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Decoding General Compiler Error Messages

Decoding General Compiler Error Messages

Error: Undeclared Identifier

Example error message:

doy.cpp: In function 'int main()': doy.cpp:25: 'DayOfYear' undeclared   (first use this function) doy.cpp:25: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only    once for each function it appears in.) doy.cpp:25: parse error before ';' token

Meaning:

You used DayOfYear in your code, but the compiler has not seen a definition for DayOfYear. It doesn’t know what DayOfYear is.

Usual Causes

  1. You forgot to include the header file that defines the class/struct/function/etc.
  2. You misspelled the name of the identifier.

Error: cout Undeclared

Example error message:

xyz.cpp: In function 'int main()': xyz.cpp:6: 'cout' undeclared (first use   this function) xyz.cpp:6: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each   function it appears in.)

Meaning

This is really a special case of the “Undeclared Identifier” error.

Usual Causes

  1. You forgot to include .
  2. You forgot using namespace std;.
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