1/14    Why is NULL defined to be "0" in C++ instead of "((void *) 0)" like in
        C?  I have some overloaded functtions where one takes an integer
        parameter and the other a pointer parameter.  When I call it with
        "NULL", the compiler matches it with the integer version instead of
        the pointer version which is a problem.  Other funny effect is that
        sizeof(NULL) is different from sizeof(myPtr).  Thanks.
	...

4/04    Is there a good way to diff 2 files that consist of columns of
        floating point numbers, such that it only tells me if there's a
        difference if the numbers on a given line differ by at least a given
        ratio?  Say, 1%?
        \_ Use Excel.
           1. Open foo.txt in Excel.  It should convert all numbers to cells in
	...

4/29    Why were C and Java designed to require "break;" statements for a
        "case" section to terminate rather than falling-through to the next
        section?  99% of the time poeple want a "case" section to terminate.
        In fact some compilers issue warning if there is no "break;" statement
        in a "case" section.  Why not just design the languages to have
        termination as the default behavior, and provide a "fallthru;"
	...

7/19    In C or C++, how do I write the code of a function with variable
        number of parameters in order to pass the variable parameters to
        another function that also has variable number of parameters?  Thanks.
        \_ The usual way (works on gcc 3.0+, Visual Studio 2005+):
               #define foo(fmt, ...) printf(fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
           The cool new way (works on gcc 4.3+):
	...

3/7     I have a C question.  I have the following source code in two identical
        files t.c and t.cpp:
                #include <stdlib.h>
                int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                  const char * const * p1;
                  const char * * p2;
	...

2/4     random C programming/linker fu question.  If I have
        int main() { printf("%s is at this adddr %p\n", "strlen", strlen); }
        and soda's /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space is 2 (eg; on)
        why is strlen (or any other libc fn) at the same address every time?
        \_ I don't pretend to actually know the right answer to this, but
           could it have something to do with shared libraries?
	...

2/12    I need a way to make a really big C++ executable (~200MBs) that does
        nothing.  No static initialization either.  Any ideas?
        \_ static link in lots of libraries?
        \_ #define a   i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0; i=0;
           #define b   a a a a a a a a a a
           #define c   b b b b b b b b b b
	...

9/28    http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
        Java is #1!!! Followed by C, PHP, C++, Visual Basic, Perl,
        C#, Python, Javascript, then finally Ruby. The good news is
        Pascal is going waaaay back up!
        \_ C is still more popular than C++?  I feel much better about myself
           now.
	...

8/6     In C one can do "typedef int my_index_t;".  What's the equivalent in
        C#?  Thanks.
        \_ C#? Are you serious? Is this what the class of 2009 learn?
           \_ No.  I have to learn .NET code at work.  I am Class of '93.
           \_ python is what 2009 learns, see the motd thread about recent
              cal courses and languages
	...

7/20    For those who care btw, it looks like eclipse is now A Standard Tool
        at UCB ugrad cs, probably replaced emacs.  Furthermore, people get
        angry at seeing Makefiles, (since eclispe takes care of that).  I
        guess it's just a sign of the times.
        \_ The more people at my work use eclipse the less the code is
           managable in emacs.  I'm not sure which application's fault
	...

9/4     It looks like there are some issues with wallall at the moment. Any
        plans for it getting fixed? I can run wall, but wallall just gives an
        error.
        \_ Asking questions on the motd will not get any attention from
           any undergrad. You should email politburo or perhaps csua. -ausman
        \_ Asking questions on the motd will not get attention from any
	...

2/6     Um, what happened to http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~myname ?
        "The requested URL /~myname/ was not found on this server."
        \_ Try emailing root or politburo. I don't think that the
           undergrads use this machine anymore. -ausman
        \_ Ausman is mostly right. LDAP went down due to an expired cert and
           took down most of the rest of our stuff. It's probably a thing with
	...

2/19    What's proper etiquette for posting jobs nowadays?  Is there
        still some jobs list?
        \_ http://indeed.com and http://linkedin.com are great.  Particularly the latter.
           \_ Sorry, I meant for posting jobs for CSUA members. (My
              company's looking for interns.)
        \_ Very few if any undergrads use soda anymore. You need to talk to
	...

11/12   Welcome to the new politburo!
        -----------------------------
        President: Michael Steger (steggy), A.K.A. Mikey
        External VP: Edison Park (edison)
        Internal VP: Ying-Han Wei (laughinghan)
        External Events: Ian Davis (iandavis)
	...

*/*     Re: motd, soda, undergrads, community, etc: I can count on a few
        fingers the number of times I've logged in to soda in the last year
        or two, and half of them were to recover some old files I stored here
        from my school days.  Why?  Because there's no reason to be here for
        me.  It doesn't matter what the format is: motd, fb, yahoo groups,
        whatever.  What *purpose* is there, or should there be, to the on-
	...

1/15    Are politburo minutes archived? Where are they located?
        \_ /csua/pub/minutes
	...

1/28    can someone ntpdate the clock to the right time?
        \_ installing gdb would be nice too, plz?
           \_ THANK YOU for installing gdb and nwrite
              \_ ZOMG, someone still uses nwrite?! -- Marco
        \_ Posting requests to the motd is pointless, as the politburo
           does not read it. Email root@soda. -ausman
	...

**/**   Do not mail individual members of root for assistance.  You will be
        ignored!  Your root staff are: steven, edilaic, mconst, jvarga,
        mikeh, mrauser, kimbrel, toulouse, vaheder
        Your Politburo are: kimbrel (P), steven (VP), toulouse (S),
        yns88 (T), vidya (L), steven (E), bordicon (A)
        Your new Politburo are: toulouse (P), steven (VP), eyung (T),
	...

5/6     A bit tardy, but please welcome our new politburo! Nathan Fair is very
        diplomatic, and sharp to boot. He'll be an excellent interface for the
        CSUA to the outside world. Mikey is reprising his role as VP. Samantha
        Dove is our new Treasurer, and we hope that her penny-pinching will
        serve us well. Angie is moving from Treasurer to Secretary, where she
        plans to walk all over the hosers who mess up the office, rather than
	...

2/18    What happened to wall?
        \_ Died a natural death?
        \_ phase 1: soda got hacked, politburo disabled EVERYONE's account,
           most people didn't bother going through the procedure to get turned
           back on.
           phase 2:  vp didnt figure out how to keep soda successfully mounting
	...

12/26   Mail is being retired, but will mail still be forwarded if we have
        a .forward? Also, _why_ is mail being retired?
        \_ one more yreason i only hire stanford grads from now on
           \_ Like you have any real hiring decision power.
        \_ don't recall seeing a discussion on this.  it would be nice if mail
           service remains.
	...

12/2    From politburo minutes:
        "Rohan is going to investigate MOTD and why it's so hard to use"
        Hey Rohan, what's the deal?
        \_ vi is hard
        \_ use BEEP!
	...