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From: chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: malloc()
Message-ID: <1677@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 24-May-86 00:11:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1677
Posted: Sat May 24 00:11:17 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 25-May-86 18:09:59 EDT
References: <3674@sun.uucp> <835@bentley.UUCP> <8@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: Computer Sci. Dept, U of Maryland, College Park, MD
Lines: 28
Summary: why have `void *'

The real reason for `void *', which everyone seems to be missing,
is that it provides a generic pointer type.

Of course, if you need such a thing, you can usually get away with

	union all_possible_ptrs {
		char		*ifchar;
		unsigned char	*ifuchar;
		short		*ifshort;
		unsigned short	*ifushort;
		int		*ifint;
		unsigned int	*ifunit;
		long		*iflong;
		unsigned long	*ifulong;
		float		*iffloat;
		double		*ifdouble;
	};

but it is conceivable that this might be insufficent on a
machine with special structure pointers.  On such a machine,
this union might be (say) 30 bits wide, whereas a generic
pointer might be 34 bits.  Thus `void *'.

Besides, do you really *want* to use such a union?
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 1516)
UUCP:	seismo!umcp-cs!chris
CSNet:	chris@umcp-cs		ARPA:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu