Re: Computers

Robert, Not all of your message came in to AOL. I know this because there are "headers" at the bottom of each message. Here is what I did get. I can pull up messages that I have sent on AOL. If you have a copy of the rest of the message please send it to me. If you don't, too bad. If there was something important that you said, please tell me again. I love you, Wanda
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RBAINBRIDG Wanda, LOANS: The reason that the last message sounded so desperate is for this very reason. I'm hoping to avoid taking out any loans for our wedding and honeymoon. However, if I'm to rent tuxedos for everyone, fund a wedding-breakfast, buy assorted gifts, pay for incoming relatives (I think I can weasle out of this one *grin*), etc., then a loan will be necessary. That is why I think we need to be realistic about what we REALLY want. USHERS: Personally, I'd prefer them in dark suits. A "casual" reception lends itself better to this, rather than dressy tuxedos. I'll probably only have two or three ushers anyways - Eric, Jenn, and Kent. Perhaps my brothers as well. Dark suits won't look as good in the pictures as tuxedos would, but I don't know that the ward building would look as good as a reception hall. Do you see what I'm saying? We're poor. As long as we both understand that, we should do fine. Let's be careful not to spend our money on that which has no worth, nor our labors on that which cannot satisfy. There is an elegant beauty in simplicity. If we want a party/dance-style reception then let's start with that basic theme and go with it. (Can you tell that I'm getting stressed about this all of a sudden? Sorry, I don't mean to... it's just been happening every now and then as of late.) WORK: I think we'll be able to work it out so that I work outside the home and you work inside the home with our children. I admire that part of you - that desire to raise our children. Naturally, we will have to sacrifice some worldly things to attain this goal - but provided we are both willing to do so, it will all work out just fine. Heavenly Father will always support us in our righteous goals. COMPUTERS: I suspected that you had learned most of it (did you really know MHZ?) - but I had too many classmates in CIS that STILL didn't know what some of these things were! *yikes!* I usually operate under the assumption that too much information is frequently better than too little. CLASSES: I think you do well in this (and other) subjects because you are interested in it. When you aren't interested (like History and Life Science) then I think you just don't dedicate yourself as much to the study of those subjects. I am exactly the same way. I did find, however, that in subjects that did not interest me I could do well by FOOLING myself into believing that I liked it. Ie; COBOL, Accounting, Personal Growth, Literature of the Bible, Finance, etc. The list goes on and on. It's easy for me to hate accounting NOW, since I'm through taking the class, but at the time I had to LOVE it. *ugh* I'm sorry if I led you to believe that I didn't think you did well in your computer science courses. I know that you have an aptitude for it - which is why I think you'll do well in C-Programming. I know that you do well in school when you are interested in the subject matter - the trick is to fool yourself into thinking that you like every subject. Windows -v- DOS: this fall I will spend time in teaching you more about Windows. Once you make the transition, you will NEVER go back. DOS is nice because it is familiar. Windows is PAINFULLY easy once you get the hang of it. You seem to be VERY good at learning new things, so Windows will be a breeze for you. Just trust me when I say that Windows is better and easier. Yes, it's a little slower... UNTIL you try to do REAL work - then it's blindingly fast compared to DOS! DOS: I don't know of anything that you can do in DOS that you cannot do in Windows. Please elucidate. Windows: pseudo-multitasking (true-multitasking with Chicago when it is released next year) - running multiple applications simultaneously; cutting, copying & pasting between applications; dynamic linking (I have to work on this in the fall for Mary when I get a moment) - which is where a change made to a cell in a spreadsheet (or field in a database) is immediately updated in a letter, memo, spreadsheet, or database. There are more things - but I'll have to demonstrate them to you sometime. Windows & Communications: when you download in DOS your computer is hung until the download is completed. I can download/upload files in Windows while working in Word Perfect or playing Solitaire! I can run two word-processors simultaneously. I can run a database, spreadsheet, word processor, and several other applications all at the same time. Windows & Memory: DOS is limited to 640K of RAM (which is reduced further when you start loading software drivers for hardware devices, or TSRs [Terminate and Stay Resident programs]). Windows can use ALL the RAM on your system (8MB on our computer) PLUS a swap-drive on your hard-drive. A swap-drive is a section of your hard drive (about 16MB on our computer) where Windows swaps active applications in-and-out in order to free up RAM memory - that's how you keep multiple applications running at the same time. Windows & ease-of-use: DOS has cryptic commands consistent with other command-line interfaces. Windows has point-and-click icons that makes it easy to bring up an application. Windows is built around the concept of getting as much work done as possible in the shortest amount of time. If you'd like, we can have a contest sometime and see who can develop the best-looking word-processing document in the shortest amount of time. I guarantee I'd win. Not because I'm better - but because Windows is better. Windows & Users: Windows shields the user from knowing what the computer is doing. DOS makes you know more about computers than you need to know. It's daunting to first-time users. People MUCH prefer Windows because it's easy to use and doesn't frighten them like DOS does. Anyway, these are the main points. I guarantee I can win you over to Windows this fall - once you see what you can do you'll never go back (except for occasional disk-maintenance). I like DOS, don't get me wrong, but Windows is just easier to use. Programming: you only did "easy" programs? That's what ALL programs are! *grin* Really, they are all easy - it just takes more time to make the bigger ones. If you program correctly then it stays easy... if you get "clever" then your programs can get complicated, hard-to-read, and bug-ridden. Don't be "clever." Have you ever heard of "spaghetti-coding?" I did that on a sort-routine I once wrote. Over a hundred lines of code and VERY difficult to read. My friend then showed me another sort routine (we were working in BASIC) that was one-line long. *ouch!* I learned my lesson. Additionally, after trying to figure out the programs of others, I finally began to appreciate well-documented code. I LOVE YOU! Semicolons: get used to them. C uses them as well. Every line ends in a semicolon. Here is the most basic C-program: #include main() { printf("Hello Wanda!"); } Explanation: #include - includes other programs, functions, subroutines, etc., used by your program. contains the "printf" function that prints out to the screen (or standard output) whatever you send up to it. Variables that you send to functions are put in parentheses (). main() - the main program. Each function that you write in your program will have a different title, but they will all have parentheses () (for passing values to your function), and brackets {} which denote the begin and end of the function. () - main doesn't have any arguments that get sent to it. However, there are two arguments that get sent to it by default. If you REALLY wanted to be correct, you'd write main() like this: main(int argc, char argv[]) I could be slightly off on the syntax - but that looks correct. This means that main gets two arguments sent to it - an integer (int) and an array of characters (argv[]). Don't worry if this doesnt' make any sense right now - your teacher will do a better job of explaining it. Here is a properly written program: #include /* This is a test program - it doesn't really do anything it is just being used to teach Wanda how to write a basic C-program */ main( int argc, char argv[] ) { printf("Hello Wanda!"); } The /* begins a comment, and the */ ends it. comments are used to tell future programmers (who are maintaining your program) what it is doing. It's rather frivolous for shorter programs, but larger ones get complicated quickly unless you make notes as to what each part does. Anyway, it's really quite simple. If you were to run the above program, it would work. It would print "Hello Wanda!" on the screen. Once it works, then you start adding to it - bit by bit - until it becomes a very large and very "complicated" program. Each function should be very simple... but taken altogether it will naturally be very complicated. It's best to program a little, test it (so you can see results and be proud of what you've accomplished so far) and then program some more. This way you don't get bored, and you can catch minor bugs early. I think I've rambled again. *innocent smile* CLEVER -v- GOOD PROGRAMMING: GOOD: /* This function will print out the numbers from 10 down to 0 on the screen - (a countdown from 10 to 0). "count" is an integer variable used to hold the value of the number. */ countdown() { int count; /* count is set to 10, for loop continues until count equals 0. */ for ( count = 10, count = 0, count = count - 1 ) { printf("%d\n", count); }; } CLEVER: cd() { int a=10; for(; a=0; printf("%d\n", a--); } This is a simple example. Both programs do the same thing, however, the first is easier to read (because I commented [documented] it, and used lots of "white-space" (spaces and blank lines - which make the program easier to read). Additionally, the variable "count" gives you some idea of what it is used for. In the "clever" example, it's hard to figure out what the function is doing and what the variables mean. The title of the function, "cd", doesn't explain much about the purpose of the function, and "a" doesn't really tell you what the variable is used for. The program looks FAR more cryptic than it needs to. BOTH versions do the same thing and BOTH look the same after they are compiled (converted to machine-language that the computer can understand). BOY! If nerd-talk is "sexy" then I must have you hotter than a rooster in a henhouse by now! *laugh* I LOVE YOU! I hope this helps a little. I hope it doesn't bore you too much - I LOVE talking about this stuff. If your dad has a "C" compiler on his machine then you could start programming right now. If not, then you'll just have to wait until we set up our machine in a few weeks. I'd send you the disks for the c-compiler, but it takes up about 25-40MB of disk space to run. I REALLY don't think your dad has that much free room on his hard drive! *smile* Well, that's all the stuff for now. I keep getting mail! I'll NEVER catch up! *smile* Actually, I LOVE the mail from YOU, it's all the OTHER mail I keep getting! Love Always & Forever, - Robert =)