link list problem, struct and malloc

[durrr]

whats wrong with my code. i get this error while compiling

gcc -ggdb -std=c99 -Wall -Werror   -c -o dictionary.o dictionary.c
dictionary.c: In function 'load':
dictionary.c:58:21: (32 in the abbreviated code below) error: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [-Werror]
cc1: all warnings being treated as errors

typedef struct node
{
    char *word;
    struct node *next;
} node;

bool
load(const char *dictionary)
{
    // open dictionary
    FILE *fp = fopen(dictionary, "r");
    if (fp == NULL)
    { 
        printf("Error opening dictionary");
        return 1111;
    }
    
    // link list of words
    node *dict_list = malloc(sizeof(node));
    
    // read current word
    int counter = 0;
    char *word;
    for (char c = fgetc(fp); c != '\0'; c = fgetc(fp)) // loop through chars until end of word
    {
        word[counter] = c; // add chars to current word
        counter++;
    }
    word[counter] = '\0'; // word is finished reading
    
    // save current word
    dict_list->word = *word;
    // dictionary has been loaded
    return true;
}

[oogabooga]

Nice code formatting. Refreshing.

You should return false, not 1111 (but see next point).

Actually, you should change the return type to Node* since you currently have no way to return the list. In the case of an error, return NULL, otherwise return dict_list.

Assuming the input file is a text file, you loop condition shouldn't be c != '\0'. If it's one word per line, the loop condition should be c != '\n'. However, it would make more sense to use fgets to read a line at a time.

You do not malloc any space for word.

And when you assign word to dict_list->word, you shouldn't be using the asterisk (this is the cause of the error you asked about).

You should close the file at the end of the function.

And you're only reading in (and have only allocated space for) a single word whereas I assume you want to read in the whole file.

BTW, if you're planning to do an efficient search on this list (e.g., a binary search), you should read them into an array instead of a linked list.

[iMalc]

BTW, if you're planning to do an efficient search on this list (e.g., a binary search), you should read them into an array instead of a linked list.

With a sorted list you wouldn't really ever do a binary search. It would be slower than a linear search.
Even searching a sorted vs non-sorted list at best only improves things by a factor of 2, a factor that would often pale in comparison to the speed improvement of having the items in a contiguous array, as far as just lookups are concerned.

I'm of the opinion that the only list searching technique that makes significant difference, is performing move-to-front of items found, assuming of course that items lookup frequencies are significantly uneven. Othwise just about any other data structure is better, again just as far as lookups are concerned.

[oogabooga]

With a sorted list you wouldn't really ever do a binary search. It would be slower than a linear search.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, you're saying that you agree with me, right?

I'm not suggesting that he perform a binary search on the linked list (which would be totally nuts).

I'm saying that if the OP's goal is to read the entire file of "words" into memory and then perform efficient searches on it (which is just an assumption since the code is so broken), then it's best to NOT use a linked list and instead to use an array so that a binary search can be used.

[iMalc]

Ah, thanks for the clarification.