Question

Using this program, I’m trying to set a 6×15 array to 0, then place a random number x amount of times in a random slot of the array. However, it doesn’t go as planned…

Note that MAX_ROWS is 6, MAX_COLS is 15, and OCEAN is 0

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include "util.h"

int rand_number(int param);

main()
{
int map[MAX_ROWS][MAX_COLS]; //initializes an array, map, with the dimensions 6 and 15.

//sets all values in the array to 0
int a,b;

for (a = 0; a < MAX_ROWS; a++)
{
for (b = 0; b < MAX_COLS; b++)
{map[a][b]=OCEAN;}
}

int shipnum = 6;

This SHOULD place the random numbers. (shipnum is just a value I use to limit the number of ships I place):

while(shipnum > 0)
{
map[rand_number(MAX_ROWS)][rand_number(MAX_COLS)] = 3;
shipnum -= 1;
map[rand_number(MAX_ROWS)][rand_number(MAX_COLS)] = 2;
shipnum -= 2;
map[rand_number(MAX_ROWS)][rand_number(MAX_COLS)] = 1;
shipnum -= 3;
}

However, when I run

/*This will print the array*/
for (a = 0; a < MAX_ROWS; a++)
{
for (b = 0; b < MAX_COLS; b++)
{printf("%d ", map[a][b]);}
printf("\n");
}
}

I am given

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

When I actually want to get something like

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

This is the function I use to generate a random number.

/*This will generate a random number*/
int rand_number(int param)
{
srand((unsigned int)time(NULL));
int x = param;
int rn = rand() % x;
return rn;
}

Answer 1

You are reseeding your random generator on every call which will make it not random. Remove this line:

srand((unsigned int)time(NULL));

Your code also allows writing a ship where there already was a ship. If you don’t want to allow this, you should check that the cell is empty before placing a ship in that cell.

int x = rand_number(MAX_ROWS);
int y = rand_number(MAX_COLS);
if (map[x][y] == 0) {    /* Add this check! */
    map[x][y] = 1;
    shipnum -= 1;
}