Why things always go wrong?

[AIVIO]

Hi!
Actually, i'm too beginner to ask such a question, I just started C++ and I'm reading the whole Documentation part of this site!
But when I write programs, sometimes things doesn't work correctly!
For example the last program I was trying to write was:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
	
char a,b,c; int d,e=0;string suffix;
	cout<< "How many numbers you got for me to sum up?"<<endl;
	cin>>a;
	
for (b=1;b<=a;b++)
	{
		c=b%10;
switch (c)
		{
case 1:
			suffix=("st");
break;
case 2:
			suffix=("nd");
break;
case 3:
			suffix=("rd");
default:
			suffix=("th");
		}
		cout<<"Enter the "<<b<<suffix<<" number :"<<endl;
		cin>>d;
		e=d+e;
	}
	cout<<e;
}

As you see I wanted it to write down something like this: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, ... (I know it's not correct for 11, 12 and 13, but that doesn't matter) but it doesn't work! Instead of writing numbers, it draws some funny pics! (In VisualStudio>Win32ConsoleApplication>C++Class)
neither the whole program, nor the part bthat is supposed to write down 12t, 2nd & ...!
What is wrong?
Is it because i'm working with Visual Studio? (Win32ConsoleApplication)
Or is it something wrong with the code?
or ... ?

[TheIdeasMan]

Ok, you are confused about types of your variables.

Variables a and b and c should be ints, not char.

Also don't put multiple statements on one line, do this instead:

int a;
int b;
int c; 

int d
int e=0;
string suffix;

If you just wanted to deal with the number 1 to 5, I think a for loop would be easier than the switch. The logic is much harder to get the right suffix for all the numbers.

[AIVIO]

Thank you! You're right, i'm confused with variables!
But as I see here: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/variables/
"char" is a small integer that I can use for number -127 to 128 (signed)
So for my numbers it should work!

I changed "char" to "int" and everything is working right!
correct me if i'm wrong:
"the four integer types char, short, int and long must each one be at least as large as the one preceding it"
(I copied it from the same page I gave you it's link above!)
So, if I want to use a 2 digits number, why char doesn't work?

[Peter87]

The problem with char is the output and input operations. When you try to read a char like this cin>>a; it assumes that you want to read a character, so a will get the character value of the first digit.