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From: dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: When do you use "if ( a = b )"? (was Re: Funn
Message-ID: <1196@caslon.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 91 17:45:59 GMT
References: <8148@rsiatl.Dixie.Com> <15481@smoke.brl.mil> <775@camco.Celestial.COM> <65837@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 27

In article <65837@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> chu@acsu.buffalo.edu (john c chu) writes:
|In article <775@camco.Celestial.COM> bill@camco.Celestial.COM (Bill Campbell) writes:
|[concerning "if ( a = b )"
|>Certainly it
|>is a legal construction, but 90% of the time when I do this it
|>was my mistake!
|
|It's been my mistake everytime I've done it!! I realize that it is a
|legal construction and I know what it does, but I was wondering...
|Is there a good use for this?


How about:
	if( ptr = malloc(sizeof(spam)) ) {
	   <stuff>
	   }
	else panic( "Time to buy some more memory!" ) ;

Now I realize that this is not the normal idiom for checking for a NULL malloc,
but it does work, and has a certain charm in that the if-expression is rather
simpler than the usual

	if( (ptr = malloc(sizeof(spam))) == NULL )
	   ...etc...

-- 
Dave Schaumann | dave@cs.arizona.edu | Short .sig's rule!