Public Comment Number PC-UK0111

ISO/IEC CD 9899 (SC22N2620) Public Comment

=========================================== 

Date: 1998-02-25
Author: N.M Maclaren
Author Affiliation: Self
Postal Address:
    University of Cambridge,
    Computer Laboratory,
    New Museums Site,
    Pembroke Street,
    Cambridge CB3 3QG,
    United Kingdom
E-mail Address: <nmm1@cam.ac.uk>
Telephone Number: +44 1223 334761
Fax Number:       +44 1223 334679
Number of individual comments: 1


Comment 1. 

Category: Editorial change/non-normative contribution

Committee Draft subsection: 6.7.1

Title: Clarification of function definitions


Detailed description:

The rewriting rules in paragraph 10 have caused some confusion in C89, and
will cause an increasing amount as VLAs start to be used.  Consider the
following:

    static double a[5];

    void fred (double b[5]) {
        double (*p)[5] = &a;
        double **q = &b;    /* This looks very odd */
        p = &b;             /* And so does this */
        q = &a;
    }

I suggest adding a footnote to paragraph 10, such as:

    120a. This paragraph applies to compilation as well as execution;
    for example, the type checking will use the pointer type corresponding
    to any parameter specified as an array.