Layout of Structs

stein@pixelpump.osc.edu (Rick 'Transputer' Stein)
> I have some questions about how a compiler constructs a symbol table.
> [questions on structure layout deleted]


Our erstwhile moderator replies:
> C compilers have the right to lay out structures any way they see fit,
> unless the ANSI committee changed the rules.


I quote, without permission, from The Bible, page 196, First Edition:


"Within a structure, the objects declared have addresses which increase
as their declarations are read lef-to-right. Each non-field member of
a structure begins on an addressing boundry appropriate to its type;
therefore, there may be unnamed holes in a structure. Field members
are packed into machine integers; they do not straddle words. A field
which does not fit into the space remaining in a word is put into the
next word....."


It is a Good Thing [tm] that structures are laid out in this way. As
a hardware type, I often need to write device drivers. Being able to
impose a structure onto a hardware memory map is a very useful thing,
indeed.


Jonathan A. Chandross
Internet: jac@paul.rutgers.edu
UUCP: rutgers!paul.rutgers.edu!jac
[I hope I'm not the erstwhile moderator yet, but stand corrected. -John]
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