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How can I find out how much memory is available?
How can I find out how much memory is available? Your operating system may provide a routine which returns this information, but it's quite system-dependent. (Also, the number may vary over time.) If you're trying to predict whether you'll be able to allocate a certain amount of memory, just try it-...
2015-03-30, 1142👍, 0💬

Are pointers really faster than arrays?
Are pointers really faster than arrays? How much do function calls slow things down? Is ++i faster than i = i + 1? Precise answers to these and many similar questions depend of course on the processor and compiler in use. If you simply must know, you'll have to time test programs carefully. (Often t...
2015-02-09, 1142👍, 0💬

Why dont C comments nest?
Why don't C comments nest? How am I supposed to comment out code containing comments? Are comments legal inside quoted strings? A: C comments don't nest mostly because PL/I's comments, which C's are borrowed from, don't either. Therefore, it is usually better to ``comment out'' large sections of cod...
2015-01-30, 1141👍, 0💬

I need a sort of an approximate strcmp routine ...
I need a sort of an approximate strcmp routine ... Q: I need a sort of an ``approximate'' strcmp routine, for comparing two strings for close, but not necessarily exact, equality. A:Some nice information and algorithms having to do with approximate string matching, as well as a useful bibliography, ...
2015-01-09, 1140👍, 0💬

How can I get the numeric value corresponding to a character? ....
How can I get the numeric value (i.e. ASCII or other character set code) corresponding to a character, or vice versa? In C, characters are represented by small integers corresponding to their values in the machine's character set. Therefore, you don't need a conversion function: if you have the char...
2016-03-07, 1138👍, 0💬

I am still getting errors due to library functions being undefined
I'm still getting errors due to library functions being undefined, even though I'm explicitly requesting the right libraries while linking. Many linkers make one pass over the list of object files and libraries you specify, and extract from libraries only those modules which satisfy references which...
2015-07-14, 1138👍, 0💬

Was 2000 a leap year?
Was 2000 a leap year? Q: Is (year % 4 == 0) an accurate test for leap years? (Was 2000 a leap year?) A: No, it's not accurate (and yes, 2000 was a leap year). The actual rules for the present Gregorian calendar are that leap years occur every four years, but not every 100 years, except that they do ...
2015-01-05, 1137👍, 0💬

What does the message warning macro replacement within a string literal mean?
What does the message warning macro replacement within a string literal mean? Some pre-ANSI compilers/preprocessors interpreted macro definitions like #define TRACE(var, fmt) printf("TRACE: var = fmt\n", var) such that invocations like TRACE(i, %d); were expanded as printf("TRACE: i = %d\n", i); In ...
2015-12-14, 1132👍, 0💬

What is the difference between calloc and malloc? ....
What's the difference between calloc and malloc? Which should I use? Is it safe to take advantage of calloc's zero-filling? Does free work on memory allocated with calloc, or do you need a cfree? calloc(m, n) is essentially equivalent to p = malloc(m * n); memset(p, 0, m * n); There is no important ...
2016-03-16, 1130👍, 0💬

How can I include expansions of the macros .....
How can I include expansions of the __FILE__ and __LINE__ macros in a general-purpose debugging macro? One solution involves writing your debug macro in terms of a varargs function , and an auxiliary function which stashes the values of __FILE__ and __LINE__ away in static variables, as in: #include...
2016-01-15, 1130👍, 0💬

What do Segmentation violation, `Bus error, and General protection fault mean? What is a core dump?
What do Segmentation violation, `Bus error, and General protection fault mean? What is a core dump? These symptoms (and any similar messages having to do with memory access violations or protection faults) generally mean that your program tried to access memory it shouldn't have, invariably as a res...
2015-05-20, 1130👍, 0💬

Must I free allocated memory before the program exits?
Must I free allocated memory before the program exits? You shouldn't have to. A real operating system definitively reclaims all memory and other resources when a program exits; the system cannot afford to have memory integrity depend on the whims of random programs. (Strictly speaking, it is not eve...
2016-03-28, 1128👍, 0💬

If the assignment operator were ...
If the assignment operator were :=, wouldn't it then be harder to accidentally write things like if(a = b) ? A: Yes, but it would also be just a little bit more cumbersome to type all of the assignment statements which a typical program contains. In any case, it's really too late to be worrying abou...
2015-01-26, 1128👍, 0💬

Does C have an equivalent to Pascals with statement?
Does C have an equivalent to Pascals with statement? No. The way in C to get quick and easy access to the fields of a structure is to declare a little local structure pointer variable (which, it must be admitted, is not quite as notationally convenient as a with statement and doesn't save quite as m...
2015-01-14, 1128👍, 0💬

Why do some versions of toupper act strangely if given an upper-case letter?
Why do some versions of toupper act strangely if given an upper-case letter? Why does some code call islower before toupper? In earlier times, toupper was a function-like preprocessor macro and was defined to work only on lower-case letters; it misbehaved if applied to digits, punctuation, or letter...
2015-08-17, 1127👍, 0💬

Is exit(status) truly equivalent to returning the same status from main?
Is exit(status) truly equivalent to returning the same status from main? Yes and no. The Standard says that a return from the initial call to main is equivalent to calling exit. However, a return from main cannot be expected to work if data local to main might be needed during cleanup; A few very ol...
2015-03-09, 1127👍, 0💬

How can I write data files which can be read on other machines with different word size, byte order, or floating point formats?
How can I write data files which can be read on other machines with different word size, byte order, or floating point formats? The most portable solution is to use text files (usually ASCII), written with fprintf and read with fscanf or the like. (Similar advice also applies to network protocols.) ...
2015-02-23, 1127👍, 0💬

Are the outer parentheses in return statements really optional?
Are the outer parentheses in return statements really optional? Yes. Long ago, in the early days of C, they were required, and just enough people learned C then, and wrote code which is still in circulation, that the notion that they might still be required is widespread. (As it happens, parentheses...
2015-02-02, 1124👍, 0💬

How can I read in an object file and jump to locations in it?
How can I read in an object file and jump to locations in it? You want a dynamic linker or loader. It may be possible to malloc some space and read in object files, but you have to know an awful lot about object file formats, relocation, etc., and this approach can't work if code and data reside in ...
2015-03-09, 1123👍, 0💬

How do I get an accurate error status return from system on MS-DOS?
How do I get an accurate error status return from system on MS-DOS? You can't; COMMAND.COM doesn't tend to provide one. If you don't need COMMAND.COM's services (i.e. if you're just trying to invoke a simple program, without I/O redirection and such) try one of the spawn routines, instead.
2015-03-16, 1122👍, 0💬

Is there a way to switch on strings?
Is there a way to switch on strings? Not directly. Sometimes, it's appropriate to use a separate function to map strings to integer codes, and then switch on those: #define CODE_APPLE 1 #define CODE_ORANGE 2 #define CODE_NONE 0 switch(classifyfunc(string)) { case CODE_APPLE: ... case CODE_ORANGE: .....
2015-02-04, 1122👍, 0💬

How can I call system when parameters (filenames, etc.) of the executed command arent known until run time?
How can I call system when parameters (filenames, etc.) of the executed command arent known until run time? Just use sprintf (or perhaps strcpy and strcat) to build the command string in a buffer, then call system with that buffer. (Make sure the buffer is allocated with enough space; Here is a cont...
2015-03-18, 1120👍, 0💬

What does it really mean for a program to be legal or `valid or ``conforming?
What does it really mean for a program to be legal or `valid or ``conforming? Simply stated, the Standard talks about three kinds of conformance: conforming programs, strictly conforming programs, and conforming implementations. A conforming program is one that is accepted by a conforming implementa...
2015-11-23, 1119👍, 0💬

How can I invoke another program or command and trap its output?
How can I invoke another program or command and trap its output? Unix and some other systems provide a popen function, which sets up a stdio stream on a pipe connected to the process running a command, so that the calling program can read the output (or alternatively supply the input). Using popen, ...
2015-03-16, 1119👍, 0💬

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