Pointers on C——10 Structures and Unions.16

​10.6.2 Initializing Unions

A union variable can be initialized, but the value must appropriate for the type of the first member of the union, and it must be enclosed in braces. For example,

联合变量可以被初始化，但这个初始值必须是联合第1 个成员的类型，而且它必须位于一对花括号里面。例如，

union {

int a;

float b;

char c[4];

} x = { 5 };

initializes x.a to have the value five.

把x.a 初始化为5 。

It is not possible to initialize this variable to a floating‐point or a character value. If an initializer of any other type is given, it is converted (if possible) to an integer and assigned to x.a.

我们不能把这个类量初始化为一个浮点值或字符值。如果给出的初始值是任何其他类型，它就会转换(如果可能的话)为一个整数并赋值给x.a。

10.7 Summary

Values of different types can be stored together in a structure. The values in a structure, called members, are accessed by name. A structure variable is a scalar, and can appear wherever an ordinary scalar variable can appear.

在结构中，不同类型的值可以存储在一起。结构中的值称为成员，它们是通过名字访问的。结构变量是一个标量，可以出现在普通标量变量可以出现的任何场合。

The declaration of a structure lists the members that the structure will contain.Different declarations are considered to be different types even if their member lists are identical. A structure tag is a name associated with a member list. You can use different declarations to declare structures of the same type by using a structure tag rather than repeating the member list in the declarations. A typedef may also be used to accomplish this goal.

结构的声明列出了结构包含的成员列表。不同的结构声明即使它们的成员列表相同也被认为是不同的类型。结构标签是一个名字，它与一个成员列表相关联。你可以使用结构标签在不同的声明中创建相同类型的结构变量，这样就不用每次在声明中重复成员列表。typedef 也可以用于实现这个目标。

Structure members may be scalars, arrays, or pointers. A structure may also contain members which are structures. There is no conflict between identically named members of different structures. You use the dot operator to access the members of a structure variable. If you have a pointer to a structure, you use the arrow operator to access the structureʹs members.

结构的成员可以是标量、数组或指针。结构也可以包含本身也是结构的成员。在不同的结构中出现同样的成员名是不会引起冲突的。你使用点操作符访问结构变量的成员。如果你拥有一个指向结构的指针，你可以使用箭头操作符访问这个结构的成员。

A structure may not contain a member that is the same type of structure, but may contain a member that is a pointer to the same type of structure. This technique is often used in linked data structures. To declare two structures that each contain a pointer to the other type, an incomplete declaration is needed to define a structure tag name. Structure variables may be initialized by giving a list of values enclosed in braces. The type of each value must be appropriate for the member that it initializes.

结构不能包含类型也是这个结构的成员，但它的成员可以是一个指向这个结构的指针。这个技巧常常用于链式数据结构中。为了声明两个结构，每个结构都包含一个指向对方的指针的成员，我们需要使用不完整的声明来定义二个结构标签名。结构变量可以用一个由花括号包围的值列表进行初始化。这些值的类型必须适合它所初始化的那些成员。

The compiler allocates memory for the members of a structure variable in accordance with their boundary alignment requirements. Memory may be wasted in the structure to achieve the proper alignment. Listing the structure members in decreasing order of their alignment requirements minimizes the amount of wasted memory in the structure. The value returned by sizeof includes any wasted memory in a structure.

编译器为一个结构变量的成员分配内存时要满足它们的边界对齐要求。在实现结构存储的边界对齐时，可能会浪费一部分内存空间。根据边界对齐要求降序排列结构成员可以最大限度地减少结构存储中浪费的内存空间。sizeof 返回的值包含了结构中浪费的内存空间。

Structures may be passed as arguments to functions and returned from functions. However, it is usually more efficient to pass a pointer to the structure instead. The const keyword can be used in the declaration of a pointer argument to prevent the function from modifying the structure.

结构可以作为参数传递给函数，也可以作为返回值从函数返回。但是，向函数传递一个指向结构的指针往往效率更高。在结构指针参数的声明中可以加上const 关键宇防止函数修改指针所指向的结构。

Bit fields are structure members whose size is specified in bits. Bit field declarations are inherently nonportable due to the many factors that are implementation dependent. However, bit fields allow you to pack odd sized values together to conserve space. They also simplify the source code needed to access arbitrary runs of bits from within a value.

位段是结构的一种，但它的成员长度以位为单位指定。位段声明在本质上是不可移植的，因为它涉及许多与实现有关的因素。但是，位段允许你把长度为奇数的值包装在一起以节省存储空间。源代码如果需要访问一个值内部任意的一些位，使用位段比较简便。

The members of a union are all stored in the same memory. By accessing union members of different types, the same bits in memory can be interpreted differently.Unions are useful in implementing variant records, though the programmer is responsible for keeping track of which variant has been stored and for selecting the proper union member to access the data. A union variable can be initialized, but the value must match the type of its first member.

一个联合的所有成员都存储于同一个内存位置。通过访问不同类型的联合成员，内存中相同的位组合可以被解释为不同的东西。联合在实现变体记录时很有用，但程序员必须负责确认实际存储的是哪个变体并选择正确的联合成员以便访问数据。联合变量也可以进行初始化，但初始值必须与联合第1 个成员的类型匹配。

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