in-terminal simulation

//cheap physics simulation of bouncing balls in a tube.
//Object location history is "graphed" time vs location.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{   char tube[82]; //width of terminal + 2, must be even

    int blank = 32; //' '
    int wall = 119; //'w'
    int plus = 43;  //'+'
    int minus = 45; //'-'

    for(int a = 0; a <= 81; a++)
    {   tube[a] = blank;
    }

    tube[0] = wall;
    tube[81] = wall;

    //initial symbol positions (separate by even # of blocks)
    tube[14] = plus;
    tube[17] = minus;

    //"pointers" to symbol positions
    int left_loc = 14, right_loc = 17;

    //initial directional states of symbols (go left = -1, go right = 1)
    int left_state = -1, right_state = 1;

    for(int a = 0; a <= 1020; a++)
    {   for(int a = 1; a <= 80; a++)
        {   cout << tube[a];
        }

        cout << endl;

        if(tube[left_loc + left_state] == blank) //plus normal move
        {   tube[left_loc] = blank;
            tube[left_loc + left_state] = plus;
            left_loc += left_state;
        }

        if(tube[left_loc + left_state] == wall) //plus wall bounce
        {   left_state *= -1;
        }

        if(tube[right_loc + right_state] == blank) //minus normal move
        {   tube[right_loc] = blank;
            tube[right_loc + right_state] = minus;
            right_loc += right_state;
        }

        if(tube[right_loc + right_state] == wall) //minus wall bounce
        {   right_state *= -1;
        }

        if(tube[left_loc + 1] == minus) //plus on minus collision
        {   left_state *= -1;
            right_state *= -1;
        }

        for(int waste = 0; waste <= 16000000; waste++){} //for 3.4GHz (i7-5557U)
    }

    return 0;
}