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From: robert@sri-spam.istc.sri.com (Robert Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: C struct definition according to K & R.
Message-ID: <9929@sri-spam.istc.sri.com>
Date: Tue, 10-Mar-87 13:31:59 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-spam.9929
Posted: Tue Mar 10 13:31:59 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Mar-87 03:49:28 EST
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 58
Keywords: May structs have similar member names in dissimilar order?


	I have been programming in C for about 5 years, on DEC and Sun
	C compilers for UNIX.  Recently several persons stated a point
	which I find difficult to believe, however this point has
	also been brought up in. re. the ANSI C standard, and I would
	apprecitate some opinions from netters.

    According to "The Proposed ANSI C Language Standard, part 5" by
    Rex Jaeschke in _Programmers_World_, Jan-Feb '87, the following
    is true (I quote verbatim):

	"K&R (page 197) says 'Two structures may share a common initial
	 sequence of members; that is, the same member may appear in
	 two different structures if it has the same type in both and
	 all previous members are the same in both. (Actually, the
	 compiler chekcs only that a name in two different structures
	 has the same type and offset in both, but if preceding members
	 differ the construction is nonportable.)'

	 This meant that the following declarations generated a syntax
	 error since i and l had different types and offsets.

	    struct s1 {
		int i;
		long l;
	    }

	    struct s2 {
		long i;
		int l;
	    }
	"

    My understanding of the pertinent K&R text is, simply, the opposite.
    That you *may* have the above construct in C.  I believe that the issue
    was discussed in K&R for some unknown reason, possibly because a language
    in use at the time the C spec was written (?) *did not* allow such naming
    conventions.  In short, I believe that K&R were saying, "while constructs
    such as this (above) may cause problems in some languages, they don't in
    C."

    My question to the net is, do you believe that the above constructs are
    strictly legal in K&R C, or do you believe they are illegal in K&R C.
    I'm interested in the C aspect, not so much how a given compiler does
    it (although that would be much appreciated).  If you reply by mail or
    on the net, please include the # of years you've been using C, and which
    machines/compilers you use.  Thanks!
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
    "Ohhhh, God hates me..."

    "Hate 'em back, it works for me!"

    "PUNTA, PUNTA, PUNTA!!"

Robert Allen,
robert@spam.istc.sri.com
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