Jeff Abrahamson on 22 Oct 2006 14:21:16 -0000


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Re: [PLUG] Some MOTD show someone had WAAAY too much time


On Sat, Oct 21, 2006 at 09:22:25PM -0400, Walt Mankowski wrote:
> but you're doing too much work.  You should really be using
> fortune's -m parameter:

I don't think I'd ever read the man page for fortune.  Its complexity
is delightful.  It's just enough, not too much, but it requires
significant thought to realize that this measure is needed.

This would be a nice exam question for a computer science algorithms
exam (since our students, at least, don't seem to know much about
linux/unix): explain the fortune program's function as understood by
the naive; then ask for the additional options and functionality it
should support.  Hmm, if I weren't teaching an online course, that
would surely go on my final this term...

-- 
 Jeff

 Jeff Abrahamson  <http://jeff.purple.com/>          +1 215/837-2287
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