Can You Define a Struct Inside a Constructor in C?

0
0
Asked By CuriousCoder123 On

I was checking out a C tutorial on creating a server and got confused about the use of structs. In the header file, there's a struct definition like this:

`struct Server {`
`int domain;`
`int service;`
`int protocol;`
`u_long interface;`
`int port;`
`int backlog;`
`struct sockaddr_in address;`
`int socket;`
`struct Dictionary routes;`
`void (*register_routes)(struct Server *server, char *(*route_function)(void *arg), char *path);`
`};`

Then, in the main file, there's a function that looks like this:

`struct Server server_constructor(int domain, int service, int protocol, u_long interface, int port, int backlog) {`
`struct Server server;`
// ... (code for setting up server fields) ...
`return server;`
`}`

I'm a bit puzzled by the line `struct Server server;`. Is that a struct inside a constructor? Why do we need to write `struct` again? Can't we just write `Server server`?

1 Answer

Answered By TechExplorer88 On

The `struct Server` you're seeing is just how C syntax works. When you define a struct like `struct Server`, you must declare variables of that type using the `struct` keyword, like `struct Server var;`. If you want to just use `Server`, you'd need to create a typedef for it. This is a key difference between C and C++ where you wouldn't need to do that. In C++, once you've defined `struct X`, writing `X` or `struct X` both work, thanks to the language rules there.

Related Questions

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.