Re: [groff] hyphenation issues

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Ingo,

> 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.

It's really not that evil.

                    char **const (*gbrs_evil)[2][3]
    gbrs_evil is a                 gbrs_evil
    pointer to                    *
    array of 2                               [2]
    array of 3                                  [3]
    const                  const
    pointer to            *
    pointer to           *
    char            char

> that "char const = const char" is *not* what is causing the real
> difficulty here, but merely a minor, trivial curiosity near the
> sideline.

I think those struggling with Andersons' `right left' rule, or
equivalent, will probably find that const being allowed to shift
position but not meaning is significant compared to those of us that
have `got it'.  If unary minus could come before or after in arithmetic,
I think it would also trouble.  `-3+-1+-4' → `-3+1-+4-'.

>         char  *const  *my_evil[2][3];
> What is sizeof(my_evil), sizeof(*my_evil),

The size of the six elements, and the size of three of them.

> sizeof(gbrs_evil), and sizeof(*gbrs_evil)?

The size of a pointer to that array's elements, and the size of six
elements.

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

No, though Ken did make it logical, it's just understanding the logic!
:-)  When he was one of Go's three authors, they made declarations read
left to right.

    var foo *[2][3]**byte

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.
https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy