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From: David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Integral types and own type definitions (was Re: Suggested method
 for returning a string from a C program?)
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2025 10:09:17 +0100
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On 26/03/2025 00:14, Richard Heathfield wrote:
> On 25/03/2025 22:36, Kaz Kylheku wrote:
>> On 2025-03-25, Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> wrote:
>>> On 25/03/2025 11:55, Tim Rentsch wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
>>>> The problem is that what was written used the word "integral"
>>>> incorrectly.
>>>
>>> But "integer type" is also a problem. 'Integer' is a noun, not an
>>> adjective. To modify the noun 'type' you need an adjective that
>>> means 'of, pertaining to, or being an integer'. The only
>>> available candidate is 'integral'.
>>
>> How can you post that from of the proximity of the birth place
>> of the English language?
>>
>> The English language features noun phrases (NPs), and in that
>> category are found compound nouns.  Compound nouns have a head. The head
>> is always the rightmost element of the sequence. The other nouns modify
>> the head as if they were adjectives.
> 

Just as all nouns can be verbed, they can also all be adjectived :-)


> But 'integral' modifies 'type' because it /is/ an adjective. Hard to see 
> how a charge of 'incorrect' can be justified.
> 

Kaz' point is not that "integral type" is grammatically incorrect, but 
that "integer type" /is/ grammatically correct.  Either could be used.

Tim's argument that "integral type" is wrong is, I would say - based on 
/my/ everyday English and /my/ mathematical education - invalid.  Either 
"integer type" or "integral type" could be used, but "integer type" is 
the more common usage in most programming languages, and is therefore 
arguably a better choice for the C standards.