comp.lang.c - 3 new messages in 3 topics - digest

comp.lang.c
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c?hl=en

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Today's topics:

* Just starting out in C - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/3339137f111b4434?hl=en
* C's Big Brother is Lurking ! - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/94c790b83420230d?hl=en
* what is brainfuck?[the time library] - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/c3af688e335f180f?hl=en

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TOPIC: Just starting out in C
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/3339137f111b4434?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Apr 24 2011 10:28 pm
From: Keith Thompson

Robert Miles <robertmilesxyz@gmail.com> writes:
> I'm just starting out learning C, but using Windows Vista instead of a
> more C-oriented operating system.
>
> So far I've found this on-line tutorial, which looks like a good brief
> introduction:
>
> http://www.physics.drexel.edu/courses/Comp_Phys/General/C_basics/c_tutorial.html
[...]

I just took a very quick look at that tutorial. I can't tell yet
whether the tutorial as a whole is any good, but the things it gets
wrong in the first few paragraphs do not make me optimistic.

Some things it gets wrong:

ANSI issued the first C standard in 1989, not 1988. K&R's 1998 book
(see below) was based on the ANSI standard as it was being developed.

"#include < stdio.h>" is wrong; there's no space after the '<'.
That's probably an HTML markup issue. You'll note that if you
copy and paste one of the examples into a C source file, it won't
compile until you delete the extra space.

"void main()" is wrong, and I'd like to know where the &*^&
the authors got the idea that it's correct; K&R2 certainly
never suggests it. The correct declaration is "int main(void)";
"int main()" is probably acceptable. Many compilers will accept
"void main()" without complaint, but it's particularly important
in C to understand that just because something appears to work,
that doesn't mean it's correct.

printf("\nHello World\n") prints an extra blank line before the output.
Harmless, I suppose, but why?

"This creates an executable file a.out, which is then executed simply by
typing its name." No, it doesn't, unless you have '.' in your $PATH,
which you shouldn't. Type "./a.out". (That's a Unix issue, not a C
issue.)

Skipping to the end, you should be aware that the dialog box routines in
the final example are not standard; they appear to be something created
for the course.

And so on. The fact that the authors recommend K&R2 is a point in their
favor. Please consider skipping the tutorial and reading K&R2
(Kernighan & Ritchie, "The C Programming Language", 2nd edition, 1988).

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

==============================================================================
TOPIC: C's Big Brother is Lurking !
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/94c790b83420230d?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Apr 24 2011 10:45 pm
From: Keith Thompson

"Mel Smith" <med_cutout_syntel@aol.com> writes:
> Bill said:
>
> ">
>> Whatever it is it can't compare to C.
>
> Bill:
>
> The second step of the compilation produces C- Code, which is compiled
> into object code, which is linked into an executable (i.e., an .exe)
>
> So, it *is* C -- only a lot more productive and a lot less syntactical
> nonsense.

No, it's not C. The fact that it's compiled into a C-like language
doesn't make it C, nor does it make it topical here.

[...]

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

==============================================================================
TOPIC: what is brainfuck?[the time library]
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/t/c3af688e335f180f?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Apr 24 2011 10:57 pm
From: Robert Miles

On Apr 8, 9:07 am, "io_x" <a...@b.c.invalid> wrote:
> "io_x" <a...@b.c.invalid> ha scritto nel messaggionews:4d9f15f4$0$18250$4fafbaef@reader2.news.tin.it...
>
> someont see this post?

Probably somewhere in this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c/browse_thread/thread/c3af688e335f180f

If your newsgroups server filters out posts that contain profane
words, it would have deleted many of the posts in this thread.

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