[SOLVED] stdin and pipes

Doc CPU · 01-05-2012, 02:09 PM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwerty4061

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc CPU

For me, a type cast on the result of malloc() looks more like an attempt of obfuscation. I avoid it for the sake of clarity.

I disagree with you on this. I think it improves readability

I think it doesn't. Usually, you need to use a type cast to cheat on the compiler's type checking - that is, if you want to do something that isn't entirely "legal" in terms of the logics of C.
Assigning a pointer to a freshly allocated chunk of memory, however, is absolutely legal. There's no need for cheating here.
But as soon as I see an explicit type cast in an expression, there's an alarm bell in my programmer's mind: "Watch out! There's something strange, something unusual!" And then I look twice and see: Oh, just an exaggeration in being explicit.

And that doesn't improve readability, it ruins it. And it reduces your sensitivity for really complex expressions that would really deserve special attention.
That's my conviction.

[X] Doc CPU

chrism01 · 01-05-2012, 06:08 PM

If you cast it (at malloc() ) it to the type you want to use it for later (and double * <> char * for instance), then you can use it naturally later in multiple places without having to cast it at each use...
It does also tell the next guy in advance what to expect in terms of usage and also the compiler...

Doc CPU · 01-06-2012, 02:54 AM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

If you cast it (at malloc() ) it to the type you want to use it for later (and double * <> char * for instance), then you can use it naturally later in multiple places without having to cast it at each use...
It does also tell the next guy in advance what to expect in terms of usage and also the compiler...

all that you say is taken care of by the type of the variable that receives the pointer from malloc() - without explicitly writing a type cast.

Code:

#define BLOCKSIZE  0x1000
int i, char *scratch;
   ...
   if (scratch = malloc(BLOCKSIZE))
    { for (i=0; i<BLOCKSIZE; scratch[i++]=0xFF);
      ...
    };

From that sample it becomes clear that inside the if block, scratch now points to a 4k block of memory. Since scratch was declared as char *, I can use it directly anywhere later in the code. I don't need a cast, neither at the malloc() call, nor later.
I don't know if it makes sense to fill a 4k block with 0xFF, but it's just an example.

[X] Doc CPU