What is a vacuous type?

ok, I'm a noob. I'm not ashamed to say it.

So I'm programming along and then I hit shift+F10. I sit back and watch the compiler output; I take it as my PC saying, "Oooh yeah, right there. Wow, you're such a natural...how many compilers have you been with?"

Then all of a sudden, bam:
Error 43 Vacuous type for variable 'ovation'
make: Error code 2

What is a vacuous type? Why is the code below considered a vacuous type? From the little bit of information I found, this seems to be saying: "The variable type is has not yet been defined, and therefore has no set structure or size. This is not allowed; UBYTE me."

here's where the type is declared in my_type.h:

Code:

---

typedef unsigned char        UBYTE;    /* unsigned 8 bit byte */

---

and here's how it's referenced:

Code:

---

typedef  struct {
/* Array of hex values that will be sent to a USB device */
    const UBYTE ovation [] =
        {
                0x55, 0x53, 0x42, 0x43,  /* Bytes 0..3  */
                0xB0, 0x4C, 0x36, 0x87,  /* Bytes 4..7  */
                0x24, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 8..11  */
                0x80, 0x00, 0x06, 0x12,  /* Bytes 12..15 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x24,  /* Bytes 16..19 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 20..23 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 24..27 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 28..31 */
        };
} EJECT_CMD;

---

compiler: Diab D-CC ver 4.3b
OS: winXPsp2

ZK_UBYTE != UBYTE perhaps?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SMurf

ZK_UBYTE != UBYTE perhaps?

---

I didn't see it, but the ZK_ was just a typo in my post. the code I'm using actually does list just UBYTE in my_type.h, not ZK_UBYTE.

I'm hoping you did include your "my_byte.h" file.

And are you allowed to assign data in the middle of a structure definition? I'm pretty sure the answer is "No". It looks like you should have something like

Code:

---

typedef struct {
    const UBYTE ovation[32];
} Command;
Command EJECT_CMD = {
                0x55, 0x53, 0x42, 0x43,  /* Bytes 0..3  */
                0xB0, 0x4C, 0x36, 0x87,  /* Bytes 4..7  */
                0x24, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 8..11  */
                0x80, 0x00, 0x06, 0x12,  /* Bytes 12..15 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x24,  /* Bytes 16..19 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 20..23 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 24..27 */
                0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 28..31 */
        };

---

What is a vacuous type?

I think it's when you declare a variable with the blonde data type.

Apparently (as found by google) Vacuous means "hollow". As to what the compiler is actually complaining about, I'm not quite sure.

You probably need to ask Diab (or whoever represents them) for the actual answer to what this means.

--
Mats

gcc's error messages may be more "customary" to all of us:

Code:

---

temp.c:6: warning: no semicolon at end of struct or union
temp.c:6: error: syntax error before ‘=’ token
temp.c:17: warning: type defaults to ‘int’ in declaration of ‘EJECT_CMD’
temp.c:17: warning: data definition has no type or storage class

---

Again, it would appear the error is the illegal initialization inside of a struct definition.

Edit: And I've never quite seen "hollow" as a def. of vacuous -- it means empty or lacking content (a statement is called "vacuous" or "vacuously true" if it has no content, like "A man is a man.").

I added it to a noddy program as such:

Code:

---

    +5  typedef  struct {
    +6  /* Array of hex values that will be sent to a USB device */
    +7      const UBYTE ovation [] =
    +8          {
    +9                  0x55, 0x53, 0x42, 0x43,  /* Bytes 0..3  */
  +10                  0xB0, 0x4C, 0x36, 0x87,  /* Bytes 4..7  */
  +11                  0x24, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 8..11  */
  +12                  0x80, 0x00, 0x06, 0x12,  /* Bytes 12..15 */
  +13                  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x24,  /* Bytes 16..19 */
  +14                  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 20..23 */
  +15                  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 24..27 */
  +16                  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  /* Bytes 28..31 */
  +17          };
  +18  } EJECT_CMD;

---

and received the following compiler errors:

"tester2.c", line 7.17: 1506-277 (S) Syntax error: possible missing ';' or ','?
"tester2.c", line 17.9: 1506-278 (S) The structure definition must specify a member list.

A Web search on "vacuous type for variable" turned up 8 results, one of which was this:
http://gimpel-online.com/MsgRef.html

Doesn't seem to be the same set-up, but the error number 43 is the same - quite a long page, so do a control-F search on the word 'vacuous'.

:rolleyes: <- link