A Java Program that Displays Itself
By Tim Farage
Did you ever wonder
if a program could be written that, when executed, would display itself
exactly? If file manipulations were
allowed it would be fairly easy. You'd
just write a Java program that, when executed, would open its source code file
and then display the lines of that file.
You might want to try this. It's
not too hard and it's fun.
But what about a
Java program that displays itself without using any file
manipulations? That's harder to do, and
unless you really think about it, it's tough to come up with the right
idea. If you like a challenge, give it a
shot. There's a hint below just in case. If you think you've got it, be sure to copy
the output to a .java file, and test it. (This can be done in C/C++ as
well). If your program is different than
mine, email it to me.
DNA must have some
properties similar to this program.
After all, it has enough information to create a human body, including
the DNA of that body. How does it do
this? Sorry, never said I was a
biologist.
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If you'd like a
hint, have your program create an array of Strings that contain most of
the lines of the program itself. It
can't contain all of the lines, because the array of Strings is part of the
program!
For my version of
the program, click here.
Tim Farage can be emailed at tfarage@hotmail.com. A mini-biography is available at http://www.utdallas.edu/~tfarage/bio.html.