Thread: program to print itself

  1. 02-08-2008 #1
    ElemenT.usha
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    program to print itself

    guys i have a small doubt.....

    Is it possible to write a program which when executed prints itself as the output...
    i.e, the output should be the program itself.....

    the problem is using of files is not allowed.....

    i have no idea how to start without files....

    waiting for your ideas
  2. 02-08-2008 #2
    matsp
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    There was a post on the forum about 2 months back that did this. It was based on the program itself containing a copy of itself in hex in a char array - so you need to write a little preprocessor to take the file and generate a string of hex bytes, and then print those bytes twice in different ways.

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  3. 02-08-2008 #3
    laserlight
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    Search the Web for "quine".
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
  4. 02-08-2008 #4
    ElemenT.usha
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    can you please direct me to that post....
    or give me the link or subject name if possible.......

    well it would be better if you can tell me the thing of preprocessor here.....
  5. 02-08-2008 #5
    matsp
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    I'm sure you are just as able as me to search the forum - and you are the one wanting to do it, so why should I perform the search.

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    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
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  6. 02-08-2008 #6
    dwks
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    Why don't you do as laserlight suggested? google.ca/search?q=quine
    How difficult is it to do a google search?

    You can find myriad examples here: http://www.nyx.net/~gthompso/self_c.txt
    Most of them aren't very legible.
    dwk

    Seek and ye shall find. quaere et invenies.

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  7. 02-09-2008 #7
    ElemenT.usha
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    thanxx got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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