Newsgroups: news.software.b
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: compiler error?
Message-ID: <1989Jul2.224422.16947@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1989Jun29.010600.6802@intacc.uucp> <1989Jun30.204822.2821@utzoo.uucp> <2722@splut.conmicro.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 89 22:44:22 GMT

In article <2722@splut.conmicro.com> jay@splut.conmicro.com (Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard) writes:
>>Well, you might try simplifying offsetof to
>>#define offsetof(type, mem) ((int)&((type *)NULL)->mem)
>
>Ack!!! Assuming that (char *) == (int) is terrible programming practice.
>I thought you knew better, Henry.

We're not talking about clean programming practice, we're talking about
how to implement offsetof() under a buggy compiler. :-)  Note that I didn't
say it would work, just that it was worth trying.

The fact is, there isn't any clean portable way to implement offsetof().
Assuming that &NULL->foo is going to work isn't really any better.  The
right solution is an ANSI C implementation, which has to provide offsetof()
*somehow*.  In the absence of that, one does what one must.
-- 
$10 million equals 18 PM       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
(Pentagon-Minutes). -Tom Neff  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu