Question

My Professor Assigned us this homework, however I cant make sense on how to do the first step.
I am not asking anybody to do the homework, just please someone help me with the first question

1. Create a Deck dynamically

This question is based on two files (which he provieded)

“card.h”

//*********************************************************
//  CLASS DECLARATION
//*********************************************************
class Card
{   
    //*****************************************************
    //  Public Members         
    //*****************************************************
   public: 
    // Exception classes
    class NotInitalized {};

    // Enumeration for Suit
    enum Suit { Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, 
               UNKNOWN };

    // Enumeration for Card Name
       enum CardName { Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six,
                    Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, 
                    Queen, King, UNKNOWN };

    // constructors
//*****************************************************
// Card
//  
// Create uninitialized card.  Must be initialized with 
//  'setCard()' before use.
//*****************************************************
    Card();    // card is not initialized
//*****************************************************
// Card
//  
// Create a card based its ordinal position.
//     cards are ordered by suit first in the order 
//     Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades, and within 
//     the suit they are ordered Act thru King.
//******************************************************
    Card(int); // number between 1-52

//******************************************************
// Card
//  
// Create a card with the given name and suit.
//*******************************************************
       Card(Suit, CardName);

    // methods
    //*******************************************************
    // setCard
    //  
    //  Set the Suit and Name of the card
    //*******************************************************
        void setCard(Suit, CardName);

    //*******************************************************
    // getSuit
    //  
    //  returns the element of the Suit enumeration 
    // representing the suit of the card
    //*******************************************************
    int      getSuit();

    //*******************************************************
    // getCardName
    //  
    //  returns the element of the CardName enumeration 
    //  representing the card
    //*******************************************************
    int    getCardName();

    //*******************************************************
    // getCardValue
    //  
    //  returns face value of card.  For Ace -1 is the value.
    //*******************************************************
    int         getCardValue();

     //*****************************************************
     // toString
     // 
     // return the string representation of the card. 
     //    e.g.,"Ace of Spades"
     //*****************************************************
       string      toString();

//************************************************
//  Private Members    
//************************************************
private:
    // the Card’s suit (uses Suit enum)
    Suit      suit = Suit::UNKNOWN; 

    // the Card’s name (uses CardName enum)
    CardName  name = CardName::UNKNOWN; 
};

The second class is the Deck class. This class represents the 52 cards in a standard poker deck. Internally the cards in the deck should be maintained in an array of Card objects. There should also be a parallel array of Card pointers where the order of the cards after each shuffle can be stored.

When a Deck object is created it creates the 52 cards and shuffles them. If the deck runs out of cards before it is reshuffled the dealCard() method should throw a DeckEmpty Exception.

Because this class creates card objects, it should have a destructor that deletes all the related card objects when the Deck is deleted.

Below is the class declaration for the Deck class.

//*********************************************************
//  CLASS DECLARATION
//*********************************************************
#include “Card.h”
class Deck
{
//*****************************************************
// Public Members         
//*****************************************************
public: 
    // Exception classes
    class DeckEmpty {};

    // Constructors/Destructors
    Deck(); // creates the cards and sorts them
   ~Deck(); // frees all the cards

    // Methods
    //****************************************************
    // dealCard
    //
    // return the next available card in the shuffled deck
    //****************************************************
    Card      dealCard();

    //****************************************************
    // shuffle
    //
    // shuffle the cards
    //****************************************************
    Void      shuffle();      // shuffle the deck


    //****************************************************
    // getCardCount
    //
    // return the number of unused cards in the shuffled 
    //     deck
    //****************************************************
       int       getCardCount(); // how many cards left

    //****************************************************
    // toString
    //
    // return a newline (\n) delimited list of the shuffled 
    //    cards 
    //*****************************************************
    string    toString();

//*****************************************************
// Private Members    
//*****************************************************
private:
    // array to hold unshuffled cards
       Card      cards[DECK_SIZE];

    // array to hold shuffled cards
    Card*     shuffledCards[DECK_SIZE];

    // index of next card to deal from shuffled cards
       int       nextCardIndex;    
};

Answer 1

It really makes no sense to me either. Particularly the bit about parallel array of shuffled cards is unclear. And the statement that it needs a destructor because it creates Card objects is just incorrect. Perhaps he means that it creates Card objects dynamically, but firstly that not what he said, and secondly I don’t see the need. I think you should have a talk with your professor.

However the first step is very easy.

‘1. Create a Deck dynamically’

Deck *my_deck = new Deck;

Solved.

Why you have to create a deck dynamically is another question, but that’s what he asked you do to.

I’m not at all sure your professor knows what he’s talking about.