[avr-gcc-list] Re: issues with struct and volatile

[David Brown]

Bob Paddock wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:59 AM, David Brown<address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > The principle is right, the details are wrong.  You want:
> >
> >        uint8_t * volatile tx_tail;
> >
> > These things are so very easy to get wrong that I always use typedefs:
> >
> >        typedef uint8_t * pUint8_t;
> >        volatile pUint8_t tx_tail;
> >
> > That way there is no room for confusion or error.
>
>
> There is always the 'cdecl' program that does
>  English <--> C/C++ declarations translations.
>
> ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/devel/lang/c/cdecl-2.5.tar.gz
> ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2apps/cdecl25b.zip
> ftp://ftp.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2apps/cdecl25s.zip
>
> cdecl> explain volatile *x
> declare x as pointer to volatile int
>
> cdecl> explain int volatile *x
> declare x as volatile pointer to int
>
> Maybe cdecl could be included in WinAVR?

From testing here it doesn't look like cdecl is entirely reliable.  But 
even it were, it is hardly a good idea to write code declarations that 
are so convoluted that you need extra utilities to interpret them.  It 
is a much better idea to write clear and unambiguous code in the first 
place - that's what typedefs give you.