Oy my head hurts. More confusion in this, any help?

Here's a code I'm reading from a tutorial, and I'm trying to make my own program while learning from this. I try to compile this, and I get errors:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

struct person {
char name [20];
struct person *next;
};
struct person *new;
struct person *head;
head = NULL;
main()
{
new = (person*)malloc (sizeof(struct person));
new->next = head;
head = new;
}


The errors are:

Error c:\tc\test.c 10: Declaration needs type or storage class
Error c:\tc\test.c 10: Type mismatch in redeclaration of 'head'
Error c:\tc\test.c 13: Undefined symbol 'person' in function main
Error c:\tc\test.c 13: Expression syntax in function main
*** 4 errors in Compile ***

Any advice? This code was written by the book I'm reading.

Try this:

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

struct person
{
  char name [20];
  struct person *next;
};
struct person *newbie;
struct person *head = NULL;

int main()
{
  newbie = malloc (sizeof(struct person));
  newbie->next = head;
  head = newbie;
  return 0;
}

---

head = NULL;
You can't execute this here. It must be inside a function or set it during your declaration as I've done.

Your typecast has an invalid type. It should be type (struct person*). However, you don't need to typecast malloc's.

Also don't try to use keywords such as "new" as names for your variables. It will complain if you use a c++ compiler.

Yeah I figured not to use new as a variable when I was writing mine, but this one was written by the book I'm reading. heh

So when using structures as data types, you have to tell the compiler that it's a strucure? LIke struct bobdole *pointer, not just bobdole *pointer;?

Interesting.

Hey it worked!!! You guys are the bomb diggity!!!

Wooyah

Quote:

---

So when using structures as data types, you have to tell the compiler that it's a strucure? LIke struct bobdole *pointer, not just bobdole *pointer;?

---

Yes. The type is "struct bobdole", if you would use "bobdole" only, you need the keyword typedef, this enables you to define you're own types. Like:

typedef struct bobdole bobdole_s;

Now you can do such like this:

bobdole_s variable;

Or declare your structure as a typedef:

Code:

---

typedef struct person
{
  char name [20];
  struct person *next;
}PERSON;

---

Then you can replace every "struct person" with "PERSON" such as:
newbie = malloc (sizeof(PERSON));