[comp.lang.c] commonly asked questions

chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (09/14/88)

In article <753@proxftl.UUCP> bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes:
>Hey Chris, do you think we should combine our missives (mine is
><402@proxftl.UUCP>) into an article for news.announce.newusers?
>We might get it into the "most frequently asked questions"
>section under the title "NULL considered harmful!"
>
>:-) I think.

I have considered it myself.  (I decided that news.announce.newusers
really ought not to have many, if any, newsgroup-specific answers: it
would be better to post these periodically in the appropriate newsgroup.)

A `most frequently asked questions' for comp.lang.c would indeed be
useful.  The first problem is convincing someone to do it.  We are halfway
there: I am half convinced already....  

The second problem is a bit more serious.  Many of the topics need long
answers (`long' here means more than one paragraph of explanation).
Perhaps the solution is a series of periodic postings, one per topic.

So far the topics seem to be:

	NULL (why 0, why casts required)
	what does `dpANS' mean
	what is a function prototype
	qualifiers (const, volatile) and their syntax
	dynamic two (or more) dimensional arrays

(any others?)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris

mjy@sdti.UUCP (Michael J. Young) (09/15/88)

In article <13550@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
-A `most frequently asked questions' for comp.lang.c would indeed be useful.
-
-So far the topics seem to be:
-	NULL (why 0, why casts required)
-	what does `dpANS' mean
-	what is a function prototype
-	qualifiers (const, volatile) and their syntax
-	dynamic two (or more) dimensional arrays
-
-(any others?)

How about:
	{Pascal|FORTRAN|<insert_favorite_language_here>} to C translators

-- 
Mike Young - Software Development Technologies, Inc., Sudbury MA 01776
UUCP     : {decvax,harvard,linus,mit-eddie}!necntc!necis!mrst!sdti!mjy
Internet : mjy%sdti.uucp@harvard.harvard.edu      Tel: +1 508 443 5779
"Suicide in Buffalo is redundant." -- from A Chorus Line

jackm@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Jack Morrison) (09/16/88)

In article <13550@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
-A `most frequently asked questions' for comp.lang.c would indeed be useful.

-(any others?)

Don't forget "How to declare and use function pointers".

This seems to be a common problem on many newsgroups. Maybe someone could
publish a "Greatest Hits" collection, and keep a table of contents somewhere
(news.announce.newusers?) where people could look before posting repeat
questions (or go back to read the answers they ignored until it was no
longer "someone else's problem".)
-- 
Jack C. Morrison, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
"How is my typing? Call 1-818-354-1431, or mail jackm@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov"