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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!dayton!viper!john
From: john@viper.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: "file selector" blues, Megamax bug
Message-ID: <821@viper.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Apr-87 16:14:55 EST
Article-I.D.: viper.821
Posted: Sun Apr 12 16:14:55 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Apr-87 00:14:38 EST
References: <639@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: john@viper.UUCP (John Stanley)
Organization: DynaSoft Systems
Lines: 39
Keywords: user-friendly C sizeof

In article <639@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
 braner@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu.UUCP (braner) writes:
 >
 >Programmers: please take more care to change the defaults passed to
 >       that dialog box as appropriate, and to accomodate users that
 >       use the ST in a different fashion than you: RAMdisk, hard disk,
 >       color, B&W, etc.
 >

This is true of a lot of programs.  There are too many people not allowing
for disk systems, hardware, or patterns of use different from what they
would normaly use.  I try to avoid making those types of mistake by showing
my programs to others before I release them.  If possible, I'd recommend
you folkd try doing this to.  It's never too late to rethink your interface
or the methods that lie behind them...

 >Yet another bug in Megamax C:
 >
 >	sizeof("a string constant") always yields 4.
 >
 >	(sizeof(s) where s is of type array-of-char works fine.)
 >
 >- Moshe Braner

  As I mentioned before...  This is infact the right way for sizeof to
work.  When you ask for sizeof(something) you're always asking how
large that element is to the compiler.  The type reference is a reference
to a type with a specific size...  The reference to the string is
translated into a pointer before sizeof gets around to doing it's job.
I agree that the latter is confusing, but it conforms to K&R page 94
"... a reference to an array is converted by the compiler to a pointer
to the beginning of the array." And to page 188 where the effects of
using sizeof on a type identifier is described.  If you wanted to know
how long the string is, you might want to use strlen instead...

--- 
John Stanley (john@viper.UUCP)
Software Consultant - DynaSoft Systems
UUCP: ...{amdahl,ihnp4,rutgers}!{meccts,dayton}!viper!john