OK, how do I make my own base number system in VB?

mp3guy · 30-11-2004 11:08PM #1

This is the big thing i'm after. I want to be able to define, lets say the characters 0-9 and letters a-z as number, giving me a 36 base number system, if I assign a number to each character in vb, how do I tell it to use them? (Googling this gave me absolutely nothing)

cyberbob · 30-11-2004 11:17PM

are you ofay ( god knows how you spell that) with creating your own class structrures.
its a lot of work to build a new number system .
( in c++ you can overload the +/-/*// operators ) .
dont know if you can do that in VB , c++ is my mother tongue .
even writing a simple add( a, b ) function would be a bitch though .

mp3guy · 30-11-2004 11:28PM

could i not edit/expand on a hex code?

Mutant_Fruit · 30-11-2004 11:30PM

i'm not even sure if this will work... but in c could you not just do the following...

int main()
{
'a'=1;
'b'=2;
'c'=3;
.
.
.
'1'=27;
'2'=28;
'3'=29;
.
.
.
.

rest of code

}

then i suppose you could do stuff like 'a' + 'a' = 'b', and do stuff like that. Not sure if thats what you want, or even if what i said is right though :p

cyberbob · 30-11-2004 11:35PM

mp3guy wrote:

could i not edit/expand on a hex code?

i would have left well enough alone .
the only way to expand on an existing type is with a class .
you cant edit a builtin type .

mp3guy · 30-11-2004 11:36PM

Post #4, yeah, that's what i want. How in vb do I tell it to convert to and from something like that?

kenmc · 01-12-2004 09:45AM

Mutant_Fruit wrote:
i'm not even sure if this will work... but in c could you not just do the following...
int main()
{
'a'=1;
'b'=2;
'c'=3;
<snip>
}

no - that won't work.
'a' is the ascii value of the letter a. It happens to be 97. The above code tells the compiler that
97 = 1;
98 = 2;
etc.
It will go mental, screaming at you from the rooftops and calling you all the names under the sun.

Hobbes · 01-12-2004 10:27AM

There is a very easy way to do this. I actually wrote one before and it is on this forum*.

The short end of it is...

create a string with '012345679ABCDEF...etc', Each chacters location in the string is its base value. eg A is in the 10th position, F is 15th position. You just then use an instr to determine the value of a character.

* Heh, went looking for it. I posted the same question as a teaser but doesn't appear to have my answer in it. Anyway thats the answer.

mp3guy · 01-12-2004 07:09PM

thanks, so if vb knows the value of a character, how can i tell it to write numbers in that way?

Hobbes · 01-12-2004 08:23PM

mp3guy wrote:

thanks, so if vb knows the value of a character, how can i tell it to write numbers in that way?

The reverse way you got it from the string. Instr() = Character to number, mid() = number to character.

Mutant_Fruit · 02-12-2004 01:00AM

kenmc wrote:

no - that won't work.
'a' is the ascii value of the letter a. It happens to be 97. The above code tells the compiler that
97 = 1;
98 = 2;
etc.
It will go mental, screaming at you from the rooftops and calling you all the names under the sun.

I thought the single quotes meant the letter a, so 'a' was referring to the letter a, not the ascii number that corresponds to a. hrmm, maybe i don't know as much as i thought

kenmc · 02-12-2004 02:11PM

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

I thought the single quotes meant the letter a, so 'a' was referring to the letter a, not the ascii number that corresponds to a. hrmm, maybe i don't know as much as i thought

It does. sort of. ish. but it's a constant.
all letters and characters are represented by numbers.
so you can do stuff like this
printf("%d\n", 'a');
you will get 97.
but if you do
printf("%c\n", 'a');
you will get a
similarly you can do
printf("%s\n", "a");
and also get a

It's all about representation really, and making it readable for us mere humans.

OK, how do I make my own base number system in VB?

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