1 Rainfall must be 0 or more. Please re-enter: 3 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #5: 6 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #6: 8 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #7: 77 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #8: 2 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #9: 1 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #10: 1.5 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #11: 3.5 Enter the rainfall (in inches) for month #12: 66.9 The total rainfall for the year is 169.90 inches. The average rainfall for the year is 14.16 inches. The largest amount of rainfall was 77.00 inches in month 7. The smallest amount of rainfall was 0.00 inches in month 1. Here are the rainfall amounts, sorted in ascending order: ---------------------------------------- 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.50 2.00 3.00 3.50 6.00 8.00 66.90 77.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */

What to Turn In

Hand in 3 files: a2.cpp, rain.cpp and rain.h No zip files.

• a2.cpp : test driver
• rain.cpp : user defined functions to determine statistical data
• rain.h : user defined header

Tips and Requirements

1. Define and use named constants in lieu of literal values.
2. Ensure that your solution is well organized. Provide a program header and comments to document and organize your source code. User defined functions need be documented.
3. Provide a description in your program header why a stable sort is important in this particular sorting application.
4. Provide a commented out copy of your program run. Enclose the run inside of multi-line comment delimiters so that your program will run in the grader test bed. Place the run after your program source code in the main.cpp file.

Submission Resources

For more information on how to submit your assignment, please visit:

• How do I submit an online assignment? Canvas Student Guide
• Assignments Overview Canvas Video Guide
• Assignments Submissions Canvas Video Guide

Submitting multiple files to an assignment

Your lab 2 assignment requires uploading more than one file; you should upload these 3 files as one submission. In this assignment you need to upload 2 .cpp files (main.cpp and strpkg.cpp) and 1 .h file (strpkg.h). To add these files, the Add Another File button is clicked to upload the two files one by one. Check to make sure that both files uploaded okay. When finished click Submit Assignment.

Questions?

Feel free to ask in the forum!