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From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: error: initializer element is not constant|
Date: Mon, 08 May 2017 12:44:53 -0700
Organization: None to speak of
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bartc <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
> On 08/05/2017 19:37, Keith Thompson wrote:
>> bartc <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
>>> On 08/05/2017 17:00, Keith Thompson wrote:
>> [...]
>>>> I think you meant that arrays of pointers to arrays would be unusual.
>>>
>>> No, I mean arrays of pointers to strings, with a string meaning char*.
>>> The variable names I've chosen should make it clear that:
>>>
>>>    str (ie. string) is a char*
>>>    ptr_to_str is char**
>>>
>>> and so on.
>>
>> Then you are using terminology that is clearly defined by the C standard
>> in a manner inconsistent with the way the standard uses it.
>>
>>> Since it is impossible to work with an actual string itself, it's more
>>> useful I think for 'string' to be a synonym for 'char*'.
>>
>> Whether it would have been more useful or not, the standard clearly
>> defines the terms "string" and "pointer to string" in 7.1.1p1, which
>> I've recently quoted elsewhere in this thread.
>
> So you call a 'pointer to char', a 'pointer to string'.

I call a char* value a "pointer to a string" if and only if it points to
the initial character of a string.  A null char* pointer is not a
pointer to a string.

Do you find the definitions I quoted unclear?

[...]

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"