Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]


Groups > comp.lang.c > #147097

Re: How to use a struct with qsort()?

From Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: How to use a struct with qsort()?
Date 2019-10-19 15:38 -0700
Organization None to speak of
Message-ID <lnftjoe4xu.fsf@kst-u.example.com> (permalink)
References (1 earlier) <slrn3if8qqmnqo.6il.ike@sdf.lonestar.org> <yFJqF.60483$oA2.36504@fx08.iad> <06add10e-1e30-4741-a20c-ff56363733fe@googlegroups.com> <BkKqF.69070$1A2.65981@fx07.iad> <r3MqF.740723$VT3.148620@fx19.am4>

Show all headers | View raw


Bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
> On 19/10/2019 21:26, DFS wrote:
>> On 10/19/2019 4:09 PM, already5chosen@yahoo.com wrote:
>> =============================================================
>
>> struct words {char *word; double wordpf;};
>> struct words **wordrec = NULL;
>
> Some suggestions that may or may not help:
>
> (1) Use a typedef to give the struct its own name, so that you don't 
> have to write 'struct words' everywhere, eg:
>
>    typedef struct {char *word; double wordpf;} Words;
>
> Now you can write
>
>    Words **wordrec = NULL;
>
> or sizeof(Words) etc.

That's a perfectly valid choice.  It has the advantage that the name of
the type is a single identifier.

Personally, though, I prefer to refer to the type as "struct whatever"
rather than inventing a new name for it.  My point of view is that if
you define a struct with a tag, it already has a perfectly good name.
I don't see much advantage in inventing another name for it.

If you do choose to use a typedef in addition to the tag name, there's
no real reason not to use the same identifier for both.  (Or you can
omit the tag name, but only for structures that don't contain a pointer
to the same type).

And since the type represents a single word, the name "words" or "Words"
is confusing.

I might write:
    struct word {char *str; double wordpf;};
(I don't know what "wordpf" represents).  Note that I've used a
different identifier for the char* member.

Or you could write:
    typedef struct {char *str; double wordpf;} word;
if you prefer a name that's a single identifier.  (And if a word
contains a pointer to a word, you'll need "typedef struct word ...", and
you'll have to refer to it as "struct word" inside the definition.)

> (2) Use capitalised names for your typedefs as above, then it might be 
> easier to see what is a type, and what is a variable name, which can 
> cause confusion.

Not a bad convention, but I haven't seen it used widely.  It could cause
some confusion if you mix code that uses that convention with code that
doesn't.

Picking good and unambiguous names is hard, but it's worth the effort.

[...]

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Will write code for food.
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

Back to comp.lang.c | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread


Thread

How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 13:35 -0400
  Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2019-10-19 10:22 -0700
    Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 14:19 -0400
      Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-10-19 19:36 +0100
      Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Melzzzzz <Melzzzzz@zzzzz.com> - 2019-10-19 18:44 +0000
  Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@delq.com> - 2019-10-19 10:23 -0700
  Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ike Naar <ike@sdf.lonestar.org> - 2019-10-19 19:09 +0000
    Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 15:51 -0400
      Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? already5chosen@yahoo.com - 2019-10-19 13:09 -0700
        Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 16:26 -0400
          Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? already5chosen@yahoo.com - 2019-10-19 13:51 -0700
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 17:24 -0400
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? already5chosen@yahoo.com - 2019-10-19 14:49 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-19 18:26 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? already5chosen@yahoo.com - 2019-10-19 16:32 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-20 09:22 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-10-26 04:15 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-26 09:37 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-26 15:40 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-28 19:49 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-10-29 01:59 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-10-30 04:54 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-30 11:54 +0000
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-30 08:58 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Öö Tiib <ootiib@hot.ee> - 2019-11-07 01:10 -0800
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-07 10:51 +0000
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2019-10-26 15:03 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-10-26 21:50 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2019-11-04 16:02 -0800
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2019-10-21 11:58 +0000
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2019-10-23 04:51 -0700
          Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-19 23:25 +0100
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-19 15:38 -0700
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2019-10-20 14:44 +0200
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-22 15:42 -0400
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2019-10-23 05:47 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-23 16:40 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-23 13:51 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-23 23:07 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-23 15:50 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-24 01:20 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-23 18:20 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-24 10:40 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-24 11:00 -0700
          Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-10-20 00:30 +0100
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-20 00:44 +0100
          Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-10-20 01:27 +0100
          Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2019-10-25 20:30 +0200
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-25 16:07 -0400
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ike Naar <ike@sdf.lonestar.org> - 2019-10-26 07:27 +0000
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-26 02:11 -0700
            Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-10-26 11:06 +0100
              Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2019-10-26 16:58 +0200
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-26 18:17 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-26 16:08 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? DFS <nospam@dfs.com> - 2019-10-26 21:33 -0400
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-10-26 22:10 -0700
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-10-27 01:48 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2019-10-27 19:29 +0100
                Re: How to use a struct with qsort()? Barry Schwarz <schwarzb4aarp@gmail.com> - 2019-10-27 13:09 -0700

csiph-web