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Re: A C program

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On 11/05/2012 10:45 AM, Malcolm McLean wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 30, 2012 5:15:11 PM UTC, Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
>> tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> writes:
>>
>>  
>>> Drop out of whatever program you are in now.  If this sort of program
>>> stumps you you have no business studying computer science nor software
>>> development.
>>
>>
>>
>> This strikes me as too harsh.  This is the sort of thing that will
>> challenge a freshman (and maybe even a sophomore) the first time they
>> see it; he does need to be told to do his own homework (and has been);
>> he only needs to change majors if he doesn't get better.
>>
> You've got to understand argv and argc, you've got to write a routine that
> checks a string is a valid binary number, you've got to detect arithmetic
> overflow (or, for the class prize, implement an arbitrary-length routine).
> 
> It's not that easy to get full marks.

A key stumbling block for many newbies assigned such a problem is
confusion between the use of "binary" to describe the digits in a
character string, and the use of "binary" to describe the internal
representation of integer types in C. The OP's message is consistent
with either possibility as the input to the routine, though the
character string seems more reasonable.
Being confused about such issues as a newbie is not a good predictor of
whether you might be a successful computer scientist or computer
programmer, tom st denis' comments to the contrary notwithstanding.

If someone were still confused by such issues after spending more than a
decade "learning" C, then I would think it's long past time for them to
give up - but that's a different issue.

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A C program Nikhil Joshi <nitin.nitinperderusted.rastogi@gmail.com> - 2012-10-23 08:54 -0700
  Re: A C program James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-10-23 12:05 -0400
    Re: A C program Rich Webb <bbew.ar@mapson.nozirev.ten> - 2012-10-23 13:07 -0400
    Re: A C program BruceS <bruces42@hotmail.com> - 2012-10-29 21:58 +0000
  Re: A C program Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2012-10-23 10:46 -0600
  Re: A C program Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-10-23 13:28 -0700
  Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 06:28 -0700
    Re: A C program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-10-30 15:42 +0000
      Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 08:44 -0700
        Re: A C program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-10-30 17:28 +0000
          Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 10:32 -0700
            Re: A C program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-10-30 18:21 +0000
              Re: A C program "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-11-04 16:57 -0500
    Re: A C program "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-10-30 16:12 +0000
      Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 09:38 -0700
        Re: A C program James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-10-30 12:57 -0400
          Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 10:26 -0700
            Re: A C program James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-10-30 14:30 -0400
              Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 14:47 -0700
                Re: A C program James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-10-30 18:29 -0400
              Re: A C program "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-11-04 16:35 -0500
                Re: A C program Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-11-04 14:25 -0800
                Re: A C program "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-11-04 23:53 +0000
                Re: A C program Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-11-04 16:09 -0800
            Re: A C program Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-11-01 18:17 +0000
      Re: A C program Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> - 2012-10-30 13:02 -0400
    Re: A C program Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2012-10-30 11:15 -0600
      Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 10:28 -0700
        Re: A C program Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-10-30 17:42 +0000
          Re: A C program tom st denis <tom@iahu.ca> - 2012-10-30 10:49 -0700
            Re: A C program Greg Martin <greg@softsprocket.com> - 2012-10-30 11:11 -0700
            Re: A C program Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-11-01 18:11 +0000
        Re: A C program "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-11-04 16:38 -0500
      Re: A C program Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2012-11-05 07:45 -0800
        Re: A C program James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-11-05 13:28 -0500
    Re: A C program Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-11-01 18:03 +0000
    Re: A C program Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-11-01 18:13 +0000

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