Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!Ozona!chase
From: chase@Ozona.orc.olivetti.com (David Chase)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Declaration puzzler (C as intermediate code)
Message-ID: <30599@oliveb.olivetti.com>
Date: 13 Oct 88 01:28:01 GMT
References: <30091@oliveb.olivetti.com> <717@wsccs.UUCP>
Sender: news@oliveb.olivetti.com
Reply-To: chase@Ozona.UUCP (David Chase)
Organization: Olivetti Research Center, Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 30

In article <717@wsccs.UUCP> dharvey@wsccs.UUCP (David Harvey) writes:
>In article <30091@oliveb.olivetti.com>, chase@orc.olivetti.com (David Chase) writes:
>> 	typedef foo *(foo[10]);
>minds want to know.  Seriously, what do you intend to use this type of
>structure for?  An array of arrays that point to themselves?  Hmm,
>methinks I smell some mischief.

Well, you could call it mischief.  In the interests of having a
compiler for Modula-3 that is easy to port, we're generating C.  The
justification is that since it is possible to declare such an type in
Modula-3, and we are compiling Modula-3, then we must generate some
declaration for it (much as I am tempted, it is not considered good
form for a compiler to offer snide comments on legal programs).  I was
cheerfully spitting out declarations for all sorts of things, but had
a problem involving arrays.  The problem eventually reduced itself to
the example which I presented.  I got pretty PO'd, and posted (I know,
Ms. Net-manners says not do to that; allow me an occasional slip).

As a workaround, we are wrapping all arrays up inside structures.
This also gets us proper semantics for array assignment and parameter
passing, so it isn't too much of a disaster.  However, doing this
makes me distinctly uneasy about the correctness/portability of
addressing arithmetic performed for (multi-dimensional) open arrays.
Ugh.

By the way, anyone out there that thinks that C is a great
intermediate language should think again.  I was going to flame at
length, but decided not to.

David