That's kinda what I thought.  I finally found some references to the
problem in computer-science  texts, namely, "Write a do-loop that prints
the following:"

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

but not

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,

It is easy to write a loop that will print the second sequence, but
slightly trickier to print the first esp. for a beginner.  And oh how many
times have I run into this problem?  I can think of a dozen,  Just didn't
have a name for it before.


-- Lawrence Lile





Andrew Warren <aiw@CYPRESS.COM>
Sent by: pic microcontroller discussion list <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
02/07/2003 08:46 PM
Please respond to pic microcontroller discussion list


        To:     PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
        cc:
        Subject:        Re: changed to [EE]:


llile@saltonusa.com <PICLIST@mitvma.mit.edu> wrote:

> what exactly is the "fence-post problem"?

    It's nothing at all tricky, Lawrence, although some people seem
    unable to acquire an intuitive sense for it.  It's just this:

        You have a fence 100 meters long, with a post every meter.
        How many posts do you have?

    The answer to the above is sometimes contrasted with the answer
    to this:

        You have a fence enclosing an area whose perimeter is 100
        meters, and there's a post every meter.  How many posts do
        you have?

    -Andy

=== Andrew Warren -- aiw@cypress.com
=== Principal Design Engineer
=== Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
===
=== Opinions expressed above do not
=== necessarily represent those of
=== Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

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