UMBC CMSC 201, Computer Science I, Fall 1995
Sections 0101, 0102, 0103 and Honors
Project 1 Comments
New Announcement:
Please please please, do not use anything other than the
mail2chang program to turn in your project.
This is very important for the orderly submission of projects
for such a large class. Unlike the other commands which I have
asked you to copy (e.g., cc201, lynx201, etc) which saves
you typing, the mail2chang command saves me
typing. Using the mail2chang command triggers a mail filter
program which automatically sorts your project to the correct directory,
generates a response and starts the "cheat-checker" program.
So, even if you have no trouble using email, it is imperative that
you use mail2chang.
Announcements:
Please put your name somewhere in the beginning of your program
before you submit it. (We can still figure out who you are, but
this helps.)
If you haven't been able to copy the "201" commands to your directory
yet, you are really behind. Read through the
instructions.
If you are still having trouble, get someone to help you. Yes, it
means you have to do this on campus.
If you haven't played with your UNIX account yet, you are
really really behind.
Plan on spending a lot of time in front of the computer this week.
Questions and Comments (and some answers)
In this section, we have some questions and comments from the students.
As usual, names have been withheld to protect the innocent and the
questions have been edited for spelling and grammar.
- Prof. Chang,
-
I copied the mail2chang command to my bin directory
but when I issue the mail2chang command, UNIX says that
the command was not found. I looked in the bin directory
and the mail2chang command is really there.
- Dear Student,
-
As before, if you copy a command to your bin directory, UNIX does not
know it is there until you either log out and log back in, or you
issue the rehash command. So, do one of these and the command should
be available. (See Copying the "201"
commands".)
- Prof. Chang,
-
After sending my project to you I cannot access my files without the
"ready to mail the project " program coming up. I cannot run my
programs. Every time I want to, it asks me if I want to mail the project
to you. How do I get rid of that?
- Dear Frequent Mailer,
-
It seems you have screwed-up your UNIX account in a bizarre way.
I am not sure what you mean by "access" your files. Does it happen
when you issue the "ls" or "vi" commands? Most likely you have over-written
some file with the mail2chang command. Get a knowledgeable
person (me, a TA, a Help Center tutor or a UNIX consultant) to fix it
for you.
- Prof. Chang,
-
I accidentally sent you the wrong file.
Should I send you the right one?
- Dear Student,
-
Yes, just run the mail2chang command again.
The new file will replace the old one.
(Actually, I do keep a copy of every submission. We will grade the
newest submission. So, if you sent something embarassing, you have
to ask me to delete it explicitly.)
- Prof. Chang,
-
I am having trouble compiling my program. I type in the command
cc201 project1
and the response is
Object file format error in: project 1: bad file magic number
What does that mean? I saved my C program as "project1".
- Dear Student,
-
The file name for C source code must end with ".c". So, rename your
file as project1.c by issuing the command:
mv project1 project1.c
Then, you should be able to compile your program.
- Prof. Chang,
-
Would you consider two break statements in one while loop
a bad programing style?
The reason I am asking is because I've looked through all the examples
in the textbook and I haven't found any which includes two breaks.
I only found it true for switch statements.
- Oh Stylish one,
-
Yes, if you want to use two break statements in a while loop, that's fine.
The while loop for Project 1 should be short enough, it would not cause
any confusion. The break statements for
switch statements are quite different. We will cover break
statements very soon.
- Prof. Chang,
-
Looking at this Project 1 craps program, it seems that we would
need some command that generates random numbers. I looked in the book
and tried what they had but I could not get it to work. Could you please
tell me what commands to use to make random numbers in C?
- Dear Student,
-
No, don't use random numbers. Just have the user type in the result
of the dice roll. You can play with random numbers later.
Last Modified:
Wed Sep 20 14:35:53 EDT 1995
Richard Chang, chang@gl.umbc.edu