Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!haven!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: "array" vs. "&array" ?
Message-ID: <21621@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 3 Jan 90 23:01:11 GMT
References: <1989Dec22.013757.3086@sj.ate.slb.com> <571@mwtech.UUCP> <2368@ektools.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 19

In article <2368@ektools.UUCP> randolph@ektools.UUCP (Gary L. Randolph) writes:
>3.) ANSI extended the language definition to allow taking the 
>    address of an array name, so an ANSI conformant compiler will
>    now (correctly) yield pointer to array of T, or pointer to
>    pointer to T.

There is no `or' about it!  The result is a pointer to an array, NOT
a pointer-to-pointer.  The two types are completely different.

POINTERS AND ARRAYS ARE NOT NOW AND NEVER HAVE BEEN EQUIVALENT IN C.

There are a few special cases under which an object of type `array
N of T' is converted to a value of type `pointer to T', and under which
a declaration of type `array N of T' is converted to a declaration of
type `pointer to T'.  This does not make the types equivalent.  They
are not interchangeable.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris