/************************ ROUTINE HEADER ****************************** * * * NAME: Life_the_universe_and_everything * * * * FUNCTION: * * To answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and * * everything. * * * * PARAMETERS: * * None. Now wouldn't it look pretty silly if the answer to * * the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything * * were affected by an input parameter? Change the parameter * * and the answer to the ultimate question changes??? No way! * * * * RETURN: int * * * * GLOBAL: None. How can there be anything more global? See PARAMETERS. * * * * CALLING FUNCTIONS: * * Many have tried to call this function but few have suc- * * ceeded. The problem seems to be that most linkers just * * can't find it. * * * * The list of those entities who have succeeded in finding * * this function is extremely short, but their methods are * * illuminating in their variety: * * * * (a) Deep Thought (computer). Method: Exhaustive search. * * Details: An unimaginably fast system (so amazingly fast it * * sometimes suprised even itself) containing a program gener- * * ator, compiler, linker, pattern recognisers, and a rather * * large store. It commenced to generate all possible programs * * (and I mean all), starting with the shortest. Each program, * * as it was generated, was compiled and linked, and its exec- * * ution observed by the pattern recognisers to see if it pro- * * duced the answer to the ultimate question of life, the uni- * * verse, and everything. The programs were executed in a time- * * shared fashion, so a non-terminating program could not put * * a stop to things. After aeons of computation, Deep Thought * * did manage to generate and recognise the sought-after * * program, but not before it had also generated a vast fortune * * for its creators. For, in addition to being theologians and * * scientists, its creators were commercially adept. Among the * * pattern recognisers installed in Deep Thought was one that * * recognised commercial potential. On its way to generating * * the program that would provide the answer to the ultimate * * question of life, the universe, and everything, Deep Thought * * emitted a staggering collection of software products, almost * * every one a best-seller. * * * * (b) Douglas Adams, of Earth, a little-known planet orbiting * * an anonymous star in one of the less-developed spiral arms * * of the Milky Way galaxy. Method: None, just a lucky guess. * * The idea permitted him to achieve a modicum of local com- * * mercial success. * * * **************************************************************************/ /* NDRH */ int Life_the_universe_and_everything(void) { return(42); }