CsvSplit
July 30, 2019
There was a question the other day on Reddit or Stack Overflow or someplace about handling CSV files with awk. We’ve done that in a previous exercise, but today I decided to handle CSV files in a different way. Specifically, I wrote an awk function csvsplit that works the same way as awk’s built-in split function except that it handles CSV strings instead of splitting on a regular expression:
n = csvsplit(str,arr)
Csvsplit takes a string and an array, deletes any current contents of the array, splits the string into fields using the normal CSV rules, stores the fields in arr[1] .. arr[n], and returns n. The splitting rules are: every comma splits a field, except that double-quotes around a field protect commas inside the field, and double-quotes may appear in a quoted field by doubling them (two successive double-quotes).
Your task is to write a csvsplit function for awk. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Twin Primes
July 26, 2019
According to number theory:
m is the base of a twin-prime pair (m, m+2) if and only if 4((m−1)! + 1) == –m (mod m (m+2)).
Your task is to write a program that implements the criterion given above, then calculate the twin primes less than a thousand. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Homework
July 23, 2019
Today’s exercise comes from somebody’s homework assignment:
Write a program that fills a 50-element array with random numbers from 1 to 10. Print the array. Calculate and print the sum of the random numbers in the array. Calculate and print the number of times that a particular number appears in the array.
Your task is to complete the homework problem described above. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Interactive Diff
July 12, 2019
[ There will be no exercises next week, as my daughter is visiting from out-of-town and I will be spending time with her. ]
One of my favorite books is The Unix Programming Environment by Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, which I have recently been re-reading; the spine of my copy broke long ago, so I must be careful turning the pages, and I wrap the book in a rubber band every time I put it back on my shelf. It is an excellent introduction to Unix, still relevant today even though it was published in 1984. The recent exercise Remind was inspired by a program in Section 4.4, and today’s exercise is a rewrite of the program in Section 6.8.
NAME
idiff -- interactive diff
USAGE
idiff file1 file2 -- interactively merge file differences
DESCRIPTION
idiff takes two files file1 and file2, diffs them, and presents
the difference to the user interactively. At each difference,
the user may accept the text from file1 by responding <, or accept the text from file2 by responding >, or edit the difference
by responding e (in which case whatever the user saves from the
editor is entered into the output file), or execute a command
by typing !cmd, in which case the user must then respond when
the prompt is repeated. The assembled output with the selected
differences is placed in file idiff.out.
EXAMPLE
$ cat file1
This is
a test
of
your
skill
and comprehension.
$ cat file2
This is
not a test
of
our
ability.
$ diff file1 file2
2c2
< a test --- > not a test
4,6d4,5
< your
< skill
< and comprehension. --- > our
> ability.
$ idiff file1 file2
2c2
< a test --- > not a test
? >
4,6c4,5
< your
< skill
< and comprehension. --- > our
> ability.
? <
$ cat idiff.out
This is
not a test
of
your
skill
and comprehension.
[ WordPress is determined not to render less-than and greater-than signs properly. Look at https://ideone.com/nI9CNB if you can’t make sense of what you see. ]
Your task is to write idiff. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Doubled Letters
July 9, 2019
We have a fun little exercise on a lazy summer Tuesday:
Given a list of words, remove from the list those words that have two adjacent identical letters. For instance, given “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country” the program should remove the words “all” and “good”.
Your task is to write a program to remove words with doubled letters from a list of words. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Remind
July 2, 2019
NAME
remind -- print reminders of upcoming events
USAGE
remind -- show reminders for next seven days
remind [year] month day message -- add reminder to database
DESCRIPTION
Remind maintains a database of reminders in the .reminders file,
in the user's home directory, each a single line of the form
[year] month day message
Year is optional, and must be an integer greater than 99; if no
year is given, the reminder applies to all years (for instance,
birthdays).
If remind is called with no arguments, it writes to standard
output all reminders that occur within the next seven days. If
remind is called with arguments giving a date and message, a
reminder is added to the database. Any time remind is called,
all past reminders are deleted from the database.
EXAMPLE
$ date
Sun Jun 30 19:45:38 CDT 2019
$ remind 4 2 Anne birthday
$ remind 10 13 Kate birthday
$ remind 7 4 Independence Day
$ remind 2019 7 2 lunch with Pat
$ remind 2019 5 13 dentist 2:00pm
$ remind
7 4 Independence Day
2019 7 2 lunch with Pat
$ cat ./reminders
4 2 Anne birthday
10 13 Kate birthday
7 4 Independence Day
2019 7 2 lunch with Pat
Your task is to implement remind. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.
Programming Praxis 