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From: keesan@cc5.bbn.com.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Returning a value from ?:
Message-ID: <1464@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM>
Date: Mon, 1-Jun-87 17:25:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: cc5.1464
Posted: Mon Jun  1 17:25:29 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jun-87 01:42:03 EDT
References: <7555@brl-adm.ARPA>
Reply-To: keesan@cc5.bbn.com.UUCP (Morris M. Keesan)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 19

In article <7555@brl-adm.ARPA> DAVE%UWF.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.EDU writes:
>
>     (f(a) * f(p) > 0) ? (a = p) : (b = p);
>
>Is the above
>statement not valid C code?  Should the result be put into a variable of
>some sort?  I am aware of the philosophy that all expressions should
>return a value, and that the value returned should be referenced.  So
>is Turbo just enforcing that, or should Borland have allowed it to pass
>with a warning?

Sounds like your problem was simply a bug in the compiler.  The above
expression is perfectly valid, and the expression (a = p) returns a value
just as much as any conditional expression.  You can't reference the value of
every expression, nor is there any reason to.
-- 
Morris M. Keesan
keesan@cci.bbn.com
{harvard,decvax,ihnp4,etc.}!bbnccv!keesan