Visual recursion

[rrice899]

Hi,
I want to look at how recursion works. So I modified another recursion file with some code to print a dash ('-') starting from an empty char pointer "*s". Then concatenating the dash to 's'. But I can't get it to print or even run. There is one error:
line 11 error: expected ')' before string constant.
This is my first post and I'm just learning c(teaching myself). I apologize for any transgressions. I appreciate any comments. Below is the program:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
char *str = "";
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
{
char *strcat(str, "-");
}
if(n > 0){
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n", n, frompeg, topeg);
indent = indent +1;
printf("%c\n", *str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
indent = indent + 1;
}
}
}
int main(){
int n = 2;
printf("The tower of Hanoi involves the moves: \n\n");
towers(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
return 0;
}

 

[James Kuyper]

Hi,
I want to look at how recursion works. So I modified another recursion file with some code to print a dash ('-') starting from an empty char pointer "*s". Then concatenating the dash to 's'. But I can't get it to print or even run. There is one error:
line 11 error: expected ')' before string constant.
This is my first post and I'm just learning c(teaching myself). I apologize for any transgressions. I appreciate any comments. Below is the program:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
char *str = "";

This code causes the creation of an array of char of length 1,
containing '\0'. It also sets str to point at the first (and only)
element of that array. Your program has undefined behavior if it makes
any attempt to write to that array.

{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
{
char *strcat(str, "-");

This is the line that the compiler was complaining about. It's just
plain wrong, but it's so wrong that I'm having a hard time deciding how
to to describe what's wrong with it. Your compiler had trouble too - the
error message it produced doesn't make things any clearer.

The 'char *' portion only makes sense if you are writing a declaration.
You don't need to declare strcat(), because it is declared in
<string.h>. You've already #included <string.h>, so you shouldn't
re-declare it.
On the other hand, the (str, "-") part looks like you're trying to call
strcat(), rather than declare it.

It's possible to declare something on the same line that calls a
function, but that isn't the way to do so. My best guess is that you
intended to write something like this:

char *q = strcat(str, "-");

However, there's no need to save the value returned by a function in a
variable, unless you intend to do something with that value. It's
perfectly acceptable to write

strcat(str, "-");

except for the following issue: the first time it's called, strcat()
will attempt to write '-' in the place pointed at by str. Such a write
has undefined behavior, because str points at the array allocated to
store a string literal. Even if that array were writable, you'd still
have problems, because the second thing that strcat() will try to do is
write a '\0' in the position one past the end of that array, which also
has undefined behavior.

What you need to do in cases like this is to allocate an actual buffer
that is guaranteed to be long enough (and determining how long it needs
to be can be a problem in cases like this):

#define LONG_ENOUGH 256
char str[LONG_ENOUGH] = "";

This line creates a writable array named str, of length LONG_ENOUGH, and
initialized it with all zeros. The first zero is copied from the string
literal. Because one element of the array was initialized explicitly,
all of the other elements of the array are initialized to the default
value, which happens to be zero, too.

 

[James Kuyper]

Smells like homework.

Almost certainly - but the usual rule (you're free to follow a different
one), is that we won't do homework for people, but that we will help
them if they make a serious attempt to do it themselves. This one looks
fairly serious to me.

....

And this problem has nothing to do with recursion.

The function towers() is defined on lines 4-22. That definition includes
two calls to towers(), on lines 14 and 18. It looks pretty recursive to
me. The problem he's having does not, itself, involve recursion, but
it's occurring in a recursive routine, and it's occurring because he
inserted code intended to produce output that might help him gain an
understanding of how the recursion works.

 

[osmium]

:

This is the line that the compiler was complaining about. It's just
plain wrong, but it's so wrong that I'm having a hard time deciding how
to to describe what's wrong with it. Your compiler had trouble too - the
error message it produced doesn't make things any clearer.

I had the same problem. With the total lack of indentation (as it was
presented to me) I couldn't even tell the intent.

 

[Ike Naar]

I want to look at how recursion works. So I modified another recursion
file with some code to print a dash ('-') starting from an empty char
pointer "*s". Then concatenating the dash to 's'. But I can't get it
to print or even run. There is one error:
line 11 error: expected ')' before string constant.
This is my first post and I'm just learning c(teaching myself).
I apologize for any transgressions. I appreciate any comments.
Below is the program:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
char *str = "";
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
{
char *strcat(str, "-");
}
if(n > 0){
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n", n, frompeg, topeg);
indent = indent +1;
printf("%c\n", *str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
indent = indent + 1;
}
}
}

Apart from the problems that have been mentioned elsethread, have
a look at the variable 'indent': it is a local variable inside the
function 'towers', where it is initialized to 10.
It doesn't matter how deep the level of recursion is, in every call
to 'towers' this local variable 'indent' will have the value 10
where it is used.

Try to do things one by one; for instance, start by printing 'indent'
as a number along with the "Move disk" message, and leave the string
handling for later, when you have made sure that 'indent' has the
desired value.

Please fix the indentation of the program text itself.
If the program text is hard to read, it will be more difficult
to get things right.
that

 

[Kenny McCormack]

Please fix the indentation of the program text itself.
If the program text is hard to read, it will be more difficult
to get things right.
that

My guess is that the indentation *is* probably OK in his native environment
(IDE or maybe just vi or some other editor), but that it got whacked out
when he posted - probably using some whacky interface like "Google Groups"
or something else whacky.

--
"The anti-regulation business ethos is based on the charmingly naive notion
that people will not do unspeakable things for money." - Dana Carpender

Quoted by Paul Ciszek (pciszek at panix dot com). But what I want to know
is why is this diet/low-carb food author doing making pithy political/economic
statements?

Nevertheless, the above quote is dead-on, because, the thing is - business
in one breath tells us they don't need to be regulated (which is to say:
that they can morally self-regulate), then in the next breath tells us that
corporations are amoral entities which have no obligations to anyone except
their officers and shareholders, then in the next breath they tell us they
don't need to be regulated (that they can morally self-regulate) ...

 

[James Kuyper]

On Tue, 09 Jul 2013 14:20:39 -0400, James Kuyper



But by that standard the recursion would still be the issue had he
inserted "srtcat(3.14, 2.78);" for some diagnostic purpose as line 11.

Recursion is the context of this issue; it isn't the issue itself. No
one has suggested otherwise.

 

[osmium]

Sure, and I thought I offered him a decent hint - namely that the
(compilation) problem had nothing to do with recursion, and that the
problem is entirely centered in line 11 (where he's - almost, except
for the second parameter - declaring a function pointer, which is
almost certainly not what he wants to be doing).




But by that standard the recursion would still be the issue had he
inserted "srtcat(3.14, 2.78);" for some diagnostic purpose as line 11.

Helping him with his recursion problem (assuming he has one at all -
from his post I'd say *the *only* issue he's having is with his
diagnostic code, which he inserted into an otherwise working program),
before he gets his code compiled seems like it would fail the "wait
for a serious attempt" rule, no?

Telling someone who is leaning C that his problem is not with recursion,
sounds about as useful as telling someone who has never looked under the
hood of a car that his problem is most assuredly not with the Johnson bar.

 

[Keith Thompson]

I want to look at how recursion works. So I modified another recursion
file with some code to print a dash ('-') starting from an empty char
pointer "*s". Then concatenating the dash to 's'. But I can't get it
to print or even run. There is one error:
line 11 error: expected ')' before string constant.
This is my first post and I'm just learning c(teaching myself). I
apologize for any transgressions. I appreciate any comments. Below is
the program:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
char *str = "";
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
{
char *strcat(str, "-");
}
if(n > 0){
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n", n, frompeg, topeg);
indent = indent +1;
printf("%c\n", *str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
indent = indent + 1;
}
}
}
int main(){
int n = 2;
printf("The tower of Hanoi involves the moves: \n\n");
towers(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
return 0;
}

Formatting is important.

For English text in articles you post here, it's best to keep your lines
shorter than 80 columns; 72 is better. Usenet is not the web; not all
newsreaders wrap very long lines for readability. (Mine, for example,
wraps long lines, but not at word boundaries.)

For C code, proper indentation is very important if you expect anyone to
read it. See if your system has a code formatting program like
"indent", or if your editor will automatically format code for you.

Here's your program (with the errors left in place) with proper
indentation (not every agrees on just how C code should be indented, but
there's near universal agreement that it should be indended
consistently):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

void towers(int, char, char, char);

void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg) {
int indent = 10;
int i;
char *str = "";
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++) {
char *strcat(str, "-");
}
if(n > 0) {
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n",
n, frompeg, topeg);
indent = indent +1;
printf("%c\n", *str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
indent = indent + 1;
}
}
}

int main() {
int n = 2;
printf("The tower of Hanoi involves the moves: \n\n");
towers(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
return 0;
}

One thing that this reveals is that one of the sets of curly braces in
your towers() function (the `{` following `char *str = "";`, and the
corresponding `}`) are (harmless but) unnecessary.

 

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

Sure, and I thought I offered him a decent hint - namely that the
(compilation) problem had nothing to do with recursion, and that the
problem is entirely centered in line 11 (where he's - almost, except
for the second parameter - declaring a function pointer, which is
almost certainly not what he wants to be doing).

For someone new to C, but experienced in other languages, that
isn't much of a hint. Note, for example, that in Java you can
easily concatenate strings without worrying about the size of
anything. (Other than available memory.) It is pretty usual in
Java to initialize a String with "", then concatenate to it
inside a loop.

I suppose the OP should read the man page for strcat() more
carefully.

-- glen

 

[rrice899]

Hi,

I want to look at how recursion works. So I modified another recursion file with some code to print a dash ('-') starting from an empty char pointer "*s". Then concatenating the dash to 's'. But I can't get it to print or even run. There is one error:

line 11 error: expected ')' before string constant.

This is my first post and I'm just learning c(teaching myself). I apologize for any transgressions. I appreciate any comments. Below is the program:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

void towers(int, char, char, char);

void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){

int indent = 10;

int i;

char *str = "";

This code causes the creation of an array of char of length 1,

containing '\0'. It also sets str to point at the first (and only)

element of that array. Your program has undefined behavior if it makes

any attempt to write to that array.

{

for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)

char *strcat(str, "-");

This is the line that the compiler was complaining about. It's just

plain wrong, but it's so wrong that I'm having a hard time deciding how

to to describe what's wrong with it. Your compiler had trouble too - the

error message it produced doesn't make things any clearer.



The 'char *' portion only makes sense if you are writing a declaration.

You don't need to declare strcat(), because it is declared in

<string.h>. You've already #included <string.h>, so you shouldn't

re-declare it.

On the other hand, the (str, "-") part looks like you're trying to call

strcat(), rather than declare it.



It's possible to declare something on the same line that calls a

function, but that isn't the way to do so. My best guess is that you

intended to write something like this:



char *q = strcat(str, "-");



However, there's no need to save the value returned by a function in a

variable, unless you intend to do something with that value. It's

perfectly acceptable to write



strcat(str, "-");



except for the following issue: the first time it's called, strcat()

will attempt to write '-' in the place pointed at by str. Such a write

has undefined behavior, because str points at the array allocated to

store a string literal. Even if that array were writable, you'd still

have problems, because the second thing that strcat() will try to do is

write a '\0' in the position one past the end of that array, which also

has undefined behavior.



What you need to do in cases like this is to allocate an actual buffer

that is guaranteed to be long enough (and determining how long it needs

to be can be a problem in cases like this):



#define LONG_ENOUGH 256

char str[LONG_ENOUGH] = "";



This line creates a writable array named str, of length LONG_ENOUGH, and

initialized it with all zeros. The first zero is copied from the string

literal. Because one element of the array was initialized explicitly,

all of the other elements of the array are initialized to the default

value, which happens to be zero, too.

Thank you very much James. Your suggestions helped a great deal. The output now prints dashes of various lengths for each recursion call.
To Keith regarding indenting: I will follow your directions.
I assure everyone this is not homework. I'm learning C from a book and an IDE called Code::Blocks.
My corrected code is below with James' suggestions on line 4 and 11.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define LONG_ENOUGH 256
char str[LONG_ENOUGH]; //James Kuyper
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
strcat(str, "-"); //James Kuyper
if(n > 0){
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n", n, frompeg, topeg);
printf("%s\n", str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
}
}
}
int main(){
int n = 2;
printf("The tower of Hanoi involves the moves: \n\n");
towers(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
return 0;
}
OUTPUT
The tower of Hanoi involves the moves:


Move disk 1 from peg A to peg B

 

[Keith Thompson]

Thank you very much James. Your suggestions helped a great deal. The output now prints dashes of various lengths for each recursion call.
To Keith regarding indenting: I will follow your directions.

My suggest was that you (a) keep your lines of text shorter than 80
columns, and (b) properly indent your C code. You're still doing
neither.

I assure everyone this is not homework. I'm learning C from a book and an IDE called Code::Blocks.
My corrected code is below with James' suggestions on line 4 and 11.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define LONG_ENOUGH 256
char str[LONG_ENOUGH]; //James Kuyper
void towers(int, char, char, char);
void towers(int n, char frompeg, char topeg, char auxpeg){
int indent = 10;
int i;
{
for(i = 0; i < indent; i++)
strcat(str, "-"); //James Kuyper
if(n > 0){
towers(n-1, frompeg, auxpeg, topeg);
printf("\nMove disk %d from peg %c to peg %c\n", n, frompeg, topeg);
printf("%s\n", str);
towers(n-1, auxpeg, topeg, frompeg);
}
}
}
int main(){
int n = 2;
printf("The tower of Hanoi involves the moves: \n\n");
towers(n, 'A', 'C', 'B');
return 0;
}

[...]

Sometimes if you use tab characters to indent your code, they can be
lost when posting to Usenet, depending on how you post. Or is your code
really left-justified like that?