Question

i’ve searched what does it mean by temporary variable but i couldn’t & i couldn’t understand. i’ve done the if-else structures without a temporary variable and now i’m trying to do if-else structure and a temporary variable. I couldn’t find the difference.

the question is to

1. write a program that reads three integers(a,b and c) and prints the largest of values using if else structure and a temporary variable.
2. if else structures without a temporary variable.

I’ve done the first question.

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int a,b,c;

cout<<"a : ";
cin>>a;
cout<<"b : ";
cin>>b;
cout<<"c : ";
cin>>c;

if(a>b && a>c)
{
    cout<<"largest : "<<a;
}else{
    if(b>a && b>c)
    {
        cout<<"largest : "<<b;
    }else{
        if(c>a && c>b)
        {
            cout<<"largest : "<<a;
        }else{
            cout<<"error!";
        }
    }
}


getch();
return 0;
}

but for the second question is it like this?

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int a,b,c;
int max;

cout<<"a : ";
cin>>a;
cout<<"b : ";
cin>>b;
cout<<"c : ";
cin>>c;


if(a>b && a>c)
{
    max=a;
    cout<<"largest : "<<max;
}else{
    if(b>a && b>c)
    {
        max=b;
        cout<<"largest : "<<max;
    }else{
        if(c>a && c>b)
        {
            max=c;
            cout<<"largest : "<<max;
        }else{
            cout<<"error!";
        }
    }
}


getch();
return 0;
}

i just want to be confirm because i don’t exactly understand what does it mean by temporary variable.
thanks.

Answer 1

Actually, you’ve done the second question as your first result. The second version (answering the first question) should look more like this:

int max;
if (a > b && a > c) max = a;
else if (b > a && b > c) max = b;
else max = c;
cout << max;

The purpose of the “temporary” variable is to avoid repeating all the print statement as your first example has.

I don’t like this use of the word temporary. Temporary variables have a special meaning in C++ totally related to variables created by the compiler implicitly when you use certain code constructs. “max” is not a temporary variable, in that sense. Your instructor is perhaps being loose in his use of the terminology.