Constructing Expressions

One of the reasons you would need to nest conditions is because one would lead to another. Sometimes, before checking one condition, another primary condition would have to be met. The ergonomic program we have been simulating so far is asking the user whether she is sitting down. Once the user is sitting down, you would write an exercise she would perform. Depending on her strength, at a certain time, one user will be tired and want to stop while for the same amount of previous exercises, another user would like to continue. Before continuing with a subsequent exercise, you may want to check whether the user would like to continue. Of course, this would be easily done with:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char SittingDown;
	
	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> SittingDown;
		
		if( SittingDown != 'y' )
			cout << "Could you please sit down for the next exercise?";
		cout << "\n\n";
	}while( SittingDown != 'y' );
	
	cout << "Wonderful. Now we will continue today's exercise...";
	cout << "\n...\nEnd of exercise";
	
	char WantToContinue;
	
	cout << "Do you want to continue(y=Yes/n=No)? ";
	cin >> WantToContinue;
	
	return 0;
}

If the user answers No, you can stop the program. If she answers Yes, you would need to continue the program with another exercise. Because the user answered Yes, the subsequent exercise would be included in the previous condition because it does not apply for a user who wants to stop. In this case, one “if” could be inserted inside of another. Here is an example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char SittingDown;
	
	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> SittingDown;
		
		if( SittingDown != 'y' )
			cout << "Could you please sit down for the next exercise?";
		cout << "\n\n";
	}while( SittingDown != 'y' );
	
	cout << "Wonderful. Now we will continue today's exercise...\n";
	cout << "\n...\n\nEnd of exercise\n";
	
	char WantToContinue;
	
	cout << "\nDo you want to continue(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> WantToContinue;
	
	if(WantToContinue == '1')
	{
		char LayOnBack;
		
		cout << "Good. For the next exercise, you should lay on your back";
		cout << "\nAre you laying on your back(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
		cin >> LayOnBack;
		
		if(LayOnBack == '1')
			cout << "\nGreat.\nNow we will start the next exercise.";
		else
			cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
	}
	else
		cout << "\nWe had enough today";
	
	cout << "\nWe will stop the session now\nThanks.\n";
	return 0;
}

In the same way, you can nest statements as you see fit. The goal is to provide an efficient and friendly application. You can insert and nest statements that provide valuable feedback to the user while minimizing boredom. The above version of the program can be improved as followed:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char SittingDown;
	
	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> SittingDown;
		
		if( SittingDown != 'y' )
			cout << "Could you please sit down for the next exercise?";
		cout << "\n\n";
	}while( SittingDown != 'y' );
	
	cout << "Wonderful. Now we will continue today's exercise...\n";
	cout << "\n...\n\nEnd of exercise\n";
	
	char WantToContinue;
	
	cout << "\nDo you want to continue(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> WantToContinue;
	
	if(WantToContinue == '1')
	{
		char LayOnBack;
		
		cout << "Good. For the next exercise, you should lay on your back";
		cout << "\nAre you laying on your back(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
		cin >> LayOnBack;
		
		if(LayOnBack == '0')
		{
			char Ready;
			
			do {
				cout << "Please lay on your back";
				cout << "\nAre you ready(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
				cin >> Ready;
			}while(Ready == '0');
		}
		else if(LayOnBack == '1')
			cout << "\nGreat.\nNow we will start the next exercise.";
		else
			cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
	}
	else
		cout << "\nWe had enough today";
	
	cout << "\nWe will stop the session now\nThanks.\n";
	return 0;
}

Conditional Statements Accessories

break

The break statement is used to stop a loop for any reason or condition the programmer sees considers fit. The break statement can be used in a while condition to stop an ongoing action. The syntax of the break statement is simply:

break;

Although made of only one word, the break statement is a complete statement; therefore, it can (and should always) stay on its own line (this makes the program easy to read).

The break statement applies to the most previous conditional statement to it; provided that previous statement is applicable.

The following program would display the letter d continuously unless something or somebody stops it. A break statement is inserted to stop this ever looping process:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char Letter = 'd';

	while( Letter <= 'n' )
	{
		cout << "Letter " << Letter << endl;
		break;
	}

	return 0;
}

The break statement can also be used in a do…while or a for loop the same way.

The break statement is typically used to handle the cases in a switch statement. We saw earlier that all cases in a switch would execute starting where a valid statement is found.

Consider the program we used earlier to request a number from 1 to 3, a better version that involves a break in each case would allow the switch to stop once the right case is found. Here is a new version of that program:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int Number;
	
	cout << "Type a number between 1 and 3: ";
	cin >> Number;
	
	switch (Number)
	{
	case 1:
		cout << "\nYou typed 1.";
		break;
	case 2:
		cout << "\nYou typed 2.";
		break;
	case 3:
		cout << "\nYou typed 3.";
		break;
	default:
		cout << endl << Number << " is out of the requested range.";
	}
	
	return 0;
}

Even when using the break statement, the switch allows many case to execute as one. To do this, as we saw when not using the break, type two cases together. This technique is useful when validating letters because the letters could be in uppercase or lowercase. This illustrated in the following program:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char Letter;

	cout << "Type a letter: ";
	cin >> Letter;

	switch( Letter )
	{
	case 'a':
	case 'A':
	case 'e':
	case 'E':
	case 'i':
	case 'I':
	case 'o':
	case 'O':
	case 'u':
	case 'U':
		cout << "The letter you typed, " << Letter << ", is a vowel\n";
		break;

	case 'b':case 'c':case 'd':case 'f':case 'g':case 'h':case 'j':
	case 'k':case 'l':case 'm':case 'n':case 'p':case 'q':case 'r':
	case 's':case 't':case 'v':case 'w':case 'x':case 'y':case 'z':
		cout << Letter << " is a lowercase consonant\n";
		break;

	case 'B':case 'C':case 'D':case 'F':case 'G':case 'H':case 'J':
	case 'K':case 'L':case 'M':case 'N':case 'P':case 'Q':case 'R':
	case 'S':case 'T':case 'V':case 'W':case 'X':case 'Y':case 'Z':
		cout << Letter << " is a consonant in uppercase\n";
		break;

	default:
		cout << "The symbol " << Letter << " is not an alphabetical letter\n";
	} 

	return 0;
}

The switch statement is also used with an enumerator that controls cases. This is also a good place to use the break statement to decide which case applies. An advantage of using an enumerator is its ability to be more explicit than a regular integer.

To use an enumerator, define it and list each one of its members for the case that applies. Remember that, by default, the members of an enumerator are counted with the first member having a value of 0, the second is 1, etc. Here is an example of a switch statement that uses an enumerator.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

enum TEmploymentStatus { esFullTime, esPartTime, esContractor, esNS };

int main()
{
	int EmplStatus;

	cout << "Employee's Contract Status: ";
	cout << "\n0 - Full Time | 1 - Part Time"
	     << "\n2 - Contractor | 3 - Other"
	     << "\nStatus: ";
	cin >> EmplStatus;
	cout << endl;

	switch( EmplStatus )
	{
	case esFullTime:
		cout << "Employment Status: Full Time\n";
		cout << "Employee's Benefits: Medical Insurance\n"
		     << " Sick Leave\n"
		     << " Maternal Leave\n"
		     << " Vacation Time\n"
		     << " 401K\n";
		break;

	case esPartTime:
		cout << "Employment Status: Part Time\n";
		cout << "Employee's Benefits: Sick Leave\n"
		     << " Maternal Leave\n";
		break;

	case esContractor:
		cout << "Employment Status: Contractor\n";
		cout << "Employee's Benefits: None\n";
		break;

	case esNS:
		cout << "Employment Status: Other\n";
		cout << "Status Not Specified\n";
		break;

	default:
		cout << "Unknown Status\n";
	}

	return 0;
}

continue

The continue statement uses the following syntax:

continue;

When processing a loop, if the statement finds a false value, you can use the continue statement inside of a while, do…while or a for conditional statements to ignore the subsequent statement or to jump from a false Boolean value to the subsequent valid value, unlike the break statement that would exit the loop. Like the break statement, the continue keyword applies to the most previous conditional statement and should stay on its own line.

The following programs asks the user to type 4 positive numbers and calculates the sum of the numbers by considering only the positive ones. If the user types a negative number, the program manages to ignore the numbers that do not fit in the specified category:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	// Declare necessary variables
	int posNumber, Sum = 0;
	
	// Request 4 positive numbers from the user
	cout << "Type 4 positive numbers.\n";
	// Make sure the user types 4 positive numbers
	for( int Count = 1; Count <= 4; Count++ )
	{
		cout << "Number: ";
		cin >> posNumber;
		
		// If the number typed is not positive, ignore it
		if( posNumber < 0 )
			continue;
		
		// Add each number to the sum
		Sum += posNumber;
	}
	
	// Display the sum
	cout << "\nSum of the numbers you entered = " << Sum << "\n\n";
	
	return 0;
}

goto

The goto statement allows a program execution to jump to another section of the function in which it is being used.

In order to use the goto statement, insert a name on a particular section of your function so you can refer to that name. The name, also called a label, is made of one word and follows the rules we have learned about C++ names (the name can be anything), then followed by a colon. The following program uses a for loop to count from 0 to 12, but when it encounters 5, it jumps to a designated section of the program:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	for(int Count = 0; Count <= 12; ++Count)
	{
		cout << "Count " << Count << endl;
		
		if( Count == 5 )
			goto MamaMia;
	}

MamaMia:
	cout << "Stopped at 5";
	
	return 0;
}

Logical Operations on Statements

The conditional Statements we have used so far were applied to single situations. You can combine statements using techniques of logical thinking to create more complex and complete expressions. One way to do this is by making sure that two conditions are met for the whole expression to be true. On the other hand, one or the other of two conditions can produce a true condition, as long as one of them is true. This is done with logical conjunction or disjunction.

Using the Logical Not

When a driver comes to a light that he expects to be green, we saw that he would use a statement such as, "The light is green". If in fact the light is green, we saw that the statement would lead to a true result. If the light is not green, the "The light is green" statement produces a false result. This is shown in the following table:

Color Statement Boolean Value The light is green true The light is green false

 
As you may realize already, in Boolean algebra, the result of performing a comparison depends on how the Condition is formulated. If the driver is approaching a light that he is expecting to display any color other than green, he would start from a statement such as "The light is not green".  If the light IS NOT green, the expression "The light is not green" is true (very important). This is illustrated in the following table:
 

Color Statement Boolean Value The light is green true The light is not green true

 
The "The light is not green" statement is expressed in Boolean algebra as “Not the light is green”. Instead of writing “Not the light is green", in C++, using the logical Not operator , you would formulate the statement as, !"The light is green". Therefore, if P means “The light is green”, you can express the negativity of P as !P. The Boolean table produced is:

Color Statement Boolean Value Symbol The light is green true P The light is not green false !P

When a statement is true, its Boolean value is equivalent to a non-zero integer such as 1. Otherwise, if a statement produces a false result, it is given a 0 value. Therefore, our table would be:

Color Statement Boolean Value Integer Value The light is green true 1 The light is not green false 0

 
Even though a program usually asks a straightforward question, the compiler would only consider the expression that needs to be evaluated; that is, the expression included between the parentheses of the if Condition. Suppose you are writing an ergonomic program that would guide the user on when and how to exercise. One of the questions your program would ask might be: "Are you sitting down?" There are three classic variances to this issue: the user might be sitting down, standing up, or laying down. Your program might look like this:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int Position;
	
	cout << "Specify your position:\n"
	     << "1 - Sitting Down\n"
	     << "2 - Standing Up\n"
	     << "3 - Laying Down\n";
	cin >> Position;
	
	if( Position == 1 )
		cout << "\nNow, position your back as vertically as you can.\n";
	
	return 0;
}

That program allows the user to give one of three answers; and you might do something depending on the user’s answer. Now, suppose you only want to know whether the user is sitting down; in fact, the program might expect the user to be sitting down for the subsequent assignment. Such a program could be:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int SittingDown;
	
	cout << "Are you sitting down (1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> SittingDown;
	
	if( SittingDown == 1 )
		cout << "\nGood, now we will continue our next assignment.\n";
	
	return 0;
}

If the user is standing up, you would like her to sit down. If she is laying down, you still would like her to sit down. Based on this requirement, you might want to check whether the user is sitting down and you would not be interested in another position. The question could then be, “Aren't you sitting down?”. In Boolean algebra, the question would be asked as, " Are you NOT sitting down?". A better C++ question would be, “Not “ “Are you sitting down?”. In other words, the statement (in this case the question) would be the negation of the regular question. If P represents the “Are you sitting down?” question, the negativity of P is expressed as !P. The new version of our program would be more concerned with the position the user has. Since the user is expected to type 1 for Yes, the program would display a concern for any other answer; in short, it would check the negativity of the Condition:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int SittingDown;
	
	cout << "Are you sitting down (1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> SittingDown;
	
	if( !(SittingDown == 1) )
		cout << "\nCould you please sit down for the next exercise?\n";
	
	cout << "\nWonderful!!!\n\n";
	return 0;
}

Logical Conjunction: AND

The law of the traffic light states that if a driver drives through a red light, he or she has broken the law. Three things happen here:

1. The traffic light is red
2. The driver is driving
3. The law is broken

Let’s segment these expressions and give each a name. The first statement will be called L. Therefore,

L <=> The traffic light is red

The second statement will be called D. This means

D <=> The driver is driving through the light

The last statement will be called B, which means

B <=> The law is broken

Whenever the traffic light is red, the “The traffic light is red” statement is true. Whenever a driver is driving, the “The driver is driving” statement is true, which means D is true. Whenever the law is broken, the “The law is broken” statement is true. When a statement is true, it receives a Boolean value of true:

These three statements are completely independent when each is stated in its own sentence. The third bears any consideration only when the first two are combined. Therefore, the third statement is a consequence or a result. The fact that a driver is driving and/or a light is red or displays any color, does not make a law broken. The law is broken only when or IF a driver drives through a red light. This means L and D have to be combined to produce B.

A combination of the first two statements means you need Statement1 AND Statement2. Combining Statement1 AND Statement2 means L AND D that produces

"The traffic light is red” AND “The driver is driving through the light"

In C++, the AND keyword is called an operator because it applies for one or more variable. The AND operator is specifically called a binary operator because it is used on two variables. The AND operator is used to concatenate or add two statements or expressions. It is represented by &&. Therefore, a concatenation of L and D would be written as L && D. Logically, what does the combination mean?

When the traffic light is red, L is true. If a driver is driving through the light, D is true. If the driver is driving through the light that is red, this means L && D. Then the law is broken:

When the traffic light is not red, regardless of the light’s color, L is false. If a driver drives through it, no law is broken. Remember, not only should you drive through a green light, but also you are allowed to drive through a yellow light. Therefore, B is false:

If the traffic light is red, L is true. If no driver drives through it, D is false, and no law is broken. When no law is broken, B, which is the result of L && D, is false:

If the light is not red, L is false. If no driver drives through it, D is false. Consequently, no law is broken. B, which is the result of L && D, is still false:

From our tables, the law is broken only when the light is red AND a driver drives through it. This produces:

The logical conjunction operator && is used to check that the combination of two statements results in a true condition. This is used when one condition cannot satisfy the intended result. Consider a pizza application whose valid sizes are 1 for small, 2 for medium, 3 for large, and 4 for jumbo. When a clerk uses this application, you would usually want to make sure that only a valid size is selected to process an order. After the clerk has selected a size, you can use a logical conjunction to validate the range of the item’s size. Such a program could be written (or started) as follows:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	int PizzaSize;
	
	cout << "Select your pizza size";
	cout << "\n1=Small | 2=Medium";
	cout << "\n3=Large | 4=Jumbo";
	cout << "\nYour Choice: ";
	cin >> PizzaSize;
	
	if(PizzaSize >= 0 && PizzaSize <= 4)
		cout << "Good Choice. Now we will proceed with the toppings\n";
	else
		cout << "Invalid Choice\n";
	
	return 0;
}

 
When a program asks a question to the user who must answer by typing a letter, there is a chance that the user would type the answer in uppercase or lowercase. Since we know that C++ is case-sensitive, you can use a combined conditional statement to find out what answer or letter the user would have typed.

We saw that the truthfulness of a statement depends on how the statement is structured. In some and various cases, instead of checking that a statement is true, you can validate only negative values. This can be done on single or combined statements. For example, if a program is asking a question that requires a Yes or No answer, you can make sure the program gets a valid answer before continuing. Once again, you can use a logical conjunction to test the valild answers. Here is an example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char SittingDown;

	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> SittingDown;

		if( SittingDown != 'y' && SittingDown != 'Y' )
			cout << "Could you please sit down for the next exercise?";
		cout << "\n";
	} while( SittingDown != 'y' && SittingDown != 'Y' );

	cout << "Wonderful!!!"; 

	return 0;
}

Logical Disjunction: OR

Let’s assume that a driver has broken the law by driving through a red traffic light but there was no accident (to make our discussion simpler). There are two ways he can get a ticket: a police officer saw him, a special camera took a picture. This time again, we have three statements to make:

S <=> A police officer saw the driver

H <=> A camera took a picture of the action

T <=> The driver got a ticket

If a police officer saw the driver breaking the law, the “A police officer saw the driver” statement is true. Consequently, S is true.
If a (specially installed) camera took the picture (of the scene), the “A camera took the picture of the action” statement is true. This means H is true.
If the driver gets a ticket, the “The driver gets a ticket” statement is true, which means T is true.

Once again, the third statement has no bearing unless you consider the first two. Last time, we saw that if the first two statements were combined, only then the result would produce the third statement. Let’s consider in which case the driver would get a ticket.

If a police officer saw the driver, would he get a ticket? Yes, because on many traffic lights there is no camera but a police officer has authority to hand an infraction. This means if S is true, then T also is true. This produces:

Imagine a traffic light is equipped with a camera. If the driver breaks the law, the camera would take a picture, which means the driver would get a ticket. Therefore, if a camera takes a picture (H is true), the driver gets a ticket (T is true):

What if a police officer catches the action and a camera takes a picture. This means the driver will still get a ticket, even if one of both the police officer and the camera does not act but the other does. If both the police officer and the camera catch the action and act accordingly, the driver would get only one ticket (even if the driver receives two tickets, only one would be considered). Therefore, whether the first statement OR the second statement is true, the resulting third statement T is still true:

The only time the driver would not get a ticket is when no police officer catches him and no camera takes a picture. In other words, only when both of the first two statements are false can the third statement be false.

Since T is the result of S and H combined, we have seen that T is true whenever either S is true OR H is true. The OR logical disjunction is expressed in C++ with the || operator. Here is the resulting table:

Consider a program that asks a question and expects a yes or no answer in the form of y or n. Besides y for yes, you can also allow the user to type Y as a valid yes. To do this, you would let the compiler check that either y or Y was typed. In the same way, either n or N would be valid negations. Any of the other characters would fall outside the valid characters. Our hot-tempered program can be restructured as follows:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	char Answer;
	
	cout << "Do you consider yourself a hot-tempered individual(y=Yes/n=No)? ";
	cin >> Answer;
	
	if( Answer == 'y' || Answer == 'Y' ) // Unique Condition
	{
		cout << "\nThis job involves a high level of self-control.";
		cout << "\nWe will get back to you.\n";
	}
	else if( Answer == 'n' || Answer == 'N' ) // Alternative
		cout << "\nYou are hired!\n";
	else
	    cout << "\nThat was not a valid answer!\n"; 

	return 0;
}
 

Conditional Statements and functions

Using Conditions in Functions

 
The use of functions in a program allows you to isolate assignments and confine them to appropriate entities. While the functions take care of specific requests, you should provide them with conditional statements to validate what these functions are supposed to do. There are no set rules to the techniques involved; everything depends on the tasks at hand. Once again, you will have to choose the right tools for the right job. To make effective use of functions, you should be very familiar with different data types because you will need to return the right value.

The ergonomic program we have been writing so far needs to check different things including answers from the user in order to proceed. These various assignments can be given to functions that would simply hand the results to the main() function that can, in turn, send these results to other functions for further processing. Here is an example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define Or ||
#define And &&

char GetPosition()
{
	char Position;

	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> Position;

		if( Position != 'y' And Position != 'Y' And
			Position != 'n' And Position != 'N' )
			cout << "Invalid Answer\n";
	} while( Position != 'y' And Position != 'Y' And
			 Position != 'n' And Position != 'N' );

	return Position;
}

int main()
{
	char Position;

	Position = GetPosition();
	if( Position == 'n' Or Position == 'N' )
		cout << "\nCould you please sit down for the next exercise?\n";
	else
		cout << "\nWonderful!!!\n\n"; 

	return 0;
}

Functions do not have to return a value in order to be involved with conditional statements. In fact, both issues are fairly independent. This means, void and non-void functions can manipulate values based on conditions internal to the functions. This is illustrated in the following program that is an enhancement to an earlier ergonomic program:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define Or ||
#define And &&

char GetPosition()
{
	char Position;
	
	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> Position;
		
		if( Position != 'y' And
			Position != 'Y' And
			Position != 'n' And
			Position != 'N' )
			cout << "Invalid Answer\n";
	}
	while( Position != 'y' And
		   Position != 'Y' And
		   Position != 'n' And
		   Position != 'N' );
	
	return Position;
}

void NextExercise()
{
	char LayOnBack;
	
	cout << "Good. For the next exercise, you should lay on your back";
	cout << "\nAre you laying on your back(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> LayOnBack;
	
	if(LayOnBack == '0')
	{
		char Ready;
		
		do {
			cout << "Please lay on your back";
			cout << "\nAre you ready(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
			cin >> Ready;
		}while(Ready == '0');
	}
	else if(LayOnBack == '1')
		cout << "\nGreat.\nNow we will start the next exercise.";
	else
		cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
}

int main()
{
	char Position, WantToContinue;
	
	Position = GetPosition();
	
	if( Position == 'n' Or Position == 'N' )
		cout << "\nCould you please sit down for the next exercise?";
	else
	{
		cout << "\nWonderful!\nNow we will continue today's exercise...\n";
		cout << "\n...\n\nEnd of exercise\n";
	}
	
	cout << "\nDo you want to continue(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> WantToContinue;
	
	if( WantToContinue == '1' )
		NextExercise();
	else if( WantToContinue == '0' )
		cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
	else
	{
		cout << "\nConsidering your invalid answer...";
		cout << "\nWe had enough today";
	}
	cout << "\nWe will stop the session now\nThanks.\n";
	
	return 0;
}

Conditional Returns

A function defined other than void must always return a value. Sometimes, a function will perform some tasks whose results would lead to different consequences. A function can return only one value (this is true for this context, but we know that there are ways to pass arguments so that a function can return more than one value) but you can make it render a result depending on a particular behavior. Image that a function is requesting an answer from the user. Since the user can provide different answers, you can treat each result differently.

In the previous section, we saw an example of returning a value from a function. Following our employment application, here is an example of a program that performs a conditional return:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

bool GetAnswer()
{
	char Ans; string Response;
	
	cout << "Do you consider yourself a hot-tempered individual(y=Yes/n=No)? ";
	cin >> Ans;
	
	if( Ans == 'y' )
		return true;
	else
		return false;
}

int main()
{
	bool Answer;
	
	Answer = GetAnswer();

	if( Answer == true )
	{
		cout << "\nThis job involves a high level of self-control.";
		cout << "\nWe will get back to you.\n";
	}
	else
		cout << "\nYou are hired!\n";
	
	return 0;
}

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define Or ||
#define And &&

string GetPosition()
{
	char Position;
	
	cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
	cin >> Position;
	
	if( Position == 'y' Or Position == 'Y' )
		return "Yes";
	else if( Position == 'n' Or Position == 'N' )
		return "No";
}

int main()
{
	string Answer;
	
	Answer = GetPosition();
	cout << "\nAnswer = " << Answer;
	
	return 0;
}

On paper, the function looks fine. If the user answers with y or Y, the function returns the string Yes. If the user answer with n or N, the function returns the string No. Unfortunately, this function has a problem: what if there is an answer that does not fit those we are expecting? In reality the values that we have returned in the function conform only to the conditional statements and not to the function. Remember that in if(Condidion)Statement, the Statement executes only if the Condition is true. Here is what will happen. If the user answers y or Y, the function returns Yes and stops; fine, it has returned something, we are happy. If the user answers n or N, the function returns No, which also is a valid value: wonderful. If the user enters another value (other than y, Y, n, or N), the execution of the function will not execute any of the return statements and will not exit. This means the execution will reach the closing curly bracket without encountering a return value. Therefore, the compiler will issue a warning. Although the warning looks like not a big deal, you should take care of it: never neglect warnings. The solution is to provide a return value so that, if the execution reaches the end of the function, it would still return something. Here is a solution to the problem:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define Or ||
#define And &&

string GetPosition()
{
	char Position;
	
	cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
	cin >> Position;
	
	if( Position == 'y' Or Position == 'Y' )
		return "Yes";
	else if( Position == 'n' Or Position == 'N' )
		return "No";
	return "Invalid Answer";
}

int main()
{
	string Answer;
	
	Answer = GetPosition();
	cout << "\nAnswer = " << Answer;
	
	return 0;
}

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define Or ||
#define And &&

char GetPosition()
{
	char Position;
	
	do {
		cout << "Are you sitting down now(y/n)? ";
		cin >> Position;
		
		if( Position != 'y' And
			Position != 'Y' And
			Position != 'n' And
			Position != 'N' )
			cout << "Invalid Answer\n";
	} while(Position != 'y' And
			Position != 'Y' And
			Position != 'n' And
			Position != 'N' );
	
	if( Position == 'y' Or Position == 'Y' )
		return 'y';
	else if( Position == 'n' Or Position == 'N' )
		return 'n';
	
	// If you reach this point, none of the answers was valid
	return Position;
}

void NextExercise()
{
	char LayOnBack;
	
	cout << "Good. For the next exercise, you should lay on your back";
	cout << "\nAre you laying on your back(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> LayOnBack;
	
	if(LayOnBack == '0')
	{
		char Ready;
		
		do {
			cout << "Please lay on your back";
			cout << "\nAre you ready(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
			cin >> Ready;
		} while(Ready == '0');
	}
	else if(LayOnBack == '1')
		cout << "\nGreat.\nNow we will start the next exercise.";
	else
		cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
}

bool ValidatePosition(char Pos)
{
	if( Pos == 'y' Or Pos == 'Y' )
		return true;
	else if( Pos == 'n' Or Pos == 'N' )
		return false;
	
	// If you reached this point, we need to prevent a warning
	return false;
}

int main()
{
	char Position, WantToContinue;
	bool SittingDown;
	
	Position = GetPosition();
	SittingDown = ValidatePosition(Position);
	
	if( SittingDown == false )
		cout << "\nCould you please sit down for the next exercise?";
	else
	{
		cout << "\nWonderful!\nNow we will continue today's exercise...\n";
		cout << "\n...\n\nEnd of exercise\n";
	}
	
	cout << "\nDo you want to continue(1=Yes/0=No)? ";
	cin >> WantToContinue;
	
	if( WantToContinue == '1' )
		NextExercise();
	else if( WantToContinue == '0' )
		cout << "\nWell, it looks like you are getting tired...";
	else
	{
		cout << "\nConsidering your invalid answer...";
		cout << "\nWe had enough today";
	}
	
	cout << "\nWe will stop the session now\nThanks.\n";
	return 0;
}