Data Structures: need help fleshing out my functions

[elsa]

This assignment has me flustered with nowhere to go -- confusing to the extreme. I'm a novice to data structures, and this week's homework assignment has me lost and I don't know where to turn to for help. Learning a language was easy, but programming data structures is rather hard I must say! My problem? I don't know how to flesh out the functions that I've created. Here is the assignment for reference:

A signature of a string is an integer that is derived from that string. For this assignment, you will build a signature for strings by starting with a total sum of zero and, for each character (call it c) in the string, update the total using: total = total*2 + static cast<int>(c);

Note: The characters of a string s, may be accessed as follows:

for (string::size_type index = 0; index <s.length(); ++index)
//process char s[index]
Create a container class that stores a collection of strings. The class should have three public members: a constructor that initializes an empty collection, an insert function that adds one string to the collection, and a function that receives a data/string value and returns one of the data values (string/word) in the collection -- specifically, the value whose signature is numerically closest to the parameter's signature. Note: the class should not store signatures of all of the data (it should calculate as needed, using a private method). Also provide a main function and any other code/tools to complete a program that tests your class.

What should a fleshed-out set of functions look like? How should I start? I'm stuck!

Am I on the right track? How can I flesh out my functions to accurately reflect said assignment? Thanks!

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>

using namespace std;

//c = 0;
//total = total * 2 + static cast<int>(c);
//for (string::size_type index=0; index <s.length() ; ++index) //process char s[index]

class Container
{
public:
    void empty();
    string insert();
    string returns();

protected:
    int calc();



};

void Container::empty()
{


}

string Container::insert()
{


}

string Container::returns()
{


}

int Container::calc()
{


}



int main()
{
    cout << "Do you want to read data from a file?";
    system("PAUSE")

}

[jonnin]

char is a type of int, fyi.

you may be on the right track. ?

your container class needs to *contain* multiple strings. how will you do that, will it be a linked list, or something else?

start there. Forget the magic number computation, its a distraction. Build me a class that can hold zero, 1 or many strings. empty is not a constructor, its a function, so that looks wrong. A constructor looks like the class name, eg:
Container()
{
do things that represent empty, maybe set some size = 0 ..
}

[DefinitelyNotPalpatine]

Check your text book and look at what a linked list is.