The challenge for this month’s Exercise is to return a file’s size without using the stat() function. My goal is to get you to think about various file tools and how they can be useful beyond their intended purpose.
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When describing data, the C language offers data types and data qualifiers. The data type is well known to any C programmer, defining the kind of data stored: char, int, float, and so on. The qualifier describes additional aspects of the data, such as how it’s used or whether the compiler should optimize the data’s storage.
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The stat() function returns various tidbits about a file, including its timestamp, permissions, file type, and the file’s size in bytes. This value can also be obtained without without using the stat() function, which is this month’s Exercise.
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Modern programming languages have libraries rich with routines, functions, and methods — plenty to pull together and craft the code you want without getting into the nitty-gritties or reinventing the wheel. As a mid-level language, C often requires that you craft your own functions, a task I undertake with eager glee.
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It’s Christmas time, nerds rejoice! Welcome this festive season with a bit of programming acumen to festoon your old CRT monitor with some yuletide cheer.
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No, a tick separator isn’t something you use on your dog during the summer. Instead, you find it in the upcoming C23 standard. A tick separator helps visually split up a long number, making it easier to read your code.
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One thing I take for granted is which C standard I’m using. The differences between the versions are subtle, and the compiler chooses its standard by default. But this choice can be altered for compatibility or historical reasons.
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The task for this month’s Exercise is to extract a structure member from a void pointer for use in the quick-sort compare() function. This isn’t a solution you can readily find on the Interwebs.
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The task is truly complex: Navigating a knight around a chessboard, visiting each square but never the same square twice. It took me a while to code, and I don’t think my solution is particularly elegant, but it works.
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I’ve covered the miraculous qsort() function elsewhere in this blog. It’s nifty, allowing you to sort all kinds of data with your only job being to code a compare() function. Most coders these days just copy-paste this function and call it good. But for sorting an array of structures, more brain muscle is required.
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