Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!nbires!ncar!oddjob!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: structure field ordering, packing, etc
Message-ID: <12265@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jul 88 07:44:35 GMT
References: <163@navtech.uucp> <4181@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 16

In article <4181@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> iverson@cory.Berkeley.EDU
(Tim Iverson) writes:
>... when you have to interface directly with hardware or massage
>foreign binary data into local format, [you may be forced] to abandon
>the nice bit field and structure abilities of C and resort to bit masks
>and character arrays to properly address the data.

>Fortunately, some C compilers have an option to compile with "packed"
>structures.  A new "packed" keyword would be even better ....

To see an alternative to a `packed' keyword, take a look at Mesa.
Remember also that nothing helps when you must read data that was
stored in trinary. . . . :-)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris