CapacitiveSensor library not working properly?

Thank you for your reply. This solves the problem I was having.

I noticed some things after having played around a little bit more. I am just mentioning them in case somebody is interested.

If the line

capSensor.capacitiveSensor(1);  // allow one calibration

is present, then both

float sensor = capSensor.capacitiveSensorRaw(20);

and

float sensor = capSensor.capacitiveSensor(20);

work. However, if capSensor.capacitiveSensorRaw is used, then this line can also be left out.

Also something to note is that if my laptop is connected to the power, then the value of the capacitor shoots up and down at somewhat irregular intervals.