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- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!concert!sas!mozart.unx.sas.com!sasghm
- From: sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com (Gary Merrill)
- Subject: Re: Pointer/address reluctance
- Originator: sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com
- Sender: news@unx.sas.com (Noter of Newsworthy Events)
- Message-ID: <Bt53qx.Brp@unx.sas.com>
- Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 18:08:57 GMT
- References: <l8kteaINNp2c@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1992Aug14.173255.10548@wyvern.twuug.com> <l8ojbqINN900@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
- Nntp-Posting-Host: theseus.unx.sas.com
- Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
- Lines: 38
-
-
- In article <l8ojbqINN900@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
-
- |> And I find it implausible in the extreme that "an address
- |> constant is not an address". Does this mean that a case
- |> would be made that an integer constant is not an integer?
-
- Of course an integer constant is not an integer. An integer constant
- is an expression in the programming language -- it is a *linguistic*
- entity (note that it is defined in the "syntax" portion of the
- standard, for example). An integer is a mathematical object (the
- nature of which I will not get into here). The integer constant
- *denotes* ("stands for", if you like) the integer. What we are
- talking about here is simply the difference between a numeral and
- a number. Consider, for example the following:
-
- An address constant in C begins with an ampersand.
- [true]
-
- but
-
- An address begins with an ampersand.
- [ridiculous]
-
-
- |> We have an "address-of" operator, rather than a "pointed-to" operator.
- |> It appears that addresses are in the standard however informally.
- |> I suspect that people are distinguishing between "pointer"
- |> and "address" out of a misguided desire to over-generalize.
-
- No. Rather it is out of a desire to provide as precise a semantics
- as possible while not imposing arbitrary constraints on implementing
- the language on possible future architectures.
-
- --
- Gary H. Merrill [Principal Systems Developer, C Compiler Development]
- SAS Institute Inc. / SAS Campus Dr. / Cary, NC 27513 / (919) 677-8000
- sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com ... !mcnc!sas!sasghm
-