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From: bart <bc@freeuk.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?Re=3A_technology_discussion_=E2=86=92_does_the_world_need?=
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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:04:35 +0100
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On 10/07/2024 19:39, Michael S wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 18:30:54 +0100
> bart <bc@freeuk.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 10/07/2024 16:48, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>>> bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
>>>    
>>>> I earlier asked this:
>>>>
>>>> "So if arrays aren't passed by value in C, and they aren't passed
>>>> by reference, then how the hell ARE they passed?!"
>>>
>>> They aren't.  C allows lots of things to be passed as an argument
>>> to a function:  several varieties of numeric values, structs,
>>> unions, and pointers, including both pointers to object types and
>>> pointers to function types.  C does not have a way for a function
>>> to take an argument that is either an array or a function.  There
>>> is a way to take pointers to those things, but not the things
>>> themselves.  Arrays and functions are second-class values in C.
>>
>> That's a good point. It's not just arrays that can't be passed by
>> value (because the language says so) but also functions (because its
>> not meaningful).
>>
>> Yet, although pointers to arrays and function can be passed (without
>> even doing anything special like using &), you are not allowed to say
>> that anything is passed by reference in C!
>>
>> The automatic conversion to a pointer, which is also a feature of
>> true pass-by-reference, doesn't count.
>>
>> Not needing an explicit deref inside the callee (another
>> characteristic of pass-by-reference) doesn't count either.
> 
> It does not count, because automatic conversion to a pointer is not
> something that happens only during parameter passing. For arrays, it
> happens in all contexts except sizeof(). For functions, it happens in
> all contexts except function call. Or, may be, including function call,
> in this case (but not in case of arrays) it depends on point of view.
> 

Suppose that was to happen in all contexts, not just for arrays and 
functions, but for all types.

That means that if A, B, C were numbers, then any call such as F(A, B, 
C) would pass the addresses of the numbers rather than their values.

According to what people have said, C would STILL be a language that 
passed thing by value, and never by automatic reference.

Yet in my scenario that now sounds ludicrous.