Task: Negative base numbers
C: #include <stdio.h>

const char DIGITS[] = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
const int DIGITS_LEN = 64;

void encodeNegativeBase(long n, long base, char *out) {
    char *ptr = out;

    if (base > -1 || base < -62) {
        
        out = "";
        return;
    }
    if (n == 0) {
        
        out = "0";
        return;
    }

    
    while (n != 0) {
        long rem = n % base;
        n = n / base;
        if (rem < 0) {
            n++;
            rem = rem - base;
        }
        *ptr = DIGITS[rem];
        ptr++;
    }
    *ptr = 0;

    
    ptr--;
    while (out < ptr) {
        char t = *out;
        *out = *ptr;
        *ptr = t;
        out++;
        ptr--;
    }
    return;
}

long decodeNegativeBase(const char* ns, long base) {
    long value, bb;
    int i;
    const char *ptr;

    if (base < -62 || base > -1) {
        
        return 0;
    }
    if (ns[0] == 0 || (ns[0] == '0' && ns[1] == 0)) {
        
        return 0;
    }

    
    ptr = ns;
    while (*ptr != 0) {
        ptr++;
    }

    
    value = 0;
    bb = 1;
    ptr--;
    while (ptr >= ns) {
        for (i = 0; i < DIGITS_LEN; i++) {
            if (*ptr == DIGITS[i]) {
                value = value + i * bb;
                bb = bb * base;
                break;
            }
        }
        ptr--;
    }

    return value;
}

void driver(long n, long b) {
    char buf[64];
    long value;

    encodeNegativeBase(n, b, buf);
    printf("%12d encoded in base %3d = %12s\n", n, b, buf);

    value = decodeNegativeBase(buf, b);
    printf("%12s decoded in base %3d = %12d\n", buf, b, value);

    printf("\n");
}

int main() {
    driver(10, -2);
    driver(146, -3);
    driver(15, -10);
    driver(12, -62);

    return 0;
}

VB: Const DIGITS = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
Dim Str(63) As String
Private Function mod2(a As Long, b As Integer) As Long
    mod2 = a - (a \ b) * b
End Function
Private Function swap(a As String, b As String)
    Dim t As String
    t = a
    a = b
    b = t
End Function
Private Function EncodeNegativeBase(ByVal n As Long, base As Integer) As String
    Dim ptr, idx As Long
    Dim rem_ As Long
    Dim result As String
    If base > -1 Or base < -62 Then
        EncodeNegativeBase = result
    Else
        If n = 0 Then
            EncodeNegativeBase = "0"
        Else
            ptr = 0
            Do While n <> 0
                rem_ = mod2(n, base)
                n = n \ base
                If rem_ < 0 Then
                    n = n + 1
                    rem_ = rem_ - base
                End If
                result = result & Mid(DIGITS, rem_ + 1, 1)
            Loop
        End If
    End If
    EncodeNegativeBase = StrReverse(result)
End Function
Private Function DecodeNegativeBase(ns As String, base As Integer) As Long
    Dim total As Long, bb As Long
    Dim i As Integer, j As Integer
    If base < -62 Or base > -1 Then DecodeNegativeBase = 0
    If Mid(ns, 1, 1) = 0 Or (Mid(ns, 1, 1) = "0" And Mid(ns, 2, 1) = 0) Then DecodeNegativeBase = 0
    i = Len(ns)
    total = 0
    bb = 1
    Do While i >= 1
        j = InStr(1, DIGITS, Mid(ns, i, 1), vbTextCompare) - 1
        total = total + j * bb
        bb = bb * base
        i = i - 1
    Loop
    DecodeNegativeBase = total
End Function
Private Sub Driver(n As Long, b As Integer)
    Dim ns As String
    Dim p As Long
    ns = EncodeNegativeBase(n, b)
    Debug.Print CStr(n); " encoded in base "; b; " = "; ns
    p = DecodeNegativeBase(ns, b)
    Debug.Print ns; " decoded in base "; b; " = "; p
    Debug.Print
End Sub
Public Sub main()
    Driver 10, -2
    Driver 146, -3
    Driver 15, -10
    Driver 118492, -62
End Sub