CSC 254/454 Written assignment 1

Rewrite the 10-line program, Meaning of Life,  such that the new program computes the "meaning of life" with no data overwrite.  You can use C, C++, or Java.  I recommend you to change the constant N to be a smaller number as an intermediate step, then use the large N and see what happens (whether it reports the same meaning).  If you use Java, compile your program with no compiler optimization first.

Write a brief report in no more than two pages.  It should have two sections.  The first describes your new program (source code is fine) and the result you observed.  Based on the observation, the second section discusses what you see are the basic problems in language design  and what is the role of language implementation.   I do not want you to explain why the two programs behave differently.   You will understand the underlying cause later in this class.  For this assignment, I want you to think about and articulate what you see are the basic issues in language design as evidenced by this experiment.

Send an electronic copy of your report to cs254@cs.rochester.edu.  Please format your report in plain text, postscript, or pdf.   Do not submit your program.

The report is due midnight (11:59pm) next Monday, September 10.  Reports received after that time will not be accepted.