Thread: Using of malloc of Structs - C

Suppose we have the following code representing a structure of calendar and dates:

Code:

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

// part 1:
typedef struct Date Date;


struct Date {
    unsigned int day; // a number between 1 to 31
    unsigned int month; // a number between 1 to 12
    char * event;
    Date * next_date;
};


Date * create_date(unsigned int day,
                   unsigned int month, char * event)
{
    if (!(day >= 1 && day <= 31) ||
        !(month >= 1 && month <= 12) ||
        event == NULL) {
        return NULL;
    }
    Date * d = (Date *) malloc (sizeof(Date));
    if (d == NULL) {
        return NULL;
    }
    d->day = day;
    d->month = month;
    d->event = event;
    d->next_date = NULL;
    return d;
}


int are_equals(Date * date1, Date * date2)
{
    if (date1 == NULL || date2 == NULL) {
        return 0;
    }
    if (date1->day == date2->day && date1->month == date2->month) {
        return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}


void free_date(Date *date)
{
    if (date != NULL) {
        free(date);
    }
}


// part 2:
typedef struct Calendar {
    Date * first_date;
} Calendar;


void init_calendar(Calendar * c)
{
    c->first_date = NULL;
    return;
}




int add_to_calendar(Calendar * c, unsigned int day,
                    unsigned int month, char * event)
{
    if (c == NULL) {
        return 0;
    }
    Date* f = c->first_date;
    if (f == NULL) {
        c->first_date = create_date(day, month, event);
        if (c->first_date == NULL) {
            return 0;
        }
        return 1;
    }
    else {
        if (f->day == day && f->month == month) {
            return 0;
        }
        Date* prevDate = f;
        Date* nextDate = f->next_date;
        while (nextDate != NULL) {
            if (nextDate->day == day && nextDate->month == month) {
                return 0;
            }
            prevDate = nextDate;
            nextDate = nextDate->next_date;
        }
        prevDate->next_date = create_date(day, month, event);
        if (prevDate->next_date == NULL) {
            return 0;
        }


        return 1;
    }
}


void free_calendar(Calendar * c)
{
    if (c == NULL) {
        return;
    }
    Date* date = c->first_date;
    if (date == NULL) {
        return;
    }


    Date* nextD = NULL;
    while (date != NULL) {
        nextD = date->next_date;
        free(date);
        date = nextD;
    }
    c->first_date = NULL;
}


void print_calendar(Calendar * c)
{
    if (c == NULL) {
        return;
    }
    Date * current = c->first_date;
    while (current != NULL) {
        printf("%s\n", current->event);
        current = current->next_date;
    }
}

int main()
{


    Calendar c;
    init_calendar(&c);
    add_to_calendar(&c, 19, 8, "Exam_C");
    add_to_calendar(&c, 20, 9, "Exam_CPP");
    print_calendar(&c);
    free_calendar(&c);
    return 0;
}

But, in add_to_calendar function I want to change some of the code slightly, such that, instead of this implementation:

Code:

        prevDate->next_date = create_date(day, month, event);
        if (prevDate->next_date == NULL) {
            return 0;
        }


        return 1;

I want to implement the exact thing but a little differently (omit the validation of the "legal" range of day and month for simplicity):

Code:

        prevDate->next_date = (Date*)malloc(sizeof(Date));
        if (prevDate->next_date == NULL) {
            return 0;
        }
        prevDate->next_date->day = day;
        prevDate->next_date->month = month;
        prevDate->next_date->event = event;


        return 1;

But, this implementation causes errors of Uninitialised values in Valgrind - and I don't understand why.

To my understanding, my implementation does the exact thing (except for the range validation for simplicity) as the first one.
I'm catching the last date in the calendar, taking its next_date field, allocating to it a pointer to Date struct and assigning this struct fields' as needed.

What's the problem?

Thanks in advance!

Super!
Thank you so much John!