🚀 go-pugleaf

In comp.std.c, Michael Spertus<mps@geodesic.com> wrote:

>My question is what the committee means by the words "proper alignment". If
>"proper" COMPLETELY ignores efficiency consideration even if they are
>gross, it means that I would have to align all malloc() returns according to
>the size of the data in all portable code I write.

This is a quality of implementation issue.  In other words, somebody
could write a losing compiler/standard library which generated pessimal
code when malloc() is used with certain data types.  A compiler writer
is also allowed to have the compiler put a loop eating up 100 seconds of
CPU time each time an assignment is made.  Neither would tend to sell
many compilers; neither is likely to be implemented.


>However, I've never seen
>an "ANSI C" textbook that advises aligning malloc() returns by hand.

I know of no compiler which is as brain-damaged as the one you describe;
when I encounter one, I'd tend to howl to the vendor.
-- 
Thomas Koenig, Thomas.Koenig@ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de, ig25@dkauni2.bitnet.
The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double
logarithmic diagram.