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Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it

From Guillaume <message@bottle.org>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it
Date 2021-11-19 17:53 +0100
Organization Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID <sn8kq9$tep$1@gioia.aioe.org> (permalink)
References (4 earlier) <sn5pcl$pru$1@dont-email.me> <sn5qji$3ri$1@dont-email.me> <sn5rc0$1i81$1@gioia.aioe.org> <sn5ukn$2ir$1@dont-email.me> <sn6iam$n5t$1@dont-email.me>

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Le 18/11/2021 à 22:58, David Brown a écrit :
> It is a well-known fact that the best way to get an answer on the
> internet is not to post a question, but to post the wrong answer!

Very true! :D

> Arrays and typedefs can be subtle things in C, and are easily
> misunderstood - they can seem to work the way you want to start with,
> but other things happen when they get passed around via pointers and
> function parameters.

Well arrays in C are not so subtle, but they can be surprising, 
especially for beginners.

You raise two points here:

1. Arrays are compatible with pointers of the same base type, but since 
C pointers are dumb things that are nothing like "fat" pointers, they 
can't possibly hold any other attribute than a memory location. Thus, 
obviously a pointer can't hold the 'size' of the pointed location. So 
this point should not be particularly confusing, even to beginners. In 
particular, sizeof of a pointer is nothing else than the size of the 
pointer itself. Always. What you assign to the pointer doesn's matter, 
even if it's an array.

Now there are kind of exceptions to that, but that are purely 
"hand-implemented" and have nothing to do with the language itself: for 
instance, the typical malloc() behavior. Behind the scenes, pointers 
returned by malloc() are "fat pointers", and you can also implement your 
own fat pointers if you so wish. But the language doesn't care. It has 
no provision for that, except you can do pointer arithmetics to your 
heart's content.


2. The second point is less well known and admittedly a lot more 
confusing. A function parameter can be an array type, but in this 
particular context, sizeof can't get the size either. That part IS 
definitely confusing, and doesn't make much sense IMHO, but it has 
legacy reasons. Fortunately, decent compilers warn about it, but that 
helps only those who care to read warnings. Which anyone should anyway.

For this second point, I'm not sure it's strictly a problem about arrays 
in C rather than a "problem" with function arguments. Now that 
distinction is subtle indeed.

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Thread

on why declare a struct with a single array in it Meredith Montgomery <mmontgomery@levado.to> - 2021-11-12 15:48 -0300
  Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Guillaume <message@bottle.org> - 2021-11-12 19:56 +0100
    Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2021-11-12 19:31 +0000
      Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-12 21:07 +0100
        Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2021-11-18 15:53 +0100
          Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-18 16:13 +0100
            Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2021-11-18 16:26 +0100
              Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it pozz <pozzugno@gmail.com> - 2021-11-18 17:22 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2021-11-18 18:04 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Meredith Montgomery <mmontgomery@levado.to> - 2021-11-19 16:00 -0300
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-18 22:58 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Guillaume <message@bottle.org> - 2021-11-19 17:53 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-11-19 11:27 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2021-11-19 20:46 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-11-19 12:52 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-20 13:36 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-20 14:49 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-11-20 15:52 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 00:19 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2021-11-20 20:44 -0500
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-21 14:51 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2021-11-21 19:32 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-21 21:51 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2021-11-22 03:17 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-22 11:31 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2021-12-10 04:21 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-12-10 14:43 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-22 11:56 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-12-10 01:47 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-12-10 10:55 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-12-10 14:51 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-12-11 06:56 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-12-11 16:04 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-12-11 17:23 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2022-01-21 05:30 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2022-01-21 13:49 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2021-12-11 12:17 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-12-12 13:00 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-12-12 08:25 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-12-12 17:38 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Dick <thiebauddick2@aol.com> - 2021-12-12 16:19 -0500
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-12-13 08:06 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2021-12-13 01:30 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-12-13 09:34 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Robert Latest <boblatest@yahoo.com> - 2021-12-13 18:53 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-12-13 20:38 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-12-15 00:38 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-12-15 11:21 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-12-15 10:26 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-12-15 10:45 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-12-10 10:52 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Guillaume <message@bottle.org> - 2021-11-22 04:06 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-22 11:32 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-11-22 13:00 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2021-11-21 13:08 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2021-11-20 20:44 -0500
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 12:22 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2021-11-20 20:13 -0700
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 12:35 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2021-11-21 10:53 -0700
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 18:49 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2021-11-21 13:04 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 14:42 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Guillaume <message@bottle.org> - 2021-11-21 01:34 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-11-21 00:48 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2021-11-20 16:58 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-11-21 14:40 +0100
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2021-11-21 12:59 -0800
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2021-11-21 15:58 +0000
                Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2021-11-20 10:55 +0000
  Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2021-11-13 08:47 +0000
    Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Guillaume <message@bottle.org> - 2021-11-13 18:23 +0100
  Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Kaz Kylheku <480-992-1380@kylheku.com> - 2021-11-13 17:55 +0000
  Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> - 2021-11-19 13:14 +0300
    Re: on why declare a struct with a single array in it Meredith Montgomery <mmontgomery@levado.to> - 2021-11-19 16:07 -0300

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