Re: Beginer problem: variable array size

[kcline17@hotmail.com (Kevin Cline)]

"Marin David Condic" <mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org> wrote in message news:<amkeud$haj$1@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>...
> Well, as is often the case, the answer is "It Depends". Yes, there are a
> number of cases where you don't want to set arbitrary limits on data volume.
> Usually, these are of significant enough importance, that going to the
> trouble of developing a proper data structure to hold it is not that big a
> deal in the grand scheme of things. However, when you're confronted with a
> student project or some light-duty, quick and dirty app that reasonably
> approximates the case described earlier (punching in a bunch of numbers to
> sort...) Its typically not that big a deal to impose some arbitrary (and
> large) upper limit if it allows you simplicity of implementation. 

That's great, but it doesn't teach students to produce useful programs.
CS graduates need considerable experience using appropriate data structures.
One class in data structures and algorithms is not enough.