Have not worked in C++ (or any programming outside of embedded) environments in a while. This project is meant to create a simple program that can be developed to be more encompassing the most useful features of C++, from structs to classes, to pointers, etc.
This project is a two parter: an administration software for deploying, managing, stocking, etc.,
of vending machines in various environments (currently offices and uni). This side allows for
control of all of the parts from naming it, renaming, changing quantity and item variety, etc.
THe other part is the user side, where users can input money into the machine and then select a
food or drink item. The machine will track how much you put in, and as well as total lifetime profit.
This was done in the order of learning I remember from school, which is inefficient code wise, but
allows me to better learn and understand the concepts and how things work.
The original program, using one .cpp file with structures only.
This revision of the code had me writing almost the entirety of the code in the main body function.
This also involved me attempting to use struct to keep track of the machines.
I hated this, it was really annoying and bad and I gave up at a reasonable time to move on
(I hope I don't have it saved here, maybe at an early commit)
This is where I swapped to a test driven development step I learned earlier on:
main body introduces the code and the rest of the operation happens in functions.
I swapped to using pointers and structs (really helpful in my Arduino EEPROM project) which was a very interesting
learning experience and a lot of struggles. The majority of the logistics control part should be finished.
Just need the user side vending machine usage code.
Converting to Classes and maybe vectors.
Since I am making a new class I need to understand exactly what I want it to do and the goal with it.
Right now I have to decide if I want it to replace the struct, which was the original idea, since
struct and class don't differ much but I can put this all in a new header file to clean up the main.
However, I'm not fully sure how well it will integrate over as a replacement (yet).
I think I'll slow down and restart, making purely a front end vending machine class/code (as a stand in for
the user control side) to test how I can use the class in a main, as well as potentially start doing some
Qt GUI controls.
Learning some new stuff. Headers for classes in C++ are .hpp files; needing to compile the class's .cpp file with the main.cpp file to make it work (by reading them together); starting to implement some vectors to learn more about them. So much reading, it's crazy
File I/O to save the machines so I don't have to keep adding, and QT GUI
TBD