Thread: Dec to Hex, Hex fraction to Dec fraction, and Dec fraction to Hex fraction conversion

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    Question Dec to Hex, Hex fraction to Dec fraction, and Dec fraction to Hex fraction conversion

    Hello to everyone I'm new to the c-programming board.

    I'll first start off with my first question.

    I know of the itoa, strol, and sprintf way to convert a dec to Hex, but I'm actually trying to understand the logic behind actually writing the code. I have a serious migrain and can't put two and two together right now. Any ideas to break down the thought process in doing such conversions.

    Thank You

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    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
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    What's a hex fraction?
    Mainframe assembler programmer by trade. C coder when I can.

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    Hexiadecimal fraction I guess for example 1A23.A3

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    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
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    So, to read a byte from memory, say 0xA3, and convert it to a character string is what you want to do I presume.

    An easy way is to isolate each nibble of the byte (the "A" and the "3"), and then use that value in a lookup into a character array can be done like this:

    Code:
    char hex_chars[] = "0123456789ABCDEF" ; 
    unsigned char random_char = 0xA3 ;     
    unsigned int index1, index2 ; 
    index1 = ( random_char & 0xF0 ) >> 4 ;
    index2 = random_char & 0x0F ; 
    printf("The character is %c%c\n", hex_chars[index1], hex_chars[index2]) ;
    Mainframe assembler programmer by trade. C coder when I can.

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    The next would be thought to convert 1A23.A3 to 6691.163 if thats would be the right calculation ha ha

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    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
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    ha ha. How are you planning on representing the dot?
    Mainframe assembler programmer by trade. C coder when I can.

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    so far in my mind as an character bit have an control statement. have it loop till '.' is represtented in the array possibly and have it break into an inner control statement and increment the rest of the array inside that loop if that make sense at all ha ha ha ha. Hay my professor is making me the prototype for this program cuz I think he doesn't know how to do it himself. He's waiting for me to get done cuz he said he doesn't have the finished code for this one ha ha haha.

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    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    An easy way is to isolate each nibble of the byte (the "A" and the "3"), and then use that value in a lookup into a character array can be done like this:
    So many code just to avoid %x?
    Code:
    printf("The character is %02X\n",random);
    ???
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
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    Jack of many languages Dino's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by vart View Post
    So many code just to avoid %x?
    Code:
    printf("The character is %02X\n",random);
    ???
    The OP asked....
    Quote Originally Posted by OP
    I know of the itoa, strol, and sprintf way to convert a dec to Hex, but I'm actually trying to understand the logic behind actually writing the code.
    and I took that as they wanted to know how to do it without the %x.
    Mainframe assembler programmer by trade. C coder when I can.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Burch View Post
    The OP asked....

    and I took that as they wanted to know how to do it without the %x.

    Yes he is correct I know of the easier ways of doing it I was wondering how to figure out the logic. Without using standard commands in the lib

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    also what do you mean by OP

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    Officially An Architect brewbuck's Avatar
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    Hexadecimal is based on powers of 16, and decimal is based on powers of 10. Forget about decimal for the moment. The number "10" doesn't come into any of these calculations, for reasons you should probably try to understand.

    0. Let n = the number you are converting
    1. Find p, the highest power of 16 which fits into n.
    2. Divide n by p to get result q and remainder r.
    3. Output q, which is a value between 0 and 15, as the next digit of the hex representation
    4. Let n = r
    5. Let p = p / 16
    6. If p > 0, go to step 2

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    Just Lurking Dave_Sinkula's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sygo View Post
    also what do you mean by OP
    http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/o/op.htm
    3. When talking about a user on a forum, op is short for original poster and is the first person started a topic on a forum.
    7. It is easier to write an incorrect program than understand a correct one.
    40. There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.*

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    Quote Originally Posted by brewbuck View Post
    Hexadecimal is based on powers of 16, and decimal is based on powers of 10. Forget about decimal for the moment. The number "10" doesn't come into any of these calculations, for reasons you should probably try to understand.

    0. Let n = the number you are converting
    1. Find p, the highest power of 16 which fits into n.
    2. Divide n by p to get result q and remainder r.
    3. Output q, which is a value between 0 and 15, as the next digit of the hex representation
    4. Let n = r
    5. Let p = p / 16
    6. If p > 0, go to step 2

    Ok thanks for clearing that up I'm still a newbie also instead of p/16 would it be better to do
    p%16;
    So example p=15;
    p=p%16 result= 15 now at this point the logic for the reading 'F' in Ascii

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    Officially An Architect brewbuck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sygo View Post
    Ok thanks for clearing that up I'm still a newbie also instead of p/16 would it be better to do
    p%16;
    You need to do both, actually. The quotient is used to produce the digit. The remainder is used as the next value to produce the next digit. I'm talking about step 2. The part where p is divided by 16 (step 5) is unrelated. It is just used to move down a power.

    For the part about converting between a number in the range 0..15 and a hex digit, there are multiple ways, so try something first and if you have trouble we'll discuss.

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