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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, 1609👍, 0💬

Why isnt any of this standardized in C? Any real program has to do some of these things.
Why isnt any of this standardized in C? Any real program has to do some of these things. Actually, some standardization has occurred along the way. In the beginning, C did not have a standard library at all; programmers always had to ``roll their own'' utility routines. After several abortive attemp...
2015-02-27, 1608👍, 0💬

I am reading strings typed by the user into an array ...
I'm reading strings typed by the user into an array, and then printing them out later. When the user types a sequence like \n, why isn't it being handled properly? Character sequences like \n are interpreted at compile time. When a backslash and an adjacent n appear in a character constant or string...
2016-03-04, 1607👍, 0💬

How can I add N days to a date? How can I find the difference between two dates?
How can I add N days to a date? How can I find the difference between two dates? The ANSI/ISO Standard C mktime and difftime functions provide some (limited) support for both problems. mktime accepts non-normalized dates, so it is straightforward to take a filled-in struct tm, add or subtract from t...
2015-08-05, 1607👍, 0💬

Each time I run my program, I get the same sequence of numbers back from rand
Each time I run my program, I get the same sequence of numbers back from rand It's a characteristic of most pseudo-random number generators (and a defined property of the C library rand) that they always start with the same number and go through the same sequence. (Among other things, a bit of predi...
2015-07-29, 1607👍, 0💬

This program runs perfectly on one machine ...
This program runs perfectly on one machine, but I get weird results on another. Stranger still, adding or removing a debugging printout changes the symptoms... Lots of things could be going wrong; here are a few of the more common things to check: * uninitialized local variables integer overflow, es...
2015-05-27, 1607👍, 0💬

What's the difference between using a typedef or a define for a user-defined type?
What's the difference between using a typedef or a define for a user-defined type? In general, typedefs are preferred, in part because they can correctly encode pointer types. For example, consider these declarations: typedef char *String_t; #define String_d char * String_t s1, s2; String_d s3, s4; ...
2016-02-22, 1606👍, 0💬

I am checking a string to see if it matches a particular value...
I'm checking a string to see if it matches a particular value. Why isn't this code working? char *string; ... if(string == "value") { /* string matches "value" */ ... } Strings in C are represented as arrays of characters, and C never manipulates (assigns, compares, etc.) arrays as a whole. The == o...
2016-03-11, 1605👍, 0💬

How can I read a directory in a C program?
How can I read a directory in a C program? See if you can use the opendir and readdir functions, which are part of the POSIX standard and are available on most Unix variants. Implementations also exist for MS-DOS, VMS, and other systems. (MS-DOS also has FINDFIRST and FINDNEXT routines which do esse...
2015-04-01, 1605👍, 0💬

How can I sort a linked list?
How can I sort a linked list? Sometimes it's easier to keep the list in order as you build it (or perhaps to use a tree instead). Algorithms like insertion sort and merge sort lend themselves ideally to use with linked lists. If you want to use a standard library function, you can allocate a tempora...
2015-08-10, 1604👍, 0💬

I heard that you have to include ......
I heard that you have to #include before calling printf. Why? So that a proper prototype for printf will be in scope. A compiler may use a different calling sequence for functions which accept variable-length argument lists. (It might do so if calls using variable-length argument lists were less eff...
2016-01-08, 1603👍, 0💬

How can I generate floating-point random numbers?
How can I generate floating-point random numbers? drand48 is a Unix System V routine which returns floating point random numbers (presumably with 48 bits of precision) in the half-open interval [0, 1). (Its companion seed routine is srand48; neither is in the C Standard.) It's easy to write a low-pr...
2015-07-22, 1602👍, 0💬

How can I automatically locate a programs configuration files in the same directory as the executable?
How can I automatically locate a programs configuration files in the same directory as the executable? It's hard, in general; Even if you can figure out a workable way to do it, you might want to consider making the program's auxiliary (library) directory configurable, perhaps with an environment va...
2015-03-13, 1600👍, 0💬

I have some old code that tries to construct identifiers with a macro like ...
I have some old code that tries to construct identifiers with a macro like #define Paste(a, b) a/**/b but it doesn't work any more. It was an undocumented feature of some early preprocessor implementations (notably Reiser's) that comments disappeared entirely and could therefore be used for token pa...
2016-01-27, 1599👍, 0💬

What are near and far pointers?
What are near and far pointers? These days, they're pretty much obsolete; they're definitely system-specific. They had to do with 16-bit programming under MS-DOS and perhaps some early versions of Windows. If you really need to know, see a DOS- or Windows-specific programming reference. If you're us...
2015-03-02, 1599👍, 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, 1596👍, 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, 1595👍, 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, 1593👍, 0💬

I have been replacing multiplications and divisions with shift operators, because shifting is more efficient.
I have been replacing multiplications and divisions with shift operators, because shifting is more efficient. This is an excellent example of a potentially risky and usually unnecessary optimization. Any compiler worthy of the name can replace a constant, power-of-two multiplication with a left shif...
2015-02-09, 1593👍, 0💬

Should I use symbolic names like TRUE and FALSE for Boolean constants, or plain 1 and 0?
Should I use symbolic names like TRUE and FALSE for Boolean constants, or plain 1 and 0? It's your choice. Preprocessor macros like TRUE and FALSE (and, of course, NULL) are used for code readability, not because the underlying values might ever change. It's a matter of style, not correctness, wheth...
2015-05-11, 1592👍, 0💬

Why is p turning out const, instead of the characters pointed to?
I've got the declarations typedef char *charp; const charp p; Why is p turning out const, instead of the characters pointed to? typedef substitutions are not purely textual.In the declaration const charp p; p is const for the same reason that const int i declares i as const. The typedef'ed declarati...
2016-01-04, 1590👍, 0💬

Why is the macro giving me the warning
Why is the macro #define TRACE(n) printf("TRACE: %d\n", n) giving me the warning ``macro replacement within a string literal''? It seems to be expanding TRACE(count); as printf("TRACE: %d\count", count); Some pre-ANSI compilers/preprocessors interpreted macro definitions like #define TRACE(var, fmt)...
2016-01-25, 1589👍, 0💬

How can f be used for both float and double arguments in printf? Aren't they different types?
How can f be used for both float and double arguments in printf? Aren't they different types? In the variable-length part of a variable-length argument list, the ``default argument promotions'' apply: types char and short int are promoted to int, and float is promoted to double. (These are the same ...
2015-06-17, 1588👍, 0💬

What is Hungarian Notation? Is it worthwhile?
What is Hungarian Notation? Is it worthwhile? Hungarian Notation is a naming convention, invented by Charles Simonyi, which encodes information about a variable's type (and perhaps its intended use) in its name. It is well-loved in some circles and roundly castigated in others. Its chief advantage i...
2015-05-08, 1587👍, 0💬

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