pset5-speller: dependency issue

Question

Please, I need your help. I have dependency issue with my code. This is check50 response on my code. I guess the problem is with my load function. After a few tweaks on the code to fix the dependency issue, the load function refused to load. I have spent much time on it but could not understand what the problem is. Below is a snippet of the code. Debug50 is of no use, as it just says "could not load dictionary/large". Do please, lend some advice.

int word_count = 0; 

bool load(const char *dictionary) {

inptr = fopen ("dictionary", "r+");

if (inptr == NULL)
{
    return false;
    printf ("Could not open dictionary\n");
    fclose(inptr);
}

 node* root = calloc(1, sizeof(node));
 node* pecker = root;

 while (!&feof)
{
    c = fgetc(inptr);

    if (c == '\n')
    {
        pecker -> is_word = true;
        pecker = root;
        index = 0;
    }
    if (isalpha(c))
    {
        tolower(c);
        index = (c - 'a');
    }

     while ((pecker -> branches[index]) == NULL) 
    {
        pecker = calloc (1, sizeof(node));
        pecker = pecker -> branches[index];
    }

    if (c == '\'')
    {
        index = 26;

        if (pecker -> branches[index] == NULL)
        {
        pecker = calloc (1, sizeof(node));
        pecker = pecker -> branches[index];
        }
        else if (pecker -> branches[index] != NULL)
        {
            pecker = pecker -> branches[index];
        }
    }

        FILE* outptr;

        outptr = fopen ("dictionary", "w+");

        if (outptr != NULL)
        {
            fclose (outptr);
        }
        else if (outptr == NULL)
        {
            fputc (c, outptr);
        }
         word_count++;

        if (&feof)
        {
        fclose(inptr);
        }
}

   return false;

}

Answer 1

Your call to check50 might not include the right parameters, check the description on how to call it for that particular problem. check50 does not do the checks itself, but relies on a special server it uploads the files to.

For the upload to work properly, you need to be in the right directory, where your files are, those have to have the right name, and it's best to not change files you won't upload using the check50 tool. The checker will take your uploaded files, and try to build the software, and in the output you provided, it could not find dictionary.c, so you likely did not upload it, or otherwise messed up the check50 call.

Answer 2

One big problem comes here inptr = fopen ("dictionary", "r+");. "dictionary" (in quotes) is a string literal. The program is looking for a file in the working directory called dictionary. You need to open the file name that has been sent to the program in the variable named dictionary. The proper syntax would be inptr = fopen (dictionary, "r");. [IMO you should not use "r+" because you should never write to the input dictionary file.] That's probably what's causing debug50 to bail too. Assuming there is not a file name "dictionary", inptr is NULL, and load immediately returns false. Since your program doesn't run yet, it might be a bit premature to send it through check50.

This load function never returns true so speller will always give "could not load dictionary" message. Best to set a breakpoint in dictionary.c when using debug50.

This line while (!&feof) is meaningless, I can't even speculate why it even compiles. I suspect the while loop never executes (debug50!). Watch this short on File I/O, paying special attention around 7:30 why one shouldn't use feof in a while loop.

You have a lot a work ahead of you to have a successful pset5. You will need to put in a lot of debug50 time.