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Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops)

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On 2015-03-21, Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> wrote:
>
> I was wondering if a variable declared inside a for loop in
> a C program is defined (memory address allocated) just once,
> or if (as in Perl) a fresh (unique) memory address is used
> for each iteration.

Firstly this difference is irrelevant in C, because C doesn't have lexical
closures.

The difference is highly relevant in a language with lexical closures (and if
the variable is mutated).

Why?  Suppose that your loop body creates lexical closures and stashes them
somewhere. If there is only one instance of the variable, all of the closures
share that variable. If one closure modifies the variable, all the other
closures witness the modification.

If each iteration has a new instance of the variable, then the lexical closures
do not exhibit this sharing; the modification to the variable is private.

Secondly, just because you don't get the same address doesn't mean it is
the same variable. In the semantics of C, the non-static local variable ceases
to exist when the enclosing block terminates. A new instance of the block
may allocate the variable into the same address. For the repeated iterations of
the same loop in the same invocation of the function, this re-use is likely
because of the way C is compiled. The re-use does not indicate that the
object is the same variable any more than a re-used address coming out of
malloc indicates that the object is the same thing as whatever it was before.

So, C in fact freshly instantiates the variable, possibly in the same memory
location rather than a unique one.

Local variables can be treated this way in C because, again, it doesn't have
lexical closures. (However, C has pointers, and pointers to local variables
can endure when those variables are gone, leading to bugs.)

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Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-21 00:52 -0700
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-03-21 08:28 +0000
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 20:57 -0700
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-21 01:29 -0700
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 21:01 -0700
  Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2015-03-21 01:40 -0700
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2015-03-21 08:43 +0000
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 20:58 -0700
      Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-03-27 06:12 +0000
      Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-26 23:32 -0700
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-03-21 10:54 +0000
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-21 13:54 -0700
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 21:24 -0700
      Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-03-27 20:35 +0000
      Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-03-27 21:24 +0000
        Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-03-28 00:03 +0000
          Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> - 2015-03-28 10:00 +0000
        Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2015-03-28 18:14 -0500
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2015-03-21 14:39 +0000
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-03-21 09:40 -0700
  Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-03-21 12:43 -0400
    Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2015-03-21 13:01 -0700
      Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-03-22 18:47 -0400
        Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-22 16:39 -0700
          Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-03-22 20:08 -0400
            Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 22:36 -0700
              Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-26 23:40 -0700
        Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Robbie Hatley <see.my.sig@for.my.address> - 2015-03-26 22:26 -0700
          Re: Lexical Variables In C Loops (As Compared To Perl Loops) Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-03-26 23:38 -0700

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