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From: Quantum Porcupine <jshagam AT nmsu DOT edu>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Declaring arrays inside generic function
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 21:04:09 -0700
Organization: New Mexico State University
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To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
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On Mon, 27 Nov 1995, Michael E. Wesolowski wrote:

> I don't know if this is a problem with gcc, the DOS port of gcc, or 
> something (i.e., not a bug) in the implementation that I don't know 
> about. I'm using the DOS port of gcc (djgpp), v1.12m4. This is equivalent 
> ot gcc 2.6.3, if I remember correctly.
> 
> I have a generic function which has as one of its input parameters an int 
> which identifies an array size. Within the function, I attempt to declare 
> an array of int's:
> 
> int item_count [array_size];
> 
> where array_size is the input parameter. When I look at the array in the 
> debugger (gdb) however, what i see is an array of int pointers (I think) 
> - something like int (*) [60000] (the 60000 is approximate). If I 
> explicitly declare the array as, for example, item_count [10], I get the 
> expected array of 10, uninitialized ints. SO, what's the problem?
> 
> If it's something in the ANSI standard, I'd appreciate the paragraph 
> reference as well as a simple description of what's going on. Thanks.
> 
That's probably due to the old 64k segment limit imposed by DOS... it's 
probably just splitting it across many segments like any coder who's 
worked in realmode (yeah, I know, this is pmode, weird huh?) has done 
many times...

    ________________________________________________________________________
   / Joshua Shagam                    /    (Quantum Porcupine / Versatile) /
  / mailto:JShagam AT nmsu DOT edu          /       http://web.nmsu.edu/~jshagam /
 / phone://1.505.645.3856/~joshua   /  for the Quantum Porcupine Archive /
/__________________________________/____________________________________/
 Stop the execution of King Louis XIV!  If you agr-- oops, too late! :)