Computer Systems programming

Lecture #8: Struct (Cont’d), Union, Linked List

Cuong Do

3/25/2023 Systems programming 1

Overview

▪ Struct (Cont’d)
▪ Union
▪ Linked-list

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Struct example: Student info
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

struct Student
{
char name[50];
char Major;
int year;
};

// pass by value
void printStudent(struct Student var) {

printf("Student name : %s\n", var.name);

printf("Student major : %c\n", var.major);
printf("Student year : %d\n", var.year);
}

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Cont’d
(Continued)

// pass by reference
void changeStudent(struct Student* var)
{
var->year = 21;
var->major = ‘EE';
}

int main(){
struct Student student1 = {“Elon Musk", ‘ME’, 22}; // initialising the object

// passing by value
printStudent(student1);
// passing by reference Output:
changeStudent(&student1); Student name : Elon Musk
Student section : ME
return 0; Student class : 22
}

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list
struct item {
char *s;
struct item *next;
}
▪I.e., an item can point to another item
▪… which can point to another item
▪… which can point to yet another item
▪… etc.
Thereby forming a list of items

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A note about structs and pointers

▪ The following is legal:–

/* in a .c or .h file */ Called an opaque type!
struct item; Program can use pointers to items
but cannot see into items.
struct item *p, *q; Cannot define any items, cannot
malloc any items, etc.
… /* In another file */
struct item {
int member1; Implementer of item can change
float member2; the definition without forcing
struct item *member3; users of pointers to change their
}; code!

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Another note about structs

▪ The following is not legal:–

struct motor {
float volts;
float amps;
float rpm;
unsigned int phases;
}; //struct motor

motor m;
You must write
struct motor m;
motor *p; struct motor *p;

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Typedef

▪ Definition:– a typedef is a way of renaming a type

▪ E.g.,
typedef struct motor Motor;

Motor m, n; E.g., typedef, lets you

Motor *p, r[25]; leave out the word “struct”
Motor function(const Motor m; …);

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typedef (continued)

▪typedef may be used to rename any type

▪ Convenience in naming
▪ Clarifies purpose of the type Very common in C and C++
▪ Cleaner, more readable code
Esp. for portable code!
▪ Portability across platforms
▪E.g., These three may change from
▪ typedef int size_t; platform to platform
▪ typedef long int32;
▪ typedef long long int64; Defined once in a .h file!

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Revisit note about structs and pointers

▪ The following is legal:–

/* in a .c or .h file */
typedef struct _item Item;
Item *p, *q;

… /* In another file */
struct _item {
char *info;
Item *nextItem;
};

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Conclusion
• Structure in C is a user-defined data type. It binds the two or
more data types or data structures together.
• The Structure is created using struct keyword and its variables are
created using struct keyword and structure name.
• A data type created using structure in C can be treated as other
primitive data types of C to declare a pointer for it, pass it as a
function argument, or return from the function.
• There are three ways to initialize the structure variables: using the
dot operator, using curly braces, or designated initialization.
• One structure can consist of another structure, or more means
there can be nested Structures.
• With the help of typedef, we can give short or new names to a
structure data type. designated example:

int a[6] = {[4] = 29, [2] = 15 }; or

int a[6] = {[4]29 , [2]15 };

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Unions

▪A union is like a struct, but only one of its members is

stored, not all
▪ A union can have numerous members, but only one of them
can occupy the memory at any one moment. Unions allow
developers to optimize memory usage while declaring
variables.
▪E.g.,
union {
int ival;
float fval;
char *sval;
} u;

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Unions (continued)
▪It is programmer’s responsibility to keep track of which
type is stored in a union at any given time!

#include <stdio.h>

struct Area
{
//Anonymous union
union
{
int radius;
int height;
};
};

int main()
{
struct Area r, h;
r.radius = 15;
use 2 separate struct
h.height = 10;
int area;

area = (2 * 3.14 * r.radius * h.height) + (2 * 3.14 * r.radius * r.radius);

printf("The Area of the cylinder is: %d units", area);

return 0;
}

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Example of Union vs. Struct
#include <stdio.h>
union unionFoodCost
{
//defining a union char: -> 1 byte
char name[32]; float: -> 4byte In unions, all members share the same
int: -> 4 byte
Float cost; memory, and the size of memory assigned is
int fid; equal to the largest member. Here in uFood,
} uFood;
the name has the largest size (32 bytes). Hence
struct structFoodCost
the size of the entire union is 32 bytes.
{
char name[32];
float cost;
int fid;
} sFood;

int main() Output

{
printf("size of union = %d bytes", sizeof(uFood)); size of union = 32
printf("\nsize of structure = %d bytes", sizeof(sFood)); size of structure = 40
return 0;
}

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Difference between Struct and Union
• Altering the members' values in the struct will not affect the
other members. However, altering members' values in unions
will affect the other members.
• In structures, every member is assigned a unique memory
location, whereas, in unions, all the data members share a
memory location.
• In structures, individual members can be accessed at any time.
In unions, however, only one member can be accessed
simultaneously.
• In structures, several or all members can be initialized at once.
However, in unions, only the first union member can be
initialized.
can only initialize the 1st, the others want to change -> have to use assignment

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Unions (continued)

▪unions are used much less frequently than structs —

mostly
▪in the inner details of operating system
▪in device drivers
▪in embedded systems where you have to access
registers defined by the hardware

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Break time
▪ a = 10;
▪ b = 20;

Let’s write a C program to swap a and b values without using any

other variable.

▪ a = 20;
▪ b = 10;
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
int main() {
int a=10, b=20;
return 0;
}

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Linked List
Common Data Structures in C and C++
▪Linked lists
▪ One-way
▪ Doubly-linked
▪ Circular
▪Trees
▪ Binary
▪ Multiple branches
▪Hash Tables
▪ Combine arrays and linked list
▪ Especially for searching for objects by value

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Definitions
▪Linked List
▪ A data structure in which each element is dynamically allocated
and in which elements point to each other to define a linear
relationship
▪ Singly- or doubly-linked
▪ Stack, queue, circular list
▪Tree
▪ A data structure in which each element is dynamically allocated
and in which each element has more than one potential
successor
▪ Defines a partial order

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Linked List

struct listItem {
type payload;
struct listItem *next;
}; payload
next

payload
next
payload
payload next
next
Linked List (continued)
▪Items of list are usually same type
▪ Generally obtained from malloc()
▪Each item points to next item
▪Last item points to null
▪Need “head” to point to first item!

▪“Payload” of item may be almost anything

▪ A single member or multiple members
▪ Any type of object whose size is known at compile time
▪ Including struct, union, char * or other pointers
▪ Also arrays of fixed size at compile time (see p. 214)

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Usage of Linked Lists
▪Not massive amounts of data
▪ Linear search is okay
▪Sorting not necessary
▪ or sometimes not possible
▪Need to add and delete data “on the fly”
▪ Even from middle of list
▪Items often need to be added to or deleted from
the “ends”

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Linked List (continued)

struct listItem {
type payload;
struct listItem *next;
};
struct listItem *head;
payload
payload next
next
payload
payload
next
next
Adding an Item to a List

struct listItem *p, *q;

▪Add an item pointed to by q after item pointed to by p
▪ Neither p nor q is NULL

payload
next
payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
Adding an Item to a List

listItem *addAfter(listItem *p, listItem *q){

q -> next = p -> next;
p -> next = q;
return p;
}

payload
next payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
Adding an Item to a List

listItem *addAfter(listItem *p, listItem *q){

q -> next = p -> next;
p -> next = q;
return p;
}

payload
next payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
Adding an Item to a List
Question: What to do if we cannot
guarantee that p and q are non-NULL?
listItem *addAfter(listItem *p, listItem *q){
q -> next = p -> next;
p -> next = q;
return p;
}

payload
next payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
Adding an Item to a List (continued)

listItem *addAfter(listItem *p, listItem *q){

if (p && q) {
q -> next = p -> next;
p -> next = q;
}
return p;
}
payload
next payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
What about Adding an Item before another
Item?
struct listItem *p;
▪Add an item before item pointed to by p (p != NULL)

payload
next
payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next
What about Adding an Item before another Item?
▪ Answer:–
▪ Need to search list from beginning to find previous item
▪ Add new item after previous item

▪ This is needed in PA#3

▪ Insert item after earlier event times and before later ones
▪ Need to search the list

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Doubly-Linked List

struct listItem {
type payload;
listItem *prev;
listItem *next;
};
struct listItem *head, *tail;

payload payload
prev next prev next payload
payload prev next
prev next
Other Kinds of List Structures
▪Queue — FIFO (First In, First Out)
▪ Items added at end
▪ Items removed from beginning
▪Stack — LIFO (Last In, First Out)
▪ Items added at beginning, removed from beginning
▪Circular list
▪ Last item points to first item
▪ Head may point to first or last item
▪ Items added to end, removed from beginning

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Optional:–
Circular List
struct listItem *head;

struct listItem *tail;

payload
payload
next
next
payload
payload
next
next

listItem *addAfter (listItem *p, listItem *tail){

if (p && tail) {
p -> next = tail -> next;
tail = p;
} else if (p) {
tail p -> next = p;
}
return tail;
}
Application of Linked List in the real world
1.Image viewer – Previous and next images are linked and can be accessed
by the next and previous buttons.
2.Previous and next page in a web browser – We can access the previous
and next URL searched in a web browser by pressing the back and next
buttons since they are linked as a linked list.
3.Music Player – Songs in the music player are linked to the previous and
next songs. So you can play songs either from starting or ending of the
list.
4.GPS navigation systems- Linked lists can be used to store and manage a
list of locations and routes, allowing users to easily navigate to their
desired destination.
5.Robotics- Linked lists can be used to implement control systems for
robots, allowing them to navigate and interact with their environment.
6.Task Scheduling- Operating systems use linked lists to manage task
scheduling, where each process waiting to be executed is represented as a
node in the list
7.……..

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