Luigi Rosa

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====== 42.c ======

<code c>
/************************   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);
}
</code>