Puzzled Programmers: 15 Mind-Boggling Story Puzzles to Test Your Programming Prowess : Solutions in Basic, Pascal, and C

276 Pages·1987·24.58 MB·English

by  Michael Wiesenberg

MlCfflfl.
Programmers
15 MIND-BOGGLING STORY
PUZZLES TO TEST YOUR J
\ /l
/
PROGRAMMING PROWESS i
(
SOLUTIONS IN BASIC, PASCAL, AND C

Programmers
15 MIND-BOGGLING STORY
PUZZLES TO TEST YOUR
PROGRAMMING PROWESS
SOLUTIONS IN BASIC, PASCAL, AND C
%
MCHAfy
%%
MPiRcrEosSofSt
PUBLISHEDBY
MicrosoftPress
A DivisionofMicrosoftCorporation
16011 N.E. 36thWay, Box97017, Redmond, Washington98073-9717
Copyright ©1987byMichaelWiesenberg
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthecontentsofthisbookmay
bereproducedortransmittedinany formorbyanymeanswithout
thewrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Wiesenberg,Michael.
Puzzledprogrammer—s.
1. Microcomputers Programming. 2. BASIC(Computerprogramlanguage)
3. PASCAL(Computerprogramlanguage) 4. C(Computerprogramlanguage)
5. Computergames. I. Title.
QA76.6.W535 1987 005.26 87-7823
ISBN 1-55615-031-8
Printedandbound intheUnitedStatesofAmerica
2 345 67 89 MLML 890987
1
Distributedtothebooktrade intheUnitedStatesbyHarper&Row.
Distributedtothebooktrade inCanadabyGeneral PublishingCompany, Ltd.
DistributedtothebooktradeoutsidetheUnitedStatesandCanada
by PenguinBooksLtd.
Penguin BooksLtd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
Penguin BooksAustraliaLtd., Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin BooksN.Z. Ltd., 182-190WairauRoad. Auckland 10, NewZealand
BritishCataloginginPublicationDataavailable
Thestories inthisbookarefiction. Anyresemblance
betweenthecharactersandanyonealiveordeadis
purelycoincidental.
Apple®andApple II®areregisteredtrademarksand
Macintosh™ isatrademarkofAppleComputer. Incorporated.
IBM®isaregisteredtrademarkandPC/XTandPC/ATare
trademarksofInternational BusinessMachinesCorporation.
Microsoft®andGW-BASIC®areregisteredtrademarksof
MicrosoftCorporation.
Tandy®isaregisteredtrademarkofRadioShack,
adivisionofTandyCorporation.
For Susanna
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012
in
http://archive.org/details/puzzledprogrammeOOwies
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
vii
Introduction ix
Stories
A
Puzzle 1 PuzzlingArrival 2
Puzzle 2 The Powers That Be 11
Puzzle 3 One Goes, Five Don't 17
Puzzle 4 Cubie Warming 22
Puzzle 5 A Pleasant Fourthsum 27
Puzzle 6 A Dance in the Sun 33
Puzzle 7 Cool Cubie Squares 39
Puzzle 8 A Product Thicker Than Water 44
Puzzle 9 The Rainbow Slips 49
Puzzle 10 Looking Suspiciously Like Each Other 56
Puzzle 11 Later Than They Think 63
Puzzle 12 How to Reduce: A Celebration 69
Puzzle 13 Betting on aJet, orJetting on a Bet 76
Puzzle 14 Memories Are Made ofThis 81
Puzzle 15 The Product Seen Through Other Eyes 88
Hints
Puzzle 1 94 Puzzle 9 103
Puzzle 2 95 Puzzle 10 104
Puzzle 3 96 Puzzle 11 105
Puzzle 4 98 Puzzle 12 106
Puzzle 5 99 Puzzle 13 107
Puzzle 6 100 Puzzle 14 108
Puzzle 7 101 Puzzle 15 109
Puzzle 8 102
Solutions
Puzzle 1 112 Puzzle 9 168
Puzzle 2 117 Puzzle 10 178
Puzzle 3 125 Puzzle 11 183
Puzzle 4 132 Puzzle 12 196
Puzzle 5 138 Puzzle 13 204
Puzzle 6 144 Puzzle 14 211
Puzzle 7 150 Puzzle 15 228
Puzzle 8 157
Appendix: Converting Programs to Applesoft BASIC 247
VI
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The narrative portions of some chapters in this book are based
partly on installments ofmy "Computer Calisthenics" column that began
in Dr. Dobb'sJournal and continues currently in A + Those episodes have
.
been rewritten and expanded in this book.
One puzzle originally appeared in A + Its solution there was pre-
.
sented in only one language, but in this book it now has programmatic
solutions in three languages, and the explanatory material accompanying
the puzzle is more extensive than what originally appeared in the maga-
zine. The remaining puzzles have notbeen published anywhere with pro-
grammatic solutions, although some may be known to those familiarwith
mathematical conundrums.
I would like to acknowledge the considerable help of Erik Eidt,
Hugh Njemanze, and Bob Stong. I would also like to thank Mike Caro,
Peter Lang, Alan LeGrand, David Merit, and Tom Neudecker.
VII