To build a number in base 36, you need to know the powers of base 36. This information is required to output digits — 0 through 9 and then A through Z — in the proper order to represent a base 36 value. This task may seem complicated, but it’s the same process that takes place for any counting base.
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Filters are fun to code and useful, such as the more filter in Linux that pages text output. For this month’s Exercise, your task is to write a text reversing filter. This program is a bit more challenging than coding other types of filters.
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This month’s Exercise output values in various bases, but only those bases from 2 to 10. For other bases, especially those that alien beings might use, more effort is required. Therefore, I’d like to begin exploring a ridiculous counting base, base 36.
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The C11 standard added a few new keywords to the language. These are often called the “underscore keywords” because each is prefixed with an underscore. The second letter is often capitalized, as is the case with _Alignof.
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As you might suspect, searching a binary search tree (BST) involves a recursive function. This function must plow through the tree, finding a value in a specific node. Because the BST is organized, the search process works far more quickly than when the data is unorganized or set in a sequential array. In fact, the bsearch() function uses a similar scheme requiring that the data first be sorted before the function works its magic.
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Your task for this month’s Exercise is to write a program that outputs a value in any base, between 2 and 10. Sure, you can use this code to communicate with alien species that use a base other than decimal, but this benefit is only a happy coincidence to the exercise.
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A binary search tree works best when code is available to search the tree. Before doing so, I’d like to demonstrate how a tree is processed, one node at a time.
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I watched the film Contact a few weeks ago. The movie is about first contact with an alien civilization. It’s smart cinema, which offers that communications between species would be mathematical in nature, as math is the universal language.
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Tree structures are yet another way to organize data. They’re similar to a linked list, but with the data organized by value into a series of branches and leaves. OMG! It’s like a tree!
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Though I’m admittedly not good at math (at least according to my grades in school), I enjoy playing with math stuff on the computer. Programming allows me to mess with numbers and values without the risk of that ugly red mark and the need to wonder how a D or an F on my transcript affects my overall GPA.
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