Nested structures present another opportunity for pointers to growl in your code. The struggle is knowing which structure member operator to use — and where.
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Structures are the complex variable type in C, allowing you to craft data-rich units for storing and retrieving all sorts of interesting information. They’re fun! But like asterisks falling as snowflakes, sprinkle some pointers into a structure and you can get into trouble fast.
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I’m no math genius. I’d love to understand it all, and I appreciate the complexities, but I’m just the noob first-time player walking across a field in Call of Duty where I’m a target to all the more experienced players. In short: The study of compound interest eventually gives rise to the mathematical concept of e, also known as Euler’s number.
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You would think that simple interest (from last week’s Lesson) would be enough. After all, if you’re investing, you make money; if you’re paying back a loan, you can figure the math. That aspect of interest wasn’t enough for mathematical and banking geniuses, who devised a second type of interest calculation, which is “interest on the interest.”
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I’m frustrated, as are many investors, at the lack of interest generated in “savings” accounts these days. It’s pitiful. The interest formula is based on solid mathematics, which is easy to code in C. Doing so may help you understand the concept of interest and how it works.
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The Change Due Exercise, presented earlier this year, offered a solution that uses the fmod() function. That function is to real numbers as the modulus operator is to integers, though it’s not a straight-across comparison. That’s because floating point numbers can be imprecise.
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The C language offers some delicious predicaments you may not find in other languages. Many of these odd situations involve variables, which are strongly typed in other languages. As a case in point, consider the difference between an empty string and a null string.
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The C language string-input function was once gets(). That function has become Chernobyl in that it exists but you go there only when you don’t care about your health.
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In last week’s Lesson, I covered the goto keyword the way most instructors do: I explained that it’s not needed and admonished you not to use it lest you be labeled an complete and utter dork. Still, why would such a superfluous method of program control be included if it’s awkward and unnecessary?
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The only reason anyone learns about the C language keyword goto is because it’s one of the original 32 keywords. The next thing a programmer learns is to avoid it. Peril, pestilence, and pain awaits the fool who uses goto. Yea verily, if a programming Hell exists, goto is the command you use to get there.
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