From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!mike@Rand-Unix
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Title: Re: Returning structures
Article-I.D.: sri-unix.4983
Posted: Thu Dec 30 13:46:16 1982
Received: Sat Jan  1 01:50:20 1983

Date: Tuesday, 28 Dec 1982 12:38-PST

Why would anyone want to return a structure from a function?

Because some functions that operate on non-primitive data types
(ie, structures and typedefs) need to return such a structure to
the caller.  Passing the structure itself instead of an address
makes it easier to write recursive code.

An example is a graphics system we are developing where a function
returns a color and a color is defined by the components red, green
blue and matte.

Michael Wahrman