The start of this course is showing us why C is such a powerful language, with regards to the problems we are attempting to solve. At this point, it seems that both languages can be used for our requirements. Although I am sure we will get closer to the machine, and we will see why C is such a versatile language.

So far, we are recreating the cat command on the unix command line. The logic behind doing so is similar to logic we have previously had to employ throughout our CS experience. But for me, instead of just including stdio.h like I usually do, we included other header files, that stdio.h includes and uses, giving us specific functionality instead of blanket including everything. Understanding what tools are required specifically for any problem, and being able to identify them, is a skill I soon hope to excel at.

After making a simple version of the cat command in C, we were challenged to come up with an addition to it that allowed the user to view line numbers given the argument. Through this simple version, we introduced command line arguments to our command. However, I could not seem to get the line numbers to show up properly. I could get the loop to spit out every line number, starting with the second line. It would display that line with the number properly, all the way through the last line.. plus two more lines for some reason. I could not get the first line number to effectively match with the first line of the “cat'd” file. I will have to look into that a bit more.

Next, we started our own implementation of the who command. So far, we have gotten it to print out the current user info, one at a time. It cycles through current user information when the desired key is pressed. I am interested to see where we can take this program. I am also interested in getting our first project so that I can take what we are learning and apply it more.

test2

As an aid, feel free to use the following questions to help you generate content for your entries:

• What action or concept of significance, as related to the course, did you experience on this date?
• Why was this significant?
• What concepts are you dealing with that may not make perfect sense?
• What challenges are you facing with respect to the course?