Summary

And in Conclusion$\dots$

• Generic functions (i.e., generics), use void * pointers to operate on memory.

  • Generics are widely present in the C standard library! (malloc, …)
  • Generics require a solid understanding of memory; by manipulating arbitrary bytes, you risk violating data boundaries, e.g., “Frankenstein”-ing two halves of ints.

• When writing generics:

  • Generic pointers do not support dereferencing.
  • Instead, use byte handling functions (memcpy, memmove).
  • Pointer arithmetic: first cast to byte arrays with (char *).

• Function pointers enable higher-order functions in C. map, filter, sorting, etc.

Textbook Readings

K&R 7.8.5, 8.7