generic pointers (was: #define void int vs. #define void char)

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <4420 at haddock.ISC.COM> karl at haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer) writes:
>In article <11823 at mimsy.UUCP> chris at mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>>Indeed, this is the root of an objection I have to the `void *' syntax
>>for generic pointers.  Had the standard included the line
>>	typedef void *pointer_t;	/* or (char *) */
>>in <stddef.h>, one could implement pointer_t on old compilers virtually
>>painlessly.

Old C implementations don't have <stddef.h>.  Chris's suggestion would
amount to a Standard C requirement that everybody define "pointer_t",
but by the Standard it can only be defined one way, namely "void *".
That's hardly worthwhile.  (The other *_t types provide implementations
with the opportunity to make a choice; this one wouldn't.)

There is nothing to keep you from having your own private standard
header that defines special types.  I've had one for many years; it
defines a "bool" (Boolean) type and a "pointer" (generic pointer)
type, among other things.  It is easy to tweak this header when
porting to a new system.  In fact, the definition of "pointer" could
be under control of "#if __STDC__".

>My temporary workaround is to use "Void *" (note the capital V) for generic
>pointers.

This amounts to the same thing.  I prefer to give the generic pointer
itself a type, rather than just a piece of it.