UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

hello,
i am new to this forum. i own a macbook pro running mac os x 10.5.2 leopard. just wondering, if these forums will help me? i work a lot in an application called terminal, it is apples command line. i like programming and have questions, like there was a post about text scrolling, the person who started the thread asked when using cat and page is there a way to have the text scroll or slowly move across the screen. there was a couple of programs in the thread that looked interesting to me. when you are talking about a script, what is this? like what language are you talking about? in the same thread there was a post of a c program. i tried to paste the c program into a text editor, and then compile it. the program compiled with out any errors but when i went to run it nothing seemed to happen. i am wondering if the reason it didn't work was because i am running a mac? i can re-post the program if any one wanted me to?

also how do i post code on this forum?

Scripts can be written in a variety of languages, but usually we are talking about shell scripts unless it's othewards specified.
A shell script is essentially just a collection of command lines, in sequence, so should work on your Mac just fine.

C code is a compiled language so you'll need to take the c-code and run it through a c compiler (gcc for example) to produce a compiled application before you can run it. Scripts don't have this requirement - you can just paste them into an editor and run them.

Wrap CODE tags round text to have it displayed correctly as code:
eg:
[CODE[
your code
[/CODE[

there was a c program which i got from this website. i pasted the program into a text editor. i then compiled the program, and it compiled without any errors. but when i went to run the program nothing seemed to happen. the program was supposed to scroll text slowly accross the screen. just wondering what i am doing wrong?
one question i have is the command to run the program, i tried the following:

Code:

./nodoff.out 500 filename

where filename is the name of a file in my current working directory. one thing i will mention is that i am running mac os x 10.5.2 leopard. i am using terminal and a gcc compiler. i don't know if the fact that i am running leopard should have an effect on the computer not being able to run the c program?
here is the source file of the program which i called nodoff.c:

Code:

#ifdef __STDC__
#define PROTOTYPICAL
#endif
#ifdef __cplusplus
#define PROTOTYPICAL
#endif

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/time.h>

#ifdef PROTOTYPICAL
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
#else
main(argc,argv)
char *argv[];
#endif

{
        int millisecs, microsecs;
        struct timeval tv;

        millisecs=atoi(argv[1]);
        microsecs=millisecs*1000;

        tv.tv_sec=microsecs/1000000;
        tv.tv_usec=microsecs%1000000;

        select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, &tv);
        exit(0);
}

any help would be appreciated.