On Tue, Apr 01, 2014 at 04:20:11PM -0400, Bob Paddock wrote: > > This isn't true in C. In C the only well-defined way to convert a pointer to > > an integer and back again is via intptr_t or uintptr_t. > > > > Does C++ really require the same behavior for size_t? > > cstdint.hpp from Boost, which is what I have at hand says: > > // intptr_t/uintptr_t are defined separately because they are optional > and not universally available >
intptr_t and uintptr_t are optional because the ability to do a round-trip conversion from a pointer through an integer is not something all environments support or that the standard requires. The C standard only provides intptr_t as a common type _if_ the environment supports the operation. If <stdint.h> is available, then I'd be surprised if intptr_t wasn't defined, presuming the operation was supported. <stdint.h> was created by C99, the same standard that defined intptr_t. size_t is only required to be wide enough to describe the size of any _single_ valid object in the system, which basically means wide enough for the sizeof operator to work. Pointers can be wider than size_t. The most common example was x86 real mode, but everybody discounts that as no longer applicable. If you Google around, you'll find that, for example, the C environment for the AS/400 (and successors) has 128-bit data and function pointers but size_t is only 32-bit and doubles 64-bit. Therefore, presuming the AS/400 supported integer/pointer conversions (it might not, because that might allow circumventing memory capability protections), you would have to use intptr_t or uintptr_t. _______________________________________________ ragel-users mailing list ragel-users@complang.org http://www.complang.org/mailman/listinfo/ragel-users