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Anusha Chillara
2,047 PointsSphere makeSphere
does typedef make sphere into a class? is that why he puts Sphere in front of makeSphere?
2 Answers
David Kaneshiro Jr.
29,247 PointsHi Anusha Chillara,
The typedef key word does not make Sphere into a class. Sphere is still a struct. The typedef keyword allows you to use the name Sphere as the new data type name for the struct without having to preface it with key word struct every time you use the Sphere data type in a variable or function declaration.
For example:
// Creating a struct without typedef
struct sphere {
int x;
int y;
int radius;
};
// Since we are not using the keyword typedef whenever we use the struct sphere we have to use
// the whole qualifying name if we want to declare a variable of type struct sphere.
struct sphere shape1;
// And when we want to use the struct sphere as a return type for a function or a parameter in
// a function we would have to do the same thing within the function's declaration and implementation
// as well.
struct sphere *someFunctionDeclaration(struct sphere *parameter1);
As you can see having to type the keyword struct every time you want to use the struct sphere data type will get tedious, and makes your code a bit harder to read.
So by using the typedef keyword the code example above will look like this:
typedef struct sphere{
int x;
int y;
int radius;
} Sphere;
Sphere shape1;
Sphere *someFunctionDeclaration(Sphere *sphere);
Check out the following web page: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cprogramming/c_typedef.htm
It will show you more uses for typedef.
Anusha Chillara
2,047 PointsThanks! This makes it clear!
David Kaneshiro Jr.
29,247 PointsYou're welcome.