Confusion about similar syntax
involving structure definitions
typedefs and structures
As we have seen, typedef is commonly used by programmers to make
an alias for a struct type when it is defined. The syntax is :
<![CDATA[
typedef struct point
{
int x;
int y;
} POINT;
]]>
so here POINT is a data type, identical to a struct point.
structure definitions & variable declarations
Since we use separate compilation for all of our projects, and the
structure definitions end up being placed in header files, we will
never encounter the following use of a structure definiton with an
associated declaration of a variable. You should, however, be aware that
it is possible to declare variables of a struct type at the same time as
the stucture is defined. Here's the example:
<![CDATA[
struct point
{
int x;
int y;
} POINT;
]]>
Here POINT is a variable of type struct point, not a type. I
broke the 201 naming conventions here to illustrate and further compound
the confusion.
So how do you know if POINT is a type being typedefed or just a variable
being declared ?
If the word typedef does not appear before the definition, then a variable
is being declared.