Every variable has a data type. typedef is used to define new data type names to make a program more readable to the programmer.
For example:
int money;
money = 2;
And
typedef int Pounds;
Pounds money = 2
These examples are EXACTLY the same to the compiler. But the buttom example tells the programmer the type of money he is dealing with.
A common use for typedef is to define a boolean data type as below.
Note: Recent C++ compilers have introduced a boolean datatype.
typedef enum {FALSE=0, TRUE} Boolean
main ()
{
Boolean flag = TRUE;
}
And as a final example, how about creating a string datatype?
typedef char *String;
main()
{
String Text = "Thunderbird";
printf("%s/n", Text);
}
The main use for typedef seems to be defining structures. For example:
typedef struct {int age; char *name} person;
person people;
Take care to note that person is now a type specifier and NOT a variable name.
As a final note, you can create several data types in one hit.
typedef int Pounds, Shillings, Pennies, Dollars, Cents;