Design decisions on data structures

[asm]

Hi All,

I would like to know what should be the criteria to choose between a
union / structure. Also switch statement vs if - else. I know switch
only 'switches' on
integer types. Some example would be of help.

Thanks,
ASM

[Jack Klein]

Re: Design decisions on data structures

On 4 Oct 2004 04:16:54 -0700, arut@post.com (asm) wrote in
comp.lang.c:
[color=blue]
> Hi All,
>
> I would like to know what should be the criteria to choose between a
> union / structure. Also switch statement vs if - else. I know switch
> only 'switches' on
> integer types. Some example would be of help.
>
> Thanks,
> ASM[/color]

Unions and structures are very different things. A structure always
has the same type of contents and those contents can consist of many
different data types. A union can contain different data types, but
only one of them at a time.

If you don't know of any reasons why you should use unions, then you
most surely should use structures.

As for "if...else if...else" rather than switch statements, use
whichever one makes your code clearer. Generally, if there are more
than three possibilities and they are all based on the value of an
integer object, that means using switch.

--
Jack Klein
Home: http://JK-Technology.Com
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