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From: ark@rabbit.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: typedef in c
Message-ID: <2300@rabbit.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Dec-83 10:07:08 EST
Article-I.D.: rabbit.2300
Posted: Sat Dec 17 10:07:08 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Dec-83 06:16:59 EST
References: <319@aecom.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 23

Original query:  Why doesn't this work:

	typedef struct {
		newtyp *link;
	} newtyp;

Answer:  C is, in effect, a language designed to be parsed
in a single pass.  In the example above, the compiler doesn't
even know yet that "newtyp" is a type the first time it encounters
it, so it can't parse it.  The following will work, though:

	struct newtyp {
		struct newtyp *link;
	};

or even:

	typedef struct foo {
		struct foo *link;
	} newtyp;

because in each case there are no forward references necessary to work
out the meaning of an identifier.