Data in a matrix is entertaining and all that, but the point is usually to manipulate that data. The most basic form of manipulation I can conjure is to tally the rows and columns. Sounds like fun, but it took me a few attempts to get the code correct.
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Grids, or matrixes, are a common data thingy, as information often appears in tables. Being able to fold, spindle, and mutilate a grid is a common computer programming task, something to entertain your idle hours even if you have no pressing need to manipulate a matrix.
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In last week’s Lesson, I covered a function present in other programming languages but absent in C: concatenating arrays. This time, the topic is similar: adding two arrays. Yes, such functions exist in other languages, but in C you must write one yourself.
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Yet another tool missing from C, but found in other programming languages, is the capability to stick together two arrays. The result is a single, larger array containing the elements from the two originals. With C, of course, you can always code your own function to handle the task.
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I enjoy programming a computer the old fashioned way, in the text mode terminal window. Yes, it’s now a sad little “app” floating on a graphical screen. This burden doesn’t remove the charm, but it does raise an interesting issue when you try to get text mode output just right: How many rows and columns are there in the terminal window?
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The clock() function has nothing to do with human time. Nope. It returns a value from the computer’s CPU, the processor time. You can use this value to determine the amount of time it takes your programs to run.
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You would think that the various C compilers deal with C code in the same manner. After all, they adhere to the same C standards, right? This compatibility makes it possible to compile and cleanly build C programs regardless of which compiler you use, right? Well, maybe not.
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Perhaps the most hilarious keyword in the C language is volatile. It’s a data type qualifier, which I discussed in last week’s Lesson. But this qualifier doesn’t mean that the data is unstable or risky to use, unlike other things described as “volatile.”
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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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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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