Re: who invented static?

From	James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: who invented static?
Date	2015-08-30 13:40 -0400
Organization	Self
Message-ID	<55E34023.5010809@verizon.net> (permalink)
References	(3 earlier) <6036cc6f-2804-45c2-95f4-e19a5fa9399d@googlegroups.com> <55E21F50.2080705@verizon.net> <mrv5f3$g9b$1@dont-email.me> <55E32CBB.2050001@verizon.net> <mrvcnh$fju$1@dont-email.me>

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On 08/30/2015 01:00 PM, David Brown wrote:
> On 30/08/15 18:18, James Kuyper wrote:
...
>> Given:
>>
>>      void f(int array[static 3]);
>>      int large_array[6];
>>      int small_array[2];
>>      int *p = small_array;
>>
>> then f(large_array) is fine, because large_array has more than 3
>> elements. However, f(small_array) violates a "shall" that occurs outside
>> of a constraint, because small_array has fewer than 3 elements. The
>> behavior is therefore undefined. I would have preferred that this be a
>> constraint violation, and I would expect any decent implementation of
>> C99 or later to issue the diagnostic message that would be mandatory if
>> it were a constraint violation - in my opinion, that possibility is the
>> only thing that makes this feature worthwhile. I think that the reason
>> why it cannot be made a constraint violation is that f(p) is also a
>> violation of the same rule, and unlike f(small_array), it's not in
>> general easy for a compiler to identify the fact that an arbitrary
>> pointer points at location which violates this rule.
>>
> 
> But surely if g were defined:
> 
> 	void g(int array[3]);
> 
> Then g(small_array) would still be a constraint violation?

No. See the first part of 6.7.6.3p7: "A declaration of a parameter as
‘‘array of type’’ shall be adjusted to ‘‘qualified pointer to
type’’, where the type qualifiers (if any) are those specified within
the [ and ] of the array type derivation."

This means that the declaration is adjusted to
	void g(int *array);

It might not be obvious from the above wording, but for multidimensional
arrays, this only affects the leading dimension of the array.

> ...  Or is it 
> defined behaviour to call g(small_array), and only becomes undefined if 
> g() accesses array[2] ?

Correct.

> It seems to me that even without the "static", g is asking for a 
> parameter with particular characteristics, and calling g(small_array) is 
> breaking that requirement.

6.7.6.3p7 mandates removal of the information identifying that
characteristic. I won't argue that this was a wise choice. Were I
designing my own language without worrying about backwards compatibility
with C, arrays would not automatically convert to pointers, and array
parameter declarations would not be "adjusted" into pointer
declarations, and array dimensions (if specified, which they wouldn't
have to be) would be one of the things that would have to match in order
for two types to be compatible.

That approach has it's own complications: how to apply a function
expecting a 3x5 array, to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rows of a 7x5 array? In
C that's trivial, but the language I'm describing would need some
un-C-like construct to achieve that result. IDL has array[*,2:4], but
what that does is create a new array containing only rows 2-4 of the
array - it doesn't refer to rows 2-4 of the existing array.

> It also seems to me to be a /really/ odd choice to make this another use 
> of the "static" keyword. ...

I agree.

> Is this a use of "static" that you have seen in real code?  Is it used much?

In the late 1990s, rules were set up from the project I'm working on
that specified that all of our code must be either C95, Fortran 77,
Fortran 90, or Ada. None of the project code uses Ada, but the other
three are all in use. Those rules have never, as far as I know, been
updated. Therefore, we can't use this feature. I would use it, if I
could, but only because I would hope for the diagnostic message that the
standard fails to mandate for violations. Strictly speaking, this clause
only serves to make the behavior of some code undefined.

Thread

who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 11:40 -0700
  Re: who invented static? David Kleinecke <dkleinecke@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 13:36 -0700
    Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 13:46 -0700
      Re: who invented static? David Kleinecke <dkleinecke@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 13:53 -0700
        Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-29 17:08 -0400
          Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-08-30 16:56 +0200
            Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-30 12:18 -0400
              Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-08-30 19:00 +0200
                Re: who invented static? Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2015-08-30 13:23 -0400
                Re: who invented static? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-08-30 21:18 +0100
                Re: who invented static? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-06 19:33 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-06 19:26 -0700
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-08-30 13:40 -0400
                Re: who invented static? supercat@casperkitty.com - 2015-08-31 06:47 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-06 19:20 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-06 18:59 -0700
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-07 10:25 +0200
                Re: who invented static? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-09-07 01:59 -0700
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-07 12:22 +0200
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-09-07 13:04 -0400
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-07 21:25 +0200
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-09-07 15:47 -0400
                Re: who invented static? Philip Lantz <prl@canterey.us> - 2015-09-07 13:27 -0700
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-09-07 17:31 -0400
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-08 09:16 +0200
                Re: who invented static? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-09-07 13:27 -0700
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-08 09:12 +0200
                Re: who invented static? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-07 16:06 -0700
                Re: who invented static? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2015-09-08 09:08 +0200
                Re: who invented static? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-09-08 10:18 -0700
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-09-08 13:28 -0400
        Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 14:18 -0700
          Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-01 01:36 -0700
    Re: who invented static? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2015-08-29 14:27 -0700
  Re: who invented static? Siri Cruz <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2015-08-29 14:32 -0700
    Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-08-29 23:03 +0000
    Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-01 01:52 -0700
      Re: who invented static? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-01 23:42 -0500
        Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-02 00:14 -0700
          Re: who invented static? Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2015-09-02 08:24 +0100
        Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-04 04:25 +0000
          Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-04 00:45 -0700
            Re: who invented static? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-04 04:09 -0500
              Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-04 02:35 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-04 23:58 -0500
                Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 03:02 -0700
                Re: who invented static? wssimms@gmail.com - 2015-09-05 13:14 -0700
                Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 13:49 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Siri Cruz <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-05 14:09 -0700
                Re: who invented static? gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2015-09-05 22:30 +0000
                Re: who invented static? wssimms@gmail.com - 2015-09-05 20:41 -0700
                Re: who invented static? gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2015-09-06 05:28 +0000
                Re: who invented static? "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 22:40 -0700
                Re: who invented static? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2015-09-06 11:42 -0400
                Re: who invented static? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-05 23:38 -0500
            Re: who invented static? Siri Cruz <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-04 02:34 -0700
              Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-04 02:43 -0700
              Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-05 01:30 +0000
                Re: who invented static? Siri Cruz <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-04 20:52 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2015-09-05 00:03 -0500
                Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-05 09:04 +0000
                Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 03:02 -0700
                Re: who invented static? "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 04:33 -0700
                Re: who invented static? Reinhardt Behm <rbehm@hushmail.com> - 2015-09-05 20:08 +0800
                Re: who invented static? "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 05:21 -0700
                Re: who invented static? "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 06:37 -0700
                Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-05 16:54 +0000
                Re: who invented static? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2015-09-05 11:06 +0100
                Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 03:17 -0700
                Re: who invented static? raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2015-09-05 19:14 +0000
                Re: who invented static? fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2015-09-05 12:59 -0700
            Re: who invented static? glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2015-09-05 01:24 +0000

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