«

Hi to everybody

here is my simple doubt

What is meant by sentinel control loops ?

Sentinel-controlled loops
When an unknown number of data items are to be processed, some way to
recognise the end of the data is needed.

One solution is to define a sentinel value
a unique value that indicates end-of-data
it cannot be a value that could occur as data

Code template:


sentinel : constant := ???;

loop
read (item);
exit when item = sentinel;

process the item;

end loop;


Example: add integers that the user enters, up to but not including -1
for end of data


tot := 0;
loop
PUT("Enter an integer (-1 to exit): ");
GET(j); SKIP_LINE;
exit when (j = -1);
tot := tot + j;
end loop;

-

MistakenIdentity

On 20 Oct 2005 02:28:47 -0700, in comp.lang.c , "shan"
<> wrote:

>Hi to everybody
>
>here is my simple doubt

This isn't a doubt, its a question. For one thing, doubt is a verb...

>What is meant by sentinel control loops ?

loops where some sentinel value controls when you break out, or so I
would think

while(1)
{
int x = getchar();
if (x=='a') break;
}
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>

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Mark McIntyre <> writes:
> On 20 Oct 2005 02:28:47 -0700, in comp.lang.c , "shan"
> <> wrote:
>>Hi to everybody
>>
>>here is my simple doubt
>
> This isn't a doubt, its a question. For one thing, doubt is a verb...

I have my doubts about that.

(Yes, doubt is a verb. It's also a noun. And yes, "question" is more
appropriate in this context.)

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst- <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

Keith Thompson <kst-> writes:

> Mark McIntyre <> writes:
>> On 20 Oct 2005 02:28:47 -0700, in comp.lang.c , "shan"
>> <> wrote:
>>>Hi to everybody
>>>
>>>here is my simple doubt
>>
>> This isn't a doubt, its a question. For one thing, doubt is a verb...
>
> I have my doubts about that.
>
> (Yes, doubt is a verb. It's also a noun. And yes, "question" is more
> appropriate in this context.)

"doubt" is Indian English for "question". I've had discussions
with Indians at Stanford about this before.
--
int main(void){char p[]="ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuv wxyz.\
\n",*q="kl BIcNBFr.NKEzjwCIxNJC";int i=sizeof p/2;char *strchr();int putchar(\
);while(*q){i+=strchr(p,*q++)-p;if(i>=(int)sizeof p)i-=sizeof p-1;putchar(p[i]\
);}return 0;}

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:43:13 GMT, in comp.lang.c , Keith Thompson
<kst-> wrote:

>Mark McIntyre <> writes:
>> On 20 Oct 2005 02:28:47 -0700, in comp.lang.c , "shan"
>> <> wrote:
>>>Hi to everybody
>>>
>>>here is my simple doubt
>>
>> This isn't a doubt, its a question. For one thing, doubt is a verb...
>
>I have my doubts about that.

One could argue that the verb is "to have doubt" ...
>
>(Yes, doubt is a verb. It's also a noun.

True.
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>

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Mark McIntyre <> writes:
> On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:43:13 GMT, in comp.lang.c , Keith Thompson
> <kst-> wrote:
>>Mark McIntyre <> writes:
>>> On 20 Oct 2005 02:28:47 -0700, in comp.lang.c , "shan"
>>> <> wrote:
>>>>Hi to everybody
>>>>
>>>>here is my simple doubt
>>>
>>> This isn't a doubt, its a question. For one thing, doubt is a verb...
>>
>>I have my doubts about that.
>
> One could argue that the verb is "to have doubt" ...
>>
>>(Yes, doubt is a verb. It's also a noun.
>
> True.

Elsewhere in this thread, Ben Pfaff wrote:
] "doubt" is Indian English for "question". I've had discussions
] with Indians at Stanford about this before.
which is certainly consistent with the usage we've seen.

I suggest we accept the usage as a regional variant, just as we accept
both American and British spellings. Once you know the idiom, there's
no real ambiguity.

And it will give us more time to flame ppl 4 stpd abbrvs.

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst- <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.

In article <>,
Keith Thompson <kst-> wrote:
....
>Elsewhere in this thread, Ben Pfaff wrote:
>] "doubt" is Indian English for "question". I've had discussions
>] with Indians at Stanford about this before.
>which is certainly consistent with the usage we've seen.
>
>I suggest we accept the usage as a regional variant, just as we accept
>both American and British spellings. Once you know the idiom, there's
>no real ambiguity.

Note that, as verbs, "question" and "doubt" can be seen as synonyms.
So, maybe that's why some see them that way as nouns.

shan a écrit :
> Hi to everybody
>
> here is my simple doubt
>
> What is meant by sentinel control loops ?
>
A good standard example of sentinel is the trailing 0 of a C-string:

{
char s[] = "Hello world";
char *p = s;

while (*p != 0)
{
putchar (*p);
p++;
}
putchar ('\n');
}

--
C is a sharp tool

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:01:55 GMT, in comp.lang.c , Keith Thompson
<kst-> wrote:

>
>I suggest we accept the usage as a regional variant, just as we accept
>both American and British spellings.

Alternatively, one could take the opportunity to correct what seems
mostly to be a misunderstanding. I work with many folks with
subcontinental origins, and few if any of them make this mistake. If
anything, it seems to be am americanism....

>And it will give us more time to flame ppl 4 stpd abbrvs.

oo r u kdin m8?
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>

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