Thread: variable type declaration

Code:

u_short in_cksum(unsigned short *addr, int len);
u_long resolv(char *host);

i know what short and long are, but what does the "u_" do there?


ive been wondering about these aswell

Code:

struct pseudohdr {
u_int32_t saddr;
u_int32_t daddr;
u_int8_t zero;
u_int8_t protocol;
u_int16_t length;
} *pseudohdr;

weird

thanks

'u' always stands for unsigned
32, 8, and 16 stand for how many bits per variable:

if char is 8 bit

then I would do:

Code:

typedef unsigned char u_int8_t

typedef struct {
   unsigned char1 x;
   unsigned char2 y;
} u_int16_t

typedef struct {
   unsigned char1 x;
   unsigned char2 y;
   unsigned char3 x;
   unsigned char4 y;
} u_int32_t

u_int32_t saddr;
u_int32_t daddr;
u_int8_t zero;
u_int8_t protocol;
u_int16_t length;

now it makes sense...
thanks

For something that is called u_int16_t, I wouldn't expect it to be a structure. I would have expected something like this, YMMV.

Code:

typedef unsigned short u_short;
typedef unsigned long  u_long;
typedef unsigned char  u_int8_t;
typedef unsigned short u_int16_t;
typedef unsigned long  u_int32_t;

I know that the reason for these typedefs is to try make this code easier to port to platforms with different size ints, but in my opinion it just obfuscates code.

Having said that, this is one of very few situations I break from my avoidance of typedefs. But I would prefer to make the typedefs match the exact-width integer type identifiers defined in C99, with suitable wrappers.

Code:

#if defined(__STDC_VERSION__) && __STDC_VERSION__ >= 199901
  #include <stdint.h>
#else /* typedefs specific to a platform */
  typedef unsigned char  uint8_t;
  typedef unsigned short uint16_t;
  typedef unsigned long  uint32_t;
#endif