| Structures [message #42921] |
Tue, 01 March 2005 13:29 |
Michael Wallace
Messages: 409
Registered: December 2003
|
Senior Member |
|
|
This isn't a problem, just an academic question. I'm curious why IDL
does what it does, but aren't we all?
Once you create a structure, you cannot change type of the variables
within the structure, including array sizes. Once the structure is
created and named, you can't change an integer array[100] to an integer
array[10] or anything else with a different size. This came as a
surprise to me since I think of "int array" as being the type, not "int
array[100]" or "int array[10]". Why does IDL enforce such a rigid
*structure* on structures when the rest of the language which leaves you
free to change types, sizes and everything else under the sun? It just
doesn't seem to mesh with the rest of the language.
I learned all this the hard way by trying to figure out why I kept
getting errors when I'd attempt to use a different array size for some
of my structure variables. I finally ran across this in the IDL
documentation, but there wasn't any actual reason given for such
draconian policy, especially when compared to the rest of the language.
It's really not a big deal since I can create anonymous structs
everywhere instead of using named structures. Do named structures
actually serve a useful purpose other letting you condense your syntax
when creating them?
-Mike
|
|
|
|
comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Members
Search
Help
Login
Home
