Re: definition/explanation of an unboxed array in c is ...?

ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
or is "unboxed" and "unboxed arrays" not really applicable to c ?

"Unboxed" and "boxed" aren't C terms. In some object-
oriented languages, they refer (usually informally) to
simple primitive variables and to full-fledged objects,
respectively. In Java, for example, a `float' variable is
a primitive and a `Float' is an object with a `float' hidden
("boxed") inside it. (Why bother? Because an object is an
instance of a "class," and the class provides "methods" that
code can use without necessarily being fully aware of exactly
what kind of object is at hand. This is said to promote code
reuse; IMHO "promote" is some distance short of "guarantee.")

C has "objects," but not in the way O-O languages use the
term. C's objects are passive receptacles for values; an O-O
language would probably call them primitives or aggregates of
primitives. In other words, all C variables of all kinds are
"unboxed," and there is no way to "box" them.

--
Eric Sosman
esosman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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