Merge pull request #226 from xexyl/1984-mullender-alt

1984/mullender/Makefile

@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ alt: data ${ALT_TARGET}
 	@${TRUE}
 
 ${ALT_TARGET}: ${PROG}.alt.c
-	${CC} -include stdio.h -include unistd.h ${CFLAGS} $< -o $@ ${LIBS}
+	${CC} -include stdio.h -include unistd.h -include stdlib.h ${CFLAGS} $< -o $@ ${LIBS}
 
 # data files
 #

1984/mullender/README.md

@@ -20,20 +20,45 @@ Robbert van Renesse
 
 [Cody Boone Ferguson](/winners.html#Cody_Boone_Ferguson) added the alternative
 code which lets you run this on other systems. He notes though that this was
-only a slight fix to the change in the [faq](/faq.md). Thank you Cody for your
+only a slight fix and enhancement to the change in the [faq](/faq.md). Thank you
-assistance!
+Cody for your assistance!
 
-To build:
+### To build:
 
 
 	make alt
 
-Use `./mullender.alt` as you would `./mullender` above.
+### To run:
+
+	./mullender.alt [microseconds]
+
+The default microseconds is 10000. This ability is so you can experiment with
+different speeds in between writes. It can be useful if your CPU is too slow or
+too fast.
+
+BTW: is there such a thing as too fast a CPU ? :-) actually yes for certain code
+which is probably not as uncommon as you think :-) ).
+
+Note that it is an int and it uses `atoi()` which does NOT check for
+overflow! In fact it's argc itself.
+
+
+### Try:
+
+
+    ./mullender.alt
+
+    ./mullender.alt 5000
+
+    ./mullender.alt 500
+
+    ./mullender.alt 20000
+
+What happens if you hit enter after it writes a line of output?
 
 
 ## Judges' comments:
 
-
 Without question, this C program is the one of the most obfuscated
 C program that has ever been received!  Like all great contest
 entries, they result in a change of rules for the following year.
@@ -55,6 +80,8 @@ makes direct calls to the write() Unix system call to produce a
 message on the screen.  Can you guess what is printed?  We knew you
 couldn't!  :-)
 
+BTW: this remains my (Landon Curt Noll's) all time favorite entries!
+
 ## Author's comments:
 
 These comments, found at

1984/mullender/mullender.alt.c

@@ -1 +1 @@
-main(){int i=10000;do write(1,"  :-)\b\b\b\b",9),usleep(i);while(--i);}
+main(i,v)char**v;{i=v[1]?atoi(v[1]):10000;do write(1,"  :-)\b\b\b\b",9),usleep(i);while(--i);}

faq.md

@@ -41,9 +41,13 @@ can enjoy this entry. Try:
 
 ```sh
 make alt
-./mullender.alt
+./mullender.alt [microseconds]
 ```
 
+The microseconds defaults to 10000.
+
+Thank you Cody!
+
 See also [Yusuke Endoh](/winners.html#Yusuke_Endoh)'s entry
 [2015/endoh3](/2015/endoh3/README.md) entry which lets one compile it and run
 it.
@@ -353,15 +357,24 @@ try the alternative code added by [Cody Boone Ferguson](/winners.html#Cody_Boone
 
 ```sh
 make alt
-./mullender.alt
+./mullender.alt [microseconds]
 ```
 
+where microseconds is the number of microseconds to sleep between writes.
+Default 10000. This is useful to see different speeds as well as if your CPU is
+too slow or too fast for the entry. See the
+[README.md](/1984/mullender/README.md) for more details.
+
 Thank you Cody for your help!
 
-BTW: in this case it's a slight adjustment to our original suggested code:
+BTW: in this case it's a slight fix and improvement to our original suggested
+code:
 
 	main(){int i=512;do write(1,"  :-)\b\b\b\b",9),usleep(i);while(--i);}
 
+BTW: is there such a thing as too fast a CPU ? :-) actually yes for certain code
+which is probably not as uncommon as you think :-) ).
+
 break;
 
 - case [1991/davidguy](years.html#1991_davidguy): disable access