From:	Brent A Ellingson <bellings AT badlands DOT nodak DOT edu>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: quick malloc question
Date:	Mon, 03 Mar 1997 09:00:08 -0600
Organization:	North Dakota Higher Education Network
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Message-ID:	<331AE778.5019BE88@badlands.nodak.edu>
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Paul Derbyshire wrote:
> 
> "Cristovao Braga" (cbraga AT datasoft DOT com DOT br) writes:
> > char *p;
> >
> > main ()
> >    {
> >       p = (char *) malloc (5 * 1024 * 1024);
> >    }
> 
> Why the HELL do people keep writing things like (char *)malloc(x)????????
> 
> GCC, and to my knowledge other compilers, allow any pointer to be assigned
> to a variable of type void * and conversely allow any variable of type void
> * to be assigned to any pointer, without casts.
> 
> --

Yes, ANSI C will allow a (void *) to be changed (promoted?) into a
pointer
of another type, making a cast on malloc unnecessary.

However, C++ will NOT allow void pointers to be similarly promoted.

So, the answer to your question is that yes, gcc will allow it, but no,
g++ will not allow it (weellll.... both will likely allow it, but g++
will
complain).

Brent Ellingson
bellings AT badlands

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