Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz!lawnet!mbf!kris From: kris@mbf.UUCP (A. Krishna Murthy) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: unions or automatic aggregates cannot be initialized. Why? Message-ID: <915@mbf.UUCP> Date: 29 Dec 89 22:32:43 GMT Distribution: na Organization: MAI Basic Four, Inc., Tustin, CA Lines: 19 Hi folks, In the definitive text 'The C Programming Language' by Brian W kernighan and Dennis M Ritchie, Appendix A: C Reference Manual, section 8.6 Initialization, paragraph four, emphatically states "It is not permitted to inititalize unions or automatic aggregates." Why? Note: The above statement is with regard to the definition of the language and NOT to any implementation difficulties. Answers will be very much appreciated. kris.