Delivery-Date: Sun Sep  7 14:22:32 2008
Message-Id: <200809072121.m87LLLbT018922@bourbon.usc.edu>
To: cs551@merlot.usc.edu
Subject: Re: CS551: Command line input
Date: Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:21:21 -0700
From: Bill Cheng <william@bourbon.usc.edu>

Someone wrote:

  > I thought that the optional command line arguments can be entered in any
  > order. In that case, would a command like
  > 
  > server [-m] [-d seconds] [-t seconds] port
  > 
  > also produce an illegal command line argument error message ?

Given that "optional command line arguments can be entered in
any order", could you tell me what is the difference between
what you've written and:

    server [-t seconds] [-d delay] [-m] port
--
Bill Cheng // bill.cheng@usc.edu <URL:http://merlot.usc.edu/william/usc/>


On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 8:09 AM, Bill Cheng <william@bourbon.usc.edu> wrote:

> Someone wrote:
>
>  > for the warmup project # 1 of cs551, in case of command line inputs, do
> we
>  > have to validate only the cases mentioned in the project grading
> guidelines
>  > or all possible cases ?
>  >
>  > for eg: for server , if server -t -m 12345 is typed on the command line,
> its
>  > an error but this case isnt considered in the grading guidelines.
>
> I think you misunderstood what the commandline syntax is
> about.  For the server, the commandline syntax is:
>
>    server [-t seconds] [-d delay] [-m] port
>
> This is not an example.  This specifies *exactly* what the
> commandline syntax is!  So, if the user gives something
> *incorrect*, you should not run the server and tell the user
> why the commandline syntax is violated.
>
> You should not try to enumerate all possible form the
> commandline can take.  You should parse the commandline
> argument in a reasonable way.  Please go to the web and look
> for examples.
> --
> Bill Cheng // bill.cheng@usc.edu <URL:http://merlot.usc.edu/william/usc/>