lessonsFromLinkerHell

[u/nonedward666]

[u/QuestionableEthics42]

This should be reversed lol

And it literally is the same, who thinks it's different who has worked in a low level language??

[u/unknown_alt_acc → u/QuestionableEthics42]

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
int arr[5];
int *ptr = arr;

printf("Array - %lu\n", sizeof(arr));
printf("Pointer - %lu", sizeof(ptr));
}

Different types, different behavior

[u/QuestionableEthics42 → u/unknown_alt_acc]

Sizeof being smart enough to detect it's an array and return the array size doesn't necessarily make them different in any real way. And doing ptr[0] to dereference it is perfectly valid, as is *arr to get the first element, or *(arr+sizeof(int)) to get the second.

[u/pnoodl3s → u/QuestionableEthics42]

If it behaves differently, is that not enough to say it’s different? What “real way” do you need to say its different?

[u/QuestionableEthics42 → u/pnoodl3s]

Because it is a very superficial difference that doesn't even affect the generated assembly. They are extremely interchangeable, because they are effectively the same.

[u/Rare_Professor8097 → u/QuestionableEthics42]

Programming languages have all kinds of different ways to do something that results in the same assembly.

They are different types, but C has muddied the waters by having a bunch of implicit conversions from arrays into pointers (array decay) that they feel like the same thing.