Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • HTTP 02 Blogspot Com 2004 10 Cc-structure-Vs-union HTML

    Uploaded by

    Senthil Kumar
    15 views2 pages
    A structure is a collection of items of different types; and each data item will have its own memory location. Where as only one item within the union can be used at any time, because the memory allocated for each item inside the union is in a shared memory location. Size of union will be the size of the biggest variable. Sometimes we may not need the data of all the (related) data items of a complex data structure and be storing / accessing only one data item at a time.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    Http 02 Blogspot Com 2004 10 Cc-structure-Vs-union HTML

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    A structure is a collection of items of different types; and each data item will have its own memory location. Where as only one item within the union can be used at any time, because the memory allocated for each item inside the union is in a shared memory location. Size of union will be the size of the biggest variable. Sometimes we may not need the data of all the (related) data items of a complex data structure and be storing / accessing only one data item at a time.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    15 views2 pages

    HTTP 02 Blogspot Com 2004 10 Cc-structure-Vs-union HTML

    Uploaded by

    Senthil Kumar
    A structure is a collection of items of different types; and each data item will have its own memory location. Where as only one item within the union can be used at any time, because the memory allocated for each item inside the union is in a shared memory location. Size of union will be the size of the biggest variable. Sometimes we may not need the data of all the (related) data items of a complex data structure and be storing / accessing only one data item at a time.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 2

    Report Abuse Next Blog» Create Blog Sign In

    Mandalika's [ SCJP mock test(s) | Vocabulary test


    scratchpad
    Archives
    09.04 10.04 11.04 12.04 01.05 02.05 03.05 04.05 05.05 06.05 07.05 08.05 09.05 10.05 11.05 12.05 01.06 02.06 03.06 04.06 05.06
    06.06 07.06 08.06 09.06 10.06 11.06 12.06 01.07 02.07 03.07 04.07 05.07 06.07 08.07 09.07 10.07 11.07 12.07 01.08 02.08 03.08
    04.08 05.08 06.08 07.08 08.08 09.08 10.08 11.08 12.08 01.09 02.09 03.09 04.09 05.09 06.09 07.09 08.09 09.09 10.09 11.09 12.09
    01.10 02.10 03.10 04.10 05.10 06.10 07.10 08.10 09.10 10.10 11.10 12.10

    Monday, October 11, 2004

    C/C++: Structure Vs Union

    A structure is a collection of items of different types; and each data item will have its own memory location. Where
    as only one item within the union can be used at any time, because the memory allocated for each item inside the
    union is in a shared memory location i.e., only one memory location will be shared by the data items of union.

    Size of union will be the size of the biggest variable.

    Why do we need Union in the first place?

    Sometimes we may not need the data of all the (related) data items of a complex data structure and be
    storing/accessing only one data item at a time. Union helps in such scenarios.

    e.g.,

    typedef union
    {
    int Wind_Chill;
    char Heat_Index;
    } Condition;

    typedef struct
    {
    float temp;
    Condition feels_like;
    } Temperature;

    Wind Chill is only calculated when it is cold and heat index is used only when it is hot. There is no need for both of
    them at the same time. So when we specify the temp, feels_like will have only one value - either wind chill or heat
    index, but not both.

    The following simple program illustrate the above explanation:

    % cat structunion.c
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>

    typedef union
    {
    int Wind_Chill;
    char Heat_Index;
    } Condition;
    typedef struct
    {
    float temp;
    Condition feels_like;
    } Temperature;

    void main()
    {
    Temperature *tmp;

    tmp = (Temperature *)malloc(sizeof(Temperature));

    printf("\nAddress of Temperature = %u", tmp);


    printf("\nAddress of temp = %u, feels_like = %u", &(*tmp).temp, &(*tmp).feels_like);
    printf("\nWind_Chill = %u, Heat_Index= %u\n", &((*tmp).feels_like).Wind_Chill, &((*tmp).fe
    }
    % cc -o structunion structunion.c
    % ./structunion
    Address of Temperature = 165496
    Address of temp = 165496, feels_like = 165500
    Wind_Chill = 165500, Heat_Index= 165500

    Posted by: Giri Mandalika. # 5:17 PM

    Comments:
    Great Content in your Blog... helps a lot refreshing some basic concepts... Thanks a lot....
    # posted by Anonymous : 10:01 AM, April 27, 2007
    The explanation is easy to understand.
    # posted by JLPT : 4:43 AM, December 25, 2008
    Simple but good explanation, thanks
    # posted by matrix : 6:04 AM, April 06, 2009
    simple,easy,good .
    thanks
    # posted by tushar : 9:29 PM, December 02, 2009
    Simple and beneficial. Thanks.
    # posted by Khairina : 12:16 AM, June 01, 2010
    Post a Comment

    Links to this post:

    Create a Link

    << Home

    2004-2010

    You might also like