Re: technology discussion → does the world need a "new" C ?

bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
[...]

Arrays can be passed by explicit reference:
>
  void F(int(*A)[20]) {
      printf("%zu\n", sizeof(*A)/sizeof((*A)[0]));    // shows 20
  }
>
That can be called like this:
>
  int a[20];
  F(&a);

On the language level, that's passing a pointer to an array object.
The pointer itself is passed by value.  Passing a pointer to an array
is conceptually no different than passing a pointer to anything else.

C has pass-by-reference in exactly the same way that it has
linked lists.  It has neither as a language feature, but both can
be emulated using pointers.  And you can't really understand how
C handles arrays if you start by asserting that they're "passed
by reference".

But you just have to make it seem more complicated than it really is.

[...]

--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */