Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Indefinite-length array as member of struct:  how?
Message-ID: <1989Jul7.155055.18983@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <7360@c3pe.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 15:50:55 GMT

In article <7360@c3pe.UUCP> charles@c3pe.UUCP (Charles Green) writes:
>I have an application where I'm building and manipulating a stack of
>variable-length strings...
>
>struct node {
>	struct node* next;
>	char	string[];
>} *nodeptr;

I believe I recall Dennis Ritchie once characterizing this sort of thing
as "unwarranted chumminess with the compiler"!  I suspect that a close
reading of the draft C standard says you can get away with it, but it's
still cheating in at least a small way.

If you want to shut your compiler up, try making that "[1]".
-- 
$10 million equals 18 PM       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
(Pentagon-Minutes). -Tom Neff  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu