array traversal

[nhix]

I was wondering if I could get any input and/ or suggestions as to how to traverse through this array and output each student and score that falls below the average. I think I may have the method down for traversing through the list to find the "total score" however, before proceeding under a possible wrong presumption, I would appreciate/ like confirmation as to whether or not I'm understanding this or botching this concept. Thank you for your time and any suggestions. *Please note* I am not asking nor want anyone to provide any code for the "//ADD CODE" section but, rather, if my for loop and totalScore algorithm is logical so far

  void dispLowScore(struct payload *arrayStart  , //first element of array
                  struct payload *arrayEnd    ) //last  element of array
{
   int             studentCount; //total number of students in list/array
   int             totalScore  ; //accumulated value of all scores added together 
   float           averageScore; //totalScore / studentCount
   struct payload *tempPtr     ; //pointer for traversing

   cout << "Students below average score: ";

   // Traverse array to accumulate totalScore using a temporary pointer (2 lines of code)//

   for (tempPtr = arrayStart; tempPtr->testScore != NULL; tempPtr++)
	   
	totalScore = totalScore + tempPtr->testScore;

    // Calculate average score //
    if (studentCount == 0)
        averageScore =  0;
   else
      averageScore = (float)totalScore / (float)studentCount;
   
   cout << averageScore << endl;
   
   // Traverse array and output every student and score below the average by
   // handling the traversal pointer in both cases wherein...
   // ...student < average and, student >= average ... using 3 lines of code

//ADD CODE

 dispStudent(tempPtr);

//ADD CODE

}

[coder777]

you need to initialize at least totalScore with 0 at the beginning otherwise you will get some random numbers.

It's better to use curly braces {} for the loop. So you can see what's inside the loop and what not.

the loop might be saver if you write it like so:

for (tempPtr = arrayStart; tempPtr <= arrayEnd; tempPtr++)

[nemisis83]

I don't want to give the solution away being that would be cheating. I don't think your data structures teacher would like that. What I would do is first find a way to initialize studentCount , totalScore, and averageScore in one line. Maybe inside the argument for the for loop.

then maybe use something along the lines of +=.

for the output maybe loop through the array again and check against an if statement before calling dispstudent().

Hope this helps. Good Luck and happy coding.

[nhix]

Thanks, coder and nemisis, for the tips and for not giving away the answer; it was important I learned this on my own and not just because I want a good grade but rather because, I'm bound to run into this later in life and should know how to read + understand what is going on. You've both been very helpful (: