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Groups > comp.std.c > #1796

What is a "fundamental type"?

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N1370 6.2.8p4 says:

    Alignments are represented as values of the type size_t. Valid
    alignments include only those values returned by an
    _Alignof expression for fundamental types, plus an additional
    implementation-defined set of values, which may be empty. Every
    valid alignment value shall be a nonnegative integral power
    of two.

This and J.3.13 are the only occurrences of the phrase "fundamental
types" in the document; no definition is given.  It's related to
the defined term "fundamental alignment", but it's not clear how.

Given the context, the only consistent meaning I can think of is
that a "fundamental type" is one to which no alignment specifier
(the _Alignas keyword) is applied, or perhaps it's a type whose
alignment is a "fundamental alignment" (no stricter than _Alignof
(max_align_t)).  But "fundamental type" doesn't seem to me to be a
reasonable name for that concept.  Note that struct and array types
are not excluded; max_align_t is required to be an object type,
and needn't be scalar.

What exactly is a "fundamental type"?  Should it be defined, or
should 6.2.8p4 be rephrased to avoid the term?

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
    Will write code for food.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

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Thread

What is a "fundamental type"? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-12-22 03:27 -0800
  Re: What is a "fundamental type"? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-12-22 08:21 -0800
    Re: What is a "fundamental type"? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-12-22 12:29 -0800
      Re: What is a "fundamental type"? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-12-23 08:47 -0800
  Re: What is a "fundamental type"? Harald van Dijk <truedfx@gmail.com> - 2012-12-22 10:17 -0800

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