In the beginning, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others created Unix. And it was good. Then came the varieties and variants: BSD, System V, and eventually Linux. These are all similar operating systems, not identical, but with a common root and familiar features. You can’t call them all “Unix,” so over time various standards and terms have been developed.
A term that frequently pops up when ruminating over the various Unixes and Linux distros, is POSIX.
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I find it odd that the recursive solution for this month’s Exercise is far shorter than the non-recursive version. Yet, it has an elegance that’s evident in lots of recursive code examples.
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In Linux and Unix, the terminal is assigned a name. Specifically, it’s the name of a file located in the /dev directory. This configuration is necessary because the operating system treats all devices as files. Like a file, you can read and write from the terminal; it’s an I/O device. To get started, you must know the current terminal’s filename.
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I remember the first time I heard the puzzle: If you’re paid a penny on the first day, doubled on the second day, and doubled every day after, by the end of the month you’d be a millionaire many times over. This concept is mind boggling.
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One of the first functions C programmings learn is max(). It’s simple and useful, and it teaches a lot about functions and evaluations. Most programming languages also demonstrate functions similar to max().
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Often in my code I use a variable to both fetch data and to test the data. Before using this variable, it must be initialized, lest the test act on uninitialized garbage. A clever solution is necessary to avoid this situation.
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It’s incorrect to say that the format string for the printf() function is identical to the one used in the scanf() function. Both are similar, but scanf() has one major difference.
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The task for this month’s Exercise is to write code that outputs strings for number values, 0 through 100. Your goal is to be clever with your solution, something that took me a few versions to get correct.
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It’s sad but understandable that most C programmers use the scanf() function in a limited capacity. True, the function is dorky, so I accept any aversion to its use. It can also be abused to pose a security risk. Still, for “research purposes,” it’s entertaining to see how much the function can be twisted and torqued.
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I would guess that most beginning programmers can deftly craft a loop that outputs sequential integer values, say from 0 to 100. In fact, this is the type of code I write whenever I learn a new language. I asked myself, “Can I write a loop to output values 0 to 100?” Usually in no time, I’ve constructed such a program. Simple.
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