Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array

From	Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array
Date	2012-09-04 20:58 -0400
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<k26849$5mu$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<504636db$0$1709$426a74cc@news.free.fr> <20120904113418.486@kylheku.com> <k25kmb$fje$1@dont-email.me> <lnhardtkhj.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org>

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On 9/4/2012 7:51 PM, Keith Thompson wrote:
> "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
>> "Kaz Kylheku" <kaz@kylheku.com> wrote in message
>> news:20120904113418.486@kylheku.com...
>>> On 2012-09-04, Francois Grieu <fgrieu@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Can I
>>>> - use floating point at all ?
>>>> - if yes: use sqrt, log, exp ?
>>>
>>> No. Constant expressions cannot contain funtion calls.
>>
>> Yet, an expression such as sqrt(9.0) seems to be reduced to 3.0 on the
>> first two compilers I tried.
>
> Yes, I'm sure that's a common optimization.
>
> But the phrase "constant expression" is defined by the standard in
> terms of what it can contain; it doesn't merely mean "an expression
> that a sufficiently clever compiler can evaluate at compile time".
>
>> It's not much of a stretch to allow that to be used as an array
>> dimension, the main stumbling block being that 3.0 is not integral,
>> while adding an (int) cast makes it look like a runtime expression.
>
> But where do you draw the line between constant and non-constant
> expressions?  The authors of the standard already decided exactly
> where to draw that line.  Moving it in the direction of treating
> more expressions as constant risks imposing requirements that some
> compilers may not be able to meet.

     The Standard draws a line and says "All C compilers accept
everything on this side of the line as constants."  But the line
is permeable: "An implementation may accept other forms of constant
expressions" (6.6p10).  The upshot:

     1) A C compiler must accept `static int x[2+1];', because
        `2+1' is on the hither side of the line,

     2) A C compiler may reject `static int x[strlen("abc")];'
        because `strlen("abc")' is on the thither side, but

     3) A C compiler may accept `static int x[strlen("abc")];'
        under the "other forms" allowance, and need not even
        issue a diagnostic.

     Cases (2) and (3) illustrate why "It works with my compiler"
does not define the language.

-- 
Eric Sosman
esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid
"The speed at which the system fails is usually not important."

Thread

Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Francois Grieu <fgrieu@gmail.com> - 2012-09-04 19:14 +0200
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-04 14:08 -0400
    Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Francois Grieu <fgrieu@gmail.com> - 2012-09-05 09:56 +0200
      Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-05 07:33 -0400
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Francois Grieu <fgrieu@gmail.com> - 2012-09-05 23:39 +0200
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-09-05 18:11 -0400
    Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-05 07:17 -0400
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-09-04 19:18 +0100
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-09-04 18:41 +0000
    Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-09-04 20:22 +0100
      Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-09-04 17:07 -0400
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-04 17:25 -0400
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-09-04 18:24 -0400
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-09-04 17:29 -0700
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array army1987 <army1987@ask-for-it.invalid> - 2012-09-04 21:26 +0000
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array army1987 <army1987@ask-for-it.invalid> - 2012-09-04 21:31 +0000
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-04 17:41 -0400
              Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array army1987 <army1987@ask-for-it.invalid> - 2012-09-05 20:45 +0000
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-05 17:23 -0400
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array army1987 <army1987@ask-for-it.invalid> - 2012-09-05 21:30 +0000
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-09-05 23:04 +0100
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-09-05 18:17 -0400
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-09-05 18:29 -0400
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-09-04 21:44 +0000
      Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-09-04 21:39 +0000
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-09-04 22:58 +0100
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-09-04 22:12 +0000
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Lowell Gilbert <lgusenet@be-well.ilk.org> - 2012-09-04 18:55 -0400
      Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-09-04 16:51 -0700
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-09-04 20:58 -0400
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Francois Grieu <fgrieu@gmail.com> - 2012-09-05 10:04 +0200
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 04:47 -0700
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-09-07 14:04 -0700
              Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Casey Carter <casey_at_carter_dot_net@nospam.invalid> - 2012-09-07 16:40 -0500
              Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 19:54 -0700
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-09-08 14:15 -0700
                Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array lawrence.jones@siemens.com - 2012-09-17 12:09 -0400
        Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 04:53 -0700
          Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-09-07 13:07 +0100
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-09-07 14:08 -0700
            Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 19:41 -0700
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-09-04 20:26 +0100
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2012-09-04 14:14 -0700
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-09-07 04:41 -0700
  Re: Limitations and workarounds to expressions defining size of an array army1987 <army1987@ask-for-it.invalid> - 2012-09-07 13:32 +0000

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