jas@llama.rtech.UUCP (Jim Shankland) (01/19/88)
In article <1868@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
!I gave a number of example attempting to show that zero is inherently
!a unique integer....
!
!Zero symmetrically divides the number line. If one had to choose ONE
!of the values on the number line as being unique, it would have to be
!zero. It is the only value that isn't arbitrary, the only one that
!doesn't have a mirror-image counterpart (of opposite sign), the only
!one that can't be a legal divisor, the only one that, in short,
!stands out as "different" from all the other values.
!
It's not easy to make me laugh first thing in the morning; who ever
thought that a comp.lang.c posting could do it? Sad to say,
I think the poster was serious; I saw no smiley-faces. Lest we
divert bandwidth from the "C needs a power operator" discussion,
let me hastily concede that yes, 0 is a unique integer. Next week's topic:
is 17 a unique integer?
Jim Shankland
..!ihnp4!cpsc6a!\
sun!rtech!jas
..!ucbvax!mtxinu!/gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (01/20/88)
In article <1595@rtech.UUCP> jas@rtech.UUCP (Jim Shankland) writes: >is 17 a unique integer? What I want to know is, is it a random integer?
boemker@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Tim Boemker) (01/20/88)
> In article <21531@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> leichter@yale-celray.UUCP (Jerry Leichter) writes: >>On the other hand, the NAMES and their respective meanings would make sense >>on any operating system. > No! Many operating systems cannot return such a variety of termination > statuses. And it would do little good to have several of them mapped > into the same value. Plus, there are zillions of possible reasons for > program failure, and any pre-established list cannot cover enough of them. > I think we're doing quite well to get just the two, generic failure and > generic success, standardized. I think that Jerry meant that a header file would map an individual program's symbolic exit returns to values that make sense on the host machine. He is not suggesting that the names used be standardized. Tim Boemker
nather@ut-sally.UUCP (Ed Nather) (01/21/88)
In article <7141@brl-smoke.ARPA>, gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) writes: > In article <1595@rtech.UUCP> jas@rtech.UUCP (Jim Shankland) writes: > >is 17 a unique integer? > > What I want to know is, is it a random integer? All numbers are unique. If they weren't they'd be the same number. Yes, 17 is also random. I looked in a table of random numbers, and lo! it was there. -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU