A challange

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

...And why should you post a solution once the time is up?
The code is bad practice too.
Not to mention unnecessarily complicated and hard to understand.

**matsp** · 11-01-2008

Code:

const char *pDay[] = {"Sunday", "Monday",
                "Tuesday", "Wednesday",
                "Thursday", "Friday",
                "Saturday"};

??

--
Mats

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

Yep, that takes care of the bad practice part... But the code is still too complex to understand right away without digging into the code and I am not going to bother to.

**BobS0327** · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by matsp

Code:

const char *pDay[] = {"Sunday", "Monday",
                "Tuesday", "Wednesday",
                "Thursday", "Friday",
                "Saturday"};

??

--
Mats

The MS compiler doesn't complain about. It's set to treat all warnings as errors. But anyway, I'll run the code thru lint Monday morning to determine if lint complains.

**whiteflags** · 11-01-2008

Yep, that takes care of the bad practice part... But the code is still too complex to understand right away without digging into the code and I am not going to bother to.

I dunno, seems like you need to understand two things predominantly: functions and arrays. The algorithm Bob used is pretty well known, it only requires some moderate research if you don't know.

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by BobS0327

The MS compiler doesn't complain about. It's set to treat all warnings as errors. But anyway, I'll run the code thru lint Monday morning to determine if lint complains.

Not many compilers complain/warn about that.
And did I mention I hate algorithms? Especially complex ones. They are never easy to understand.

**whiteflags** · 11-01-2008

You must hate programming then.

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

Actually, I do not.
Though technically a program is algorithms and data, I can still hide the algorithms in higher-level functions whose task is clear. Now that is what programming is about.

**BobS0327** · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by Elysia

Not many compilers complain/warn about that.
And did I mention I hate algorithms? Especially complex ones. They are never easy to understand.

Lint isn't a compiler. It's a commercial application that checks source code for bugs, glitches, inconsistencies, non portable contructs and a lot more. If there is anything questionable about the source code lint will DEFINITELY complain.

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

I was referring to the MS compiler.
I remember what Lint is. I sure do hope it points that out. Otherwise I think someone needs to file a suggestion...

**Akkernight** · 11-01-2008

Hmm.... What is algorithm? :P
No, English ain't my main language and you people make it sound as algorithm is an essential part of coding, so could anyone clear it up for me? 'Cause dictionaries don't really make sense, when I search 'algorithm' :P

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

"A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps. "
Or in other words - it describes the process of taking a number from the user and calculates to 1000 from that number.

**Akkernight** · 11-01-2008

Ohh... So it always calculates to a 1000? Or is that controllable?

**whiteflags** · 11-01-2008

I disagree after "in other words" ... algorithms apply to any problem, even in real life. If you lost something you would probably use an algorithm to find it. Like, "well, I know I had it an hour ago, I'll retrace my steps to where I was an hour ago."

That's probably the reason my psychology textbook and computer science textbook agree that an algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem in a finite amount of time. Even though, in psychology they usually focus on how this applies to the conscious mind and learning.

**Elysia** · 11-01-2008

Originally Posted by Akkernight

Ohh... So it always calculates to a 1000? Or is that controllable?

Of course not. It was an example.

Originally Posted by citizen

I disagree after "in other words" ... algorithms apply to any problem, even in real life. If you lost something you would probably use an algorithm to find it. Like, "well, I know I had it an hour ago, I'll retrace my steps to where I was an hour ago."

That's probably the reason my psychology textbook and computer science textbook agree that an algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem in a finite amount of time. Even though, in psychology they usually focus on how this applies to the conscious mind and learning.

Of course it was not meant to be taken literally. It was an example of a algorithm.
I agree with the definition I took from wiktionary.