My solution to this month’s Exercise is split into two main parts. The first part generates the random value in the range of 1 to 100. The second part performs the Hailstone sequence on that value.
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Files can be read sequentially or you can hop around, reading this chunk or that chunk, which is how random file access works. Internally, however, it’s all just file access. The difference between sequential and random file access is how the file position indicator is abused.
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The Hailstone sequence is based on the theory is that you can perform a specific calculation on any positive integer to create a series of numbers. No matter which positive integer you start with, eventually the sequence ends with the value 1.
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In last week’s Lesson, I covered the ftell() function, which returns the current file position indicator. That indicator can be manipulated, allowing you to control how a file is read in a non-sequential way.
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Like reading a book, sequential file access starts at the file’s beginning (or top) and reads bytes one after the other until the nefarious EOF is encountered. You probably don’t think about how that works, and you don’t need to. The operating system handles the job of reading a file; your C code is simply along for the ride.
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Say you have a for loop that increments one notch each time it repeats. I code such a loop in this fashion:
for(x=0;x<10;x++)More common, however, programmers use this approach:
for(x=0;x<10;++x)The difference is in how the variable x is incremented. I put the ++ after the x, but most coders put it before. What the deal?
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For my solution to this month’s Exercise I went binary. Several of the C language operators work at a binary level. Because the exercise was to make a binary, or bitwise, modification, I figured a binary operator would be in order.
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Of the two C language keyword looping statements, for is the most traditional and probably the most popular. It’s also the most frustrating for beginners because of its many parts. But eventually, a comfort level arises with using the for loop, which is sad because it’s more powerful than a simple counter.
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All the nonsense that takes place in programming happens because it’s possible to change the value of a bit from 0 to 1 and back again. The general concept is known as a toggle switch: The item can be set and reset between on and off positions.
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You could call it a neat trick or just something so oddball insane that few programmers would dare breech the territory: A variable that holds the address of a function; a function pointer.
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