interesting C program

[prady]

hi all,

could any one solve the following C program. If any one knows the
answer please post it

Ques:

A C function that will print 1 to N one per each line on the
stdout , where N is a int parameter to the function. The function
should not
use while, for, do-while loops, goto statement, recursion, and switch
statement.

--
prady

[Ben Pfaff]

Rachael <ra************ @gmail.comwrite s:

There's the silly solution:

int i=1;
/* and then write out INT_MAX times: */
if (i<=N) {
printf("%d\n",i );
i++;
}

Why use a variable then?

if (i <= 1)
puts("1");
if (i <= 2)
puts("2");
if (i <= 3)
puts("3");
....
--
"If I've told you once, I've told you LLONG_MAX times not to
exaggerate."
--Jack Klein

[Ben Pfaff]

prady <pr*******@gmai l.comwrites:

A C function that will print 1 to N one per each line on the
stdout , where N is a int parameter to the function. The
function should not use while, for, do-while loops, goto
statement, recursion, and switch statement.

Need it be portable?

void function(int n)
{
char cmd[64];
sprintf(cmd, "seq %d", n);
system(cmd);
}
--
char a[]="\n .CJacehknorstu" ;int putchar(int);in t main(void){unsi gned long b[]
={0x67dffdff,0x 9aa9aa6a,0xa77f fda9,0x7da6aa6a ,0xa67f6aaa,0xa a9aa9f6,0x11f6} ,*p
=b,i=24;for(;p+ =!*p;*p/=4)switch(0[p]&3)case 0:{return 0;for(p--;i--;i--)case+
2:{i++;if(i)bre ak;else default:continu e;if(0)case 1:putchar(a[i&15]);break;}}}

[Richard]

Rachael <ra************ @gmail.comwrite s:

There's the silly solution:

int i=1;
/* and then write out INT_MAX times: */
if (i<=N) {
printf("%d\n",i );
i++;
}

I once failed an interview question very similar to this, because I
couldn't imagine they were looking for such an inelegant "solution",
but they were.

I'd love to see some of the questions that a few of the core members of
this group would set the hapless interviewees :-;

[Chris Dollin]

Chris Dollin wrote:

[I've now managed to turn my insight into code. Perhaps "completely
straightforward " was a little optimistic, eg there's an `if` in there
whose condition is always true ... I think there's room for improvement.]

There was.

Shiny! That fixed the 0 case, too!

--
Chris "money for old rope" Dollin

Hewlett-Packard Limited registered office: Cain Road, Bracknell,
registered no: 690597 England Berks RG12 1HN

[Rachael]

On 20 Nov, 15:55, Ben Pfaff <[e-mail] rd.eduwrote:

Why use a variable then?

if (i <= 1)
puts("1");
if (i <= 2)
puts("2");
if (i <= 3)
puts("3");
...

Assuming you mean
if (N >= 1)
then yes, you're right.

[Richard]

Ben Pfaff <bl*@cs.stanfor d.eduwrites:

Rachael <ra************ @gmail.comwrite s:

>There's the silly solution:

int i=1;
/* and then write out INT_MAX times: */
if (i<=N) {
printf("%d\n",i );
i++;
}

Why use a variable then?

if (i <= 1)
puts("1");
if (i <= 2)
puts("2");
if (i <= 3)
puts("3");
...

Because for a program which covers all integers from 0 to MAX_INT N is
the cut off.

[Philip Potter]

Ben Pfaff wrote:

prady <pr*******@gmai l.comwrites:

>A C function that will print 1 to N one per each line on the
stdout , where N is a int parameter to the function. The
function should not use while, for, do-while loops, goto
statement, recursion, and switch statement.

Need it be portable?

void function(int n)
{
char cmd[64];
sprintf(cmd, "seq %d", n);
system(cmd);
}

If you're not worried about portability, then look at my program:

void _G(int n);

void f(int n) {
_G(n);
}

Naturally, _G() is to be provided by the implementation.

[Johannes Bauer]

Rachael schrieb:

There's the silly solution:

[Snip]

That's what I thought first, but couldn't really believe they were
asking for that.

I once failed an interview question very similar to this, because I
couldn't imagine they were looking for such an inelegant "solution",
but they were.

Most braindead assignment *ever*, seriously. Whoever asks these
questions should not be allowed to teach/have a leading position in HR.
BTW, did you get the job anyways?

Greetings,
Johannes

--
"Viele der Theorien der Mathematiker sind falsch und klar
Gotteslästerli ch. Ich vermute, dass diese falschen Theorien genau
deshalb so geliebt werden." -- Prophet und Visionär Hans Joss aka
HJP in de.sci.mathemat ik <47************ **********@news .sunrise.ch>

[Duncan Muirhead]

On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:55:08 -0800, prady wrote:

hi all,

could any one solve the following C program. If any one knows the
answer please post it

Ques:

A C function that will print 1 to N one per each line on the
stdout , where N is a int parameter to the function. The function
should not
use while, for, do-while loops, goto statement, recursion, and switch
statement.

Hint: look up the standard library functions setjmp and longjmp.

[Rachael]

On 20 Nov, 17:21, Johannes Bauer <dfnsonfsdu...@ gmx.dewrote:

Most braindead assignment *ever*, seriously. Whoever asks these
questions should not be allowed to teach/have a leading position in HR.
BTW, did you get the job anyways?

The other questions in the interview were very interesting. I think
with that question they wanted to see whether I was blind to the
"braindead" solution when there were no other options.
I didn't get the job, but it's OK, because it was about an hour away
by train and my current job is 15 minutes away by bike :)