You’ve crafted a brilliant function, ensuring that it properly processes words and generates needed output. Is the code perfect? Well, it looks perfect. But how do you know for certain?
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I’ll be blunt: If you want to pass an array to a function, or have a function return an array, just give up now and use pointers. It’s a far easier operation, and it would save me the bother of having to write this post to further discuss the topic of array decay.
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Array decay has nothing to do with too much sugar in your code or poor brushing habits. No, it’s a hot topic in C programming, and a source of confusion.
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Let me be blunt: If you haven’t yet seen an undefined reference error, you truly aren’t a C programmer. In fact, the more of these messages you see, the longer you’ve been coding in C. Undefined reference errors are a badge of honor.
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It’s time to free yourself from the math-nerd aspect of the exp() function and put it to legitimate use by animating an asterisk bouncing across the screen. Such a feat may be considered unusual for a stream-oriented programming language like C, but I find animation more interesting than math.
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Text mode graphics were a Big Deal with computers for the longest time. C’s stream I/O didn’t stop various computer games from being developed throughout the 1970s and 1980s. And this limitation isn’t going to stop me from animating a falling ball, er, asterisk.
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Deep in the crevasse of oddball math functions is one that raises Euler’s number (e) to a given power. This calculation is vital enough in programming that it sports its own function, exp(). And I would ignore this function with exuberant glee were it not for a trick someone showed me a long time ago.
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Rolling seven dice over and over is how I passed time “playing” D&D. But I also played a game with the dice, one that I introduced in last week’s Lesson. That lesson’s code got things started. This Lesson finishes the project.
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You would think that I’d be deeply into Dungeons and Dragons, but no. I can’t stand the game. I find it tedious and predictable, boring. But I did enjoy rolling all those dice. Who knew that a 20-side die is a thing — and that rolling a “nat 20” is a big deal?
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Continuing my Base 36 series, from last week’s Lesson, the base35_string() function successfully converts a decimal value into its base 36 representation. To verify that the conversion works, another function is necessary to convert base 36 strings into their decimal equivalents.
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