Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!sdrc!scjones
From: scjones@sdrc.UUCP (Larry Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: VAX C typedef oddity
Message-ID: <339@sdrc.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jul 88 14:20:02 GMT
References: <880721084219.00000643081@naif.JPL.NASA.GOV> <4147@brspyr1.BRS.Com>
Organization: Structural Dynamics Research Corp., Cincinnati
Lines: 20

In article <4147@brspyr1.BRS.Com>, tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Tim Northrup) writes:
> 
> 	typedef struct _iobuf *FILE;
> 
> FILE is being defined as "pointer to _iobuf structure", the spacing
> on either side of the asterisk being ignored.
> 
> But this seems strange -- every other system defines FILE not as a pointer
> type, but a structure type?  Very odd.  What is going on here?

Unlike "every other system", VAX-11 C allows an unlimited number of files.
Instead of having a fixed-size array of _iobuf structures they malloc them
as needed, thus FILE becomes a pointer rather than a structure.

----
Larry Jones                         UUCP: ...!sdrc!scjones
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Nancy Reagan on superconductivity: "Just say mho."