Hello from Italy

Hi Friend!

Thanks for your story - it is always quite interesting and inspiring to meet people with solid experience in some other field! BTW I wonder why we still do not have some publishing-related problem... I think I'll try to come up with some :)

Curious to see you solved problems in no specific order! I guess C++ may be useful if you would like to dive into microcontrollers, arduinos, raspberry pis! On the other hand you may prefer to try something like Python later if your goal is more general :)

yes, I'm retired, if you hadn't guessed

I thought of it when read that you witnessed the times when Fortran and Cobol were taught - while I know they still have some usage - I understand they ceased to be mainstream for few decades already!

Moreover that's cool - you obviously have great and active plans - that's pattern I wish other people follow :)

Marco, Hi! Yep, thanks - with name it is even more comfortable to address you :)

I see now - you only started with couple random tasks. Though your code is not that of "extreme beginner" - you obviously know already something about how to write it! I only feel dealing with files instead of console input/output may be a bit unnecessary - but of course it's fine if it is fine for you!

I've got a couple of books

I wonder what books - on the language or about algorithms? As you use C++ (not simple C) I guess books on it are very tough nowadays...

Marco, Hi!

Sorry for delay with the answer please - but meanwhile it is nice to see your recent username color change!

"Beginning C++20" and Dmitrovic's "Modern C++ for Absolute Beginners"

Thanks! I'd say both are new to me - though I guess they target modern language changes. However I believe word "beginner" in their title is a bit misguiding - the language is rather complicated, especially as it supports most of the things introduced in various years - with addition of C language on which it is based...

I shouldn't begin to shoot suggestions before knowing better language and the site, but

Oh, be sure - that's quite ok - please don't hesitate to express any concerns, even though probably not every is going to be amended - it's better to discuss :)

I had a set of data that never had a negative Celsius degree, and since I hadn't thought of that case while writing the program, it was just by chance that I passed the problem...)

Curious thing - example for data includes negatives, but checker code is plain about using fahrenheit inputs only from 32 and above. I vaguely suspect there probably was some rounding issue at some point and I reduced the checker upon complaints.

Perhaps I should return to this and investigate it more thoroughly!

On the other hand the idea of this site is to allow "easy learning curve" and not being too hard on beginners - so "weak" checkers are considered less or more ok on simpler problems. It is slightly different from problems at sites like CodeForces or SPOJ where problemsetters usually want to cover every "corner-case" with tests. But their goal is different - they intend to train people in "Competitive Programming" field while we meekly endeavor to help people become just "bit more practical" programmers. And practical programming is generally bit more permissive and forgiving as people, in industry, tend to review their solutions and write tests themselves :)