Programming in C: Few Tidbits #2

(1) ceil() returns an incorrect value?

ceil() rounds the argument upward to the nearest integer value in floating-point format. For example, calling ceil() with an argument (2/3) should return 1.

printf("\nceil(2/3) = %f", ceil(2/3));

results in:

ceil(2/3) = 0.000000

.. which is not the expected result.

However:

printf("\nceil((float)2/3) = %f", ceil((float)2/3));

shows the expected result.

ceil((float)2/3) = 1.000000

The reason for the incorrect result in the first attempt can be attributed to the integer division. Since both operands in the division operation are integers, it resulted in an integer division which discarded the fractional part.

Desired result can be achieved by casting one of the operands to float or double as shown in the subsequent attempt.

One final example for the sake of completeness.

printf("\nceil(2/(float)3) = %f", ceil(2/(float)3));
..
ceil(2/(float)3) = 1.000000

(2) Main difference between abort() and exit() calls

On a very high level: abort() sends SIGABRT signal causing abnormal termination of the target process without calling functions registered with atexit() handler, and results in a core dump. Some cleanup activity may happen.

exit() causes normal process termination after executing functions registered with the atexit() handler, and after performing cleanup activity such as flushing and closing all open streams.

If it is desirable to bypass atexit() registered routine(s) during a process termination, one way is to call _exit() rather than exit().

Of course, this is all high level and the information provided here is incomplete. Please check relevant man pages for detailed information.

(3) Current timestamp

The following sample code shows the current timestamp in two different formats. Check relevant man pages for more information.

#include <time.h>
..
char timestamp[80];
time_t now;
struct tm *curtime;

now = time(NULL);
curtime = localtime(&now);

strftime(timestamp, sizeof(timestamp), "%m-%d-%Y %X", curtime);

printf("\ncurrent time: %s", timestamp);
printf("\ncurrent time in a different format: %s", asctime(curtime));
..

Executing this code shows output

current time: 07-31-2014 22:05:42
current time in a different format: Thu Jul 31 22:05:42 2014