Yeah, I was having some [benign] fun being a little sarcastic. I hope you
weren't offended.

As I explained it's the type of question that constitutes a typical
'homework' question. The questions are usually easy enough to directly
answer. However, regulars in the various 'comp.lang.*' newgroups tend to be
sensitive to such questions [i.e. easily spot them because they are often
found in introductory programming courses], and rather than just hand over
an answer, encourage the poster [most often a high school or college
student] to be more active in answering the question(s) themselves.

That was what motivated my responses to you. In the absence of any other
information, I assumed you were a student, and answered in a way that I
thought would encourage learning [even if by stealth :)] rather than simply
handing an answer over.

Actually, now that I think of it, you could say *my* intentions were noble
;) !

Cheers,

Anthony Borla

P.S.

It's easy to forget, I think, that in written communications such as
informal USENET postings, that:

* A respondent is not privy to any information other than what
  appears in the message

* Cues such as tone of voice, facial expresions, or gestures
  are not available to elucidate the communication

thus the respondent has to 'fill in the blanks' by making assumptions.
Naturally these could be quite erroneous, and where they are, it's prudent,
I think, the original poster not themselves assume that there may have been
any malice or ill will behind the response