Thread: typedef issue in c

Greeting to Everyone,

I have been asked by my friend the explanation of the usage and functionality of this typedef

Code:

(highlighted as //Issue01)

but it seems complicated to me as well.

Code:

#define INDEX_MASK 0x0000FFFF
typedef struct
{
   U8  data[4];
   U16 crc;
} term_sf_param; 


typedef const struct term_titem_par_s
{
   term_titype_t itype;
   void* p_val;
   term_limits_t lim;
   U32 identifier;
} term_titem_par_t, *term_pitem_par;


typedef const struct _term_titem_s
{
  term_titype_t itype;
} term_titem_t, *term_pitem;


static term_sf_param *para_set0 = NULL;


term_sf_param term_set_get(term_pitem p_item_new)
{
  term_sf_param  par0 = para_set0[((term_pitem_par)p_item_new)->identifier & INDEX_MASK]; //Issue02


  return par0;
}


typedef S16 (*ifunci)(S16);


typedef  ifunci const *term_titype_t;     //Issue01


typedef struct
{
   U8  data[4];
   U16 crc;
} term_sf_param;

At this point, I don't understand how will this typedef works? Is it just associating a name

Code:

"const *term_titype_t"

to function pointer

Code:

"S16 (*ifunci)(S16)"

?? It does sound unclear and some part may be in typedef I have either missed or not understood completely.. can anybody explain how this thing works?


Additionally in function

Code:

"term_set_get"

, the input argument is "p_item_new" whose datatype is "term_pitem". Inside the function, that same argument is typecasted with structure

Code:

"term_pitem_par"

and based on the values, it updates "para_set0".


It seems awkward as

Code:

sizeof(term_pitem) < sizeof(term_pitem_par)

. Would be doing that is correct? Is this concept related to data hiding (its my assumption) as I have never encountered this type casting before.


Any link or description related to my problem will also be appreciable.


Thanks in advance..

Originally Posted by john.c

I don't get the first issue either. I don't see what another level of pointers achieves. Can you show the code where itype is set and where it is called?

For the second issue, the fact that the casted-to struct is bigger is not a problem since we are accessing it through a pointer. Also note that the first member is the same in both structs, so this is a kind of polymorphism in C where the smaller struct is the "base class" and the larger struct extends it with extra fields. Presumably there are other structs that extend it with different fields.

Sorry friend, it seems that the element

"itype"

of structure "term_titem_t" are not directly assigning and being called anywhere in code. It is only been used as argument to function.
Also is not it is better to define data-type of function argument as "term_pitem_par" rather "term_pitem"?

Hi Salem,

Thanks for the post, but I did not get your answer..

Could you please explain. Any particular objective to do such level of "misdirection" (with no comments at all...at-least it is what it seems to me). Isn't its an example of bad programming? as

Originally Posted by Salem

It helps to copy the very bare minimum into a file and try it.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

// a function pointer
typedef int (*ifunci)(int);

// a const pointer to a function pointer
typedef  ifunci const *term_titype_t; 

int foo ( int bar ) {
    return printf("%d\n", bar);
}

int main()
{
    ifunci  p1 = foo;
    term_titype_t   t = &p1;
    printf("%d\n", p1(42));
    printf("%d\n", (*t)(999));
    return 0;
}


$ gcc foo.c
$ ./a.out 
42
3
999
4