Re: Integral types and own type definitions (was Re: Suggested method for returning a string from a C program?)

On 26.03.2025 20:38, Keith Thompson wrote:

Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> writes:

On 26.03.2025 12:33, David Brown wrote:

[...]

Even in C (in a desperate attempt to bring us back on topic for the
group), there are no negative integer constants - merely positive
integer constants with a unary minus operator applied.

>
Is that so? (Harmlessly asking.) - I mean, if I write  int x = -5;
does it matter (in "C") whether its parsed as  <integer number>  or
 <negation> <positive number> ?

 
If -5 were a single token (an integer constant), then 6-5 would be an
integer constant 6 followed by an integer constant -5, a syntax error.

This is generally not true; that depends on the syntax rules. It is
perfectly fine to have rules for 2-ary addition and subtraction and
have also negative (and positive) literals or expressions with unary
plus and minus operators.

Disclaimer: As usual I'm not speaking about any peculiarity that "C"
may (or may not) have defined in its standard, but generally.

Janis

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