Menu
I have read this. It's octal in C++ and decimal in Java. But no description about C?
Is it going to make any difference if 0 is octal or decimal? This is the question asked by my interviewer. I said no and I explained that it is always 0 regardless whether it is octal or decimal.
Then he asked why is it considered as octal in C++ and decimal in Java. I said it's the standard. Please let me know what is it in C? Will it make any difference? Why are they different in different standards?
598
An integer constant is a decimal (base 10), octal (base 8), or hexadecimal (base 16) number that represents an integral value. Use integer constants to represent integer values that cannot be changed.
A decimal constant begins with a nonzero digit. For example, 255 is the decimal constant for the base-10 value 255. A number that begins with a leading zero is interpreted as an octal constant. Octal (or base eight) notation uses only the digits from 0 to 7.
The main advantage of using Octal numbers is that it uses less digits than decimal and Hexadecimal number system. So, it has fewer computations and less computational errors. It uses only 3 bits to represent any digit in binary and easy to convert from octal to binary and vice-versa.
It makes little difference, but formally the integer constant 0 is octal in C. From the C99 and C11 standards, 6.4.4.1 Integer constants
integer-constant:
decimal-constant integer-suffixopt
octal-constant integer-suffixopt
hexadecimal-constant integer-suffixoptdecimal-constant:
nonzero-digit
decimal-constant digitoctal-constant:
0
octal-constant octal-digithexadecimal-constant:
...
...
74
Octal.
C11 §6.4.4.1 Integer constants
octal-constant: 0 octal-constant octal-digit
And this is true since C89 §3.1.3.2.
38
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
