print "foo" without using ;

Rajesh · Aug 23, 2005

I was informed tht $SUBJECT was asked in M$ interview. Real imp. is no.
of ways to achive it.
mine sol. was....

int main()
{
if(printf("foo"))
{ ; }
else
{ ; }

return(0);
}

(don't do tht stupid #define )

Chris Dollin · Aug 23, 2005

Rajesh said:
I was informed tht $SUBJECT was asked in M$ interview. Real imp. is no.
of ways to achive it.
mine sol. was....

int main()
{
if(printf("foo"))
{ ; }
else
{ ; }

return(0);
}

(don't do tht stupid #define )

I hate to point this out [1], but your solution contains not
zero semicolons, but *three*.

As far as I can tell, any "solution" is at best stylistically
unsatisfactory.

Rajesh · Aug 23, 2005

sorry for tht It was just a too much typo.... used too much to
semicolons

neglect that 'int main()' use 'void main()' and dike out those ';' in
if...else plz.
it works.

once again sorry for tht typo I swear

Clark S. Cox III · Aug 23, 2005

I was informed tht $SUBJECT was asked in M$ interview. Real imp. is no.
of ways to achive it.
mine sol. was....

First, why on earth are you abbreviating so much? I don't even know
what you mean by "imp."
Second, is it really too hard to spell the actual subject out in your message?

int main()
{
if(printf("foo"))
{ ; }
else
{ ; }

return(0);
}

Um, you failed. I count three semicolons.

(don't do tht stupid #define )

What stupid #define?

Try:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
if(puts("foo")) {}
}

or

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
while(puts("foo"),0) {}
}

or

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
switch(puts("foo"))
{
default: {}
}
}

or any of the variations on that theme.

Carlos · Aug 23, 2005

Rajesh said:
sorry for tht It was just a too much typo.... used too much to
semicolons

neglect that 'int main()' use 'void main()' and dike out those ';' in
if...else plz.
it works.

once again sorry for tht typo I swear

I suspect that your garbage English isn't due to typos.

Kenneth Brody · Aug 23, 2005

Rajesh said:
I was informed tht $SUBJECT was asked in M$ interview. Real imp. is no.
of ways to achive it.
mine sol. was....

int main()
{
if(printf("foo"))
{ ; }
else
{ ; }

return(0);
}

(don't do tht stupid #define )

Well, I see three semicolons in your code.

How about:

10 PRINT "foo"
20 END

Or:

<html><body>foo</body></html>

Or:

(defun foo ()
(format t "foo~%"))

Or:

++++++++++[>++++>++++++++++>+++++++<<<-]

>>>++.<+.+++++++..+++.<++++.<+++[>----<-]>.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

>++++++++.--------.+++.------.--------.<<+++[>++++<-]>++.<++++++++++.

Oh, you wanted a solution in C.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
if ( printf("foo\n") )
{
}
}

--
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+
| Kenneth J. Brody | www.hvcomputer.com | |
| kenbrody/at\spamcop.net | www.fptech.com | #include <std_disclaimer.h> |
+-------------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+
Don't e-mail me at: <mailto:[email protected]>

Richard Bos · Aug 23, 2005

Clark S. Cox III said:
First, why on earth are you abbreviating so much?

Because it's K3wLl!1!

Second, is it really too hard to spell the actual subject out in your message?

In fact, I doubt a Microsoft interviewer used (or, for that matter,
understood) non-Microsoft-style shell variables such as $SUBJECT.

Um, you failed.

From the word Go, never mind the semi-colons.

Try:

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
if(puts("foo")) {}
}

or

Or rather, don't try. I wouldn't consider hiring anyone whose first and
preferably only answer was "What on earth for? I prefer to write better
code than that." I wouldn't consider working for a company that asked
such interview questions. I'd rather flip burgers; at least McDonalds is
up front about not requiring more than imbecility from its staff.

Richard

akarl · Aug 23, 2005

Rajesh said:
I was informed tht $SUBJECT was asked in M$ interview. Real imp. is no.
of ways to achive it.
mine sol. was....

int main()
{
if(printf("foo"))
{ ; }
else
{ ; }

return(0);
}

(don't do tht stupid #define )

It's impossible to write any complete program without using semicolon
since the `main' function requires a return statement.

August

Mark · Aug 23, 2005

akarl said:
It's impossible to write any complete program without using semicolon
since the `main' function requires a return statement.

Do you have a copy of the standard (or final draft?)

5.1.2.2.3 - Program termination
.... 9) reaching the } that terminated the main function returns a value of 0

Keith Thompson · Aug 23, 2005

akarl said:
It's impossible to write any complete program without using semicolon
since the `main' function requires a return statement.

No, it doesn't. In C99, falling off the end of main() is equivalent
to executing "return 0;" (which is a misfeature IMHO). Even in C90,
you can use exit() rather than return.

The original question is stupid, but here's a solution anyway:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
if (puts("hello"),exit(0),0){}
}

Walter Roberson · Aug 23, 2005

No, it doesn't. In C99, falling off the end of main() is equivalent
to executing "return 0;" (which is a misfeature IMHO). Even in C90,
you can use exit() rather than return.

The original question is stupid, but here's a solution anyway:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
if (puts("hello"),exit(0),0){}
}

If one supposes C89, then what would be the exit status if the puts()
fails?

Perhaps something like

if (puts("foo") && (exit(0),0) || (exit(0),0) ) {}

or

if ( puts("foo") ? exit(0),0 : exit(0),0 ) {}

Emmanuel Delahaye · Aug 23, 2005

akarl wrote on 23/08/05 :

It's impossible to write any complete program without using semicolon since
the `main' function requires a return statement.

It's possible in C99.

--
Emmanuel
The C-FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/faq.html
The C-library: http://www.dinkumware.com/refxc.html

..sig under repair

Keith Thompson · Aug 23, 2005

If one supposes C89, then what would be the exit status if the puts()
fails?

The exit status is 0 regardless of what puts() returns. The comma
operator imposes a sequence point and a left-to-right evaluation order
on its operands, but it doesn't short-circuit; both operands are
always evaluated.

Walter Roberson · Aug 23, 2005

The exit status is 0 regardless of what puts() returns. The comma
operator imposes a sequence point and a left-to-right evaluation order
on its operands, but it doesn't short-circuit; both operands are
always evaluated.

Ah, right, I should have twigged onto that. Thanks.

akarl · Aug 23, 2005

Mark said:
Do you have a copy of the standard (or final draft?)

5.1.2.2.3 - Program termination
... 9) reaching the } that terminated the main function returns a value of 0

OK, I didn't know that. Seems like quite a few people in this group has
complained when someone has posted a main function lacking a return
statement. Hence my impression of it being mandatory. Without a return
statement we can of course do something like

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
if (puts("foo")) {}
}

August

Martin Ambuhl · Aug 23, 2005

akarl said:
OK, I didn't know that. Seems like quite a few people in this group has
complained when someone has posted a main function lacking a return
statement. Hence my impression of it being mandatory.

C89 requires a return; C99 doesn't. Almost everyone posting has a C89
compiler; almost no one posting here has a C99 compiler. Doesn't it
make sense to require the return? Consider that there was no good
reason for the C99 standardization committee to allow this one exception
to the rule that functions that return values do so explicitly. The
inexcusable reason is that too many bad programmers had been writing
code in violation of the standard for the last 10 years.

Walter Roberson · Aug 23, 2005

OK, I didn't know that. Seems like quite a few people in this group has
complained when someone has posted a main function lacking a return
statement. Hence my impression of it being mandatory.

C89 and C99 differ on this point. C99 -defines- falling out of main
as an exit with 0 status. C89 says that if you do that then the resulting
exit status is undefined. An undefined exit status might not matter
much of the time, but you don't want to get into the bad habit of
leaving it up to chance.

Randy Howard · Aug 23, 2005

Rajesh wrote
(in article

neglect that 'int main()' use 'void main()'

I wish more candidates would try "void main()" right away, it
would shorten those interviews and leave more time for the
better candidates.

Mark · Aug 23, 2005

Randy Howard said:
Rajesh wrote
(in article

I wish more candidates would try "void main()" right away, it
would shorten those interviews and leave more time for the
better candidates.

You assume that the people conducting the interviews
know better? I'd wager that many would view void main()
as being perfectly acceptable.

The problem stems from the fact that many text books
teach people to program using void main(); in their
examples. Unless one is lucky enough to stumble
across one of the better books (or a forum such as
comp.lang.c) which points out the (portability) issue
they'll never know that void main(); is inappropriate.

Mark

Lawrence Kirby · Aug 24, 2005

Rajesh wrote
(in article

I wish more candidates would try "void main()" right away, it
would shorten those interviews and leave more time for the
better candidates.

Don't forget this was a "M$ interview". The normal rules of C don't apply,
which makes this question off topic.

Lawrence

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print "foo" without using ;

Rajesh

Chris Dollin

Rajesh

Clark S. Cox III

Carlos

Kenneth Brody

Richard Bos

akarl

Mark

Keith Thompson

Walter Roberson

Emmanuel Delahaye

Keith Thompson

Walter Roberson

akarl

Martin Ambuhl

Walter Roberson

Randy Howard

Mark

Lawrence Kirby

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