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From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: initialization of unions
Message-ID: <6604@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 23:17:46 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.6604
Posted: Thu Oct 29 23:17:46 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Nov-87 05:31:57 EST
References: <165600017@uiucdcsb> <4237@ccv.bbn.COM>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 15

In article <4237@ccv.bbn.COM> kgregory@ccy.bbn.com (Keith D Gregory) writes:
>ANSI C has a specific way of initializing unions, which, as I recall is so
>ambiguously worded as to be almost useless (allow 20 minutes to decipher :-)

There is nothing ambiguous about initializing unions specifically;
however, many people have had trouble understanding the rules for
incompletely { } bracketed initializer lists for aggregates in
general, and that part of the wording in the draft proposed Standard
is being revised.  (The problem is that it is not clear from the
former rules whether the initializer list should be parsed "bottom
up" or "top down".)

>... unions are initialized as if you were initializing their first element.

Yes.  First member, actually.