flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal) (11/20/89)
There was talk awhile ago about having a monthly "frequently asked questions" posting in comp.lang.c. I've been collecting a few possible topics for this list and am hereby offering to edit and post it. One big question is whether or not the article should be cross-posted to comp.std.c. To solicit answers to this question I am cross-posting the current article to comp.std.c. I think it probably should be, because cross-posts don't take extra disk space on most systems, and there are some frequently asked questions in comp.std.c too. So here's my list so far. It's kinda terse. If you don't understand something on it, wait for the first monthly posting to clarify it. If there's something you feel should be added, send mail to flaps@dgp.utoronto.ca. I intend to use previously posted articles where possible for source material for the answers to these questions. I guess they're not all (or even mostly) questions, so I'll think of a new title. Mostly I'm just telling you all this because I'm hoping for helpful comments. Comments by mail are probably best. If they're not going to be part of the monthly posting, I'll summarize them to the net, as usual. -- Pointers, etc: * null pointer, 0, casts required for un-prototyped function arguments, casts not required for comparison or assignment * pointers vs arrays, esp formal declaration rewriting rules * a[b] === b[a] Misc data type stuff: * signedness of chars * number of bits in an int, int != long, etc * you have to declare things correctly, not as what you wish they were * why isn't "a"[0] a constant expression? * meaning or lack thereof of (int (*)[]) * use of va_arg with things like int (*)() * how do you construct a va_list? Real life section: * why does [bizarre construct] work? (general don't-post-to-the-net advice) * why doesn't [bizarre construct] work? * where can I get an online ansiC std? * please send me a pascal to c translator that does everything I want * please add programmer-intention inference to all C compilers * how do I make the video monitor explode in Turbo C? (questions about systems rather than programming languages) Other: * the question of white space in C (e.g. a + +b vs a++b) * function argument evaluation order * && (etc) evaluation order