Re: [groff] hyphenation issues

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi Branden,

G. Branden Robinson wrote on Sat, May 05, 2018 at 05:20:19PM -0400:
> At 2018-05-05T20:05:20+0200, Ingo Schwarze wrote:

>> P.S.
>> By the way, using "char const" doesn't make understanding
>> 
>>   char *const *evil[2][3];
>> 
>> any easier for people who do not know the rules...

> This looks like a wonderful opportunity to embarrass myself.
> 
> "evil" is a pointer to a 2x3 array of immutable pointers to strings.
> 
> Right?

Almost.

If you call

        char           ca[];    /* an array of characters */
        char          *s;       /* a string */
        char   const  *sc;      /* an immutable string */
        char         **sp;      /* a pointer to a string */
        char   const **scp;     /* a pointer to an immutable string */
        char **const   spc;     /* an immutable pointer of to a string */
        char          *sa[];    /* an array of strings */
        int   *const   ipc;     /* an immutable pointer to an integer */
        char  *const   cpc;     /* an immutable pointer to a character */
        int          (*iap)[];  /* a pointer to an array of integers */

then

        char  *const  *my_evil[2][3];

is a 2x3 array of pointers to immutable pointers to characters.

What you described as a pointer to a 2x3 array of immutable pointers
to strings might be

        char **const (*gbrs_evil)[2][3]

But as i said, it is evil, so maybe i'm wrong, too.


My point wasn't what such evil things mean (even though i admit to
the sin of writing "const char **arches[] = {..." in mandoc), but
merely that "char const = const char" is *not* what is causing
the real difficulty here, but merely a minor, trivial curiosity
near the sideline.  I guess that came across now.  :)

I most emphatically agree that both the concept of C pointers,
strings, and arrays, as well as their syntax, are hard to master
even for seasoned C programmers, an abundant nest of bugs, and often
enough leave me bewildered, too.  Add the sizeof() operator to the
mix and brace yourself for chaos.  What is sizeof(my_evil),
sizeof(*my_evil), sizeof(gbrs_evil), and sizeof(*gbrs_evil)?

That particular syntax possibly isn't K&R&T's most outstanding
achievement...

Now we are definitely off topic.  SCNR.

Yours,
  Ingo