I've been trying to get the stb header library to compile. There's a single remaining failure:

typedef struct
{
   unsigned char c[4];
} stb_easy_font_color;
stb_easy_font_color c = { 255,255,255,255 }; // use structure copying to avoid needing depending on memcpy()

LDC returns

stb_easy_font.c(892): Error: 3 extra initializer(s) for `struct __tag21`

Is this a bug in ImportC or is it correct that it doesn't compile? What's the best way to fix it while keeping the same behavior and performance?

(I don't know what struct __tag21 is. It's not anywhere in the source. Assuming that's just a bad error message.)

On Saturday, 18 December 2021 at 22:31:38 UTC, bachmeier wrote:

typedef struct
{
   unsigned char c[4];
} stb_easy_font_color;
stb_easy_font_color c = { 255,255,255,255 }; // use structure copying to avoid needing depending on memcpy()

stb_easy_font.c(892): Error: 3 extra initializer(s) for `struct __tag21`

Unless C11 has changed the rules about nested initializers, that should compile. You might try explicit nesting:

stb_easy_font_color c = { {255,255,255,255} };

And please file an issue if there isn't one already.

A "tag" is the name of a struct or union, which follows the keyword:

struct Foo {};

Here, Foo is the tag. Instances of the struct must be declared as struct Foo. Think of it like this: int is required in declarations of instances of type int, so struct is required in declarations of type struct; the "tag" specifies which struct type, hence struct Foo x.

typedef introduces an alias:

typedef struct Bar {} Bar;

So Bar is now an alias for struct Bar, and instances can be declared as Bar x.

Your example is like this:

typedef struct {} stb_easy_font_color;

No tag is specified, so the compiler must generate one. In your case, it's __tag21 and stb_easy_font_color is an alias for struct __tag21.

And yes, using the generated tag in the error message is not at all helpful without the alias. Please file an issue on this, too.

Oh wow, the executable gets named stuff if that's the first file passed... always thought it would name it the same name as that file which contained main

On Saturday, 18 December 2021 at 22:31:38 UTC, bachmeier wrote:

typedef struct
{
   unsigned char c[4];
} stb_easy_font_color;
stb_easy_font_color c = { 255,255,255,255 }; // use structure copying to avoid needing depending on memcpy()

stb_easy_font.c(892): Error: 3 extra initializer(s) for `struct __tag21`

Unless C11 has changed the rules about nested initializers, that should compile. You might try explicit nesting:

stb_easy_font_color c = { {255,255,255,255} };

And please file an issue if there isn't one already.

A "tag" is the name of a struct or union, which follows the keyword:

struct Foo {};

Here, Foo is the tag. Instances of the struct must be declared as struct Foo. Think of it like this: int is required in declarations of instances of type int, so struct is required in declarations of type struct; the "tag" specifies which struct type, hence struct Foo x.

typedef introduces an alias:

typedef struct Bar {} Bar;

So Bar is now an alias for struct Bar, and instances can be declared as Bar x.

Your example is like this:

typedef struct {} stb_easy_font_color;

No tag is specified, so the compiler must generate one. In your case, it's __tag21 and stb_easy_font_color is an alias for struct __tag21.

And yes, using the generated tag in the error message is not at all helpful without the alias. Please file an issue on this, too.