When the C Lords banished the gets() function into obscurity, cohorts of confused coders descended upon the fgets() function as a viable alternative. Alas, fgets() isn’t without its faults.
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A Foolish Way to Read a String
Back in the old days, the obvious and logical way to read a string was to use the gets() function, where gets stands for “get string.” That makes sense, but only a hardy fool would use that function today.
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Making Change – Solution
To solve this month’s Exercise you had to figure out a way to divvy up a dollar amount into the proper number of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. As with many programming puzzles, a number of ways exist to code a solution. Click here to view mine.
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Just Keep Asking
As you frist explore programming, you may find yourself presented with a common puzzle: How to fetch proper input from a stubborn user. The solution is something I call the Just Keep Asking loop.
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Making Change
This month’s challenge is to calculate the number of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies required when given a specific dollar amount. It’s something fast food cashiers should know, but apparently they don’t! So maybe your solution to this exercise could help them.
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The Factorial Recursion
It’s the example of recursion most often used, but it’s not the best example. Of course, to illustrate a better example you need to approach concepts such as fractals and graphical programming doodads. My favorite form of recursion is traversing a directory tree. Regardless, the code for a factorial recursion remains the go-to workhorse.
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An Example of Recursion
A recursive function calls itself. That’s a strange and beautiful concept, one that saves a lot of coding time, but how does it really work?
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Introduction to Recursion
It’s truly a scary thing: A function calls itself. This trick can be done without damage to the space-time continuum, and nothing explodes when it’s done correctly.
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From Text to Integer – Solution
This month’s Exercise is to code a function that converts a string of text numbers into an integer value. If you used the skeleton provided, then your program’s output would look like this:
The string 24680 represents value 24680.Functions in Functions!
For an argument, functions in the C language can take literal values, equations, the result from another function, or any combination of these items. It’s a feature that’s both flexible and confusing.
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