Warning：assignment makes integer from pointer without a cast

Question

I want to insert the Set_b's element to the Set_a list when the Set_a don't contain it.What I mean is like that {1, 2, 3} ∪ {3, 4, 5} = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.

typedef struct
{
   ElemType data[MAXSIZE];
   int length;
}SqList;

But at first, when I want to create a new list, I came across a compiling warning: assignment makes integer from pointer without a cast:

 void CreateList(SqList *L)
{


   L->data[0] = (int*)(ElemType*)malloc(sizeof(int)*20);

   L->length = 0;
}

I tried to change the L->data[0] to others, but it turned into an error.

Answer 1

The space of data is already allocated. You may want to do something like this instead:

typedef struct
{
   ElemType *data;
   int length;
}SqList;

And then perform the memory allocation:

L->data = (ElemType*)malloc(sizeof(ElemType)*20);

Actually, there is no need to cast the return value of malloc() to ElemType * . The following statement will do:

L->data = malloc(sizeof(ElemType)*20);

Extending memory dynamically

You could define the structure consisting of two parts for storing data:

1. An array of ElemType . Fixed size. No need for dynamic memory allocation. All instances of SqList can contain up to INITIAL_SIZE elements without dynamically allocating memory.

2. A pointer to ElemType . It provides the possibility of increasing the number of elements you can store at run-time.

    typedef struct { ElemType data[INITIAL_SIZE]; // always allocated ElemType *ext; // it's up to you whether allocate this or not size_t length; } SqList; 

Whenever you need to allocate more memory on a SqList , you could use the following function:

// Extends the number of elements the given SqList can hold in num_elems elements
ElemType* SqList_extend(SqList *p, size_t num_elems) {
   if (p->ext) // memory already allocated?
      return NULL; // then release it first

   // perform allocation
   if ((p->ext = malloc(sizeof(ElemType) * num_elems))) // successful?
      p->length += num_elems; // then increase the element count
   return p->ext; // return a pointer to the new allocated memory
}

Answer 2

You don't need to do multiple levels of memory allocation. This is perfect for the use a flexible array member :

typedef struct
{
   unsigned length;
   ElemType data[];
} SqList;

To allocate, use something like this:

SqList *allocateList( unsigned length )
{
    SqList *list = malloc( sizeof(*list) + length * sizeof(list->data[0]));
    if ( list )
    {
        list->length = length;
    }

    return( list );
}

Reallocation to a new size:

SqList *reallocateList( SqList *origList, unsigned newLen )
{
    unsigned origLen = origList->length;
    SqList *newList = realloc( origList,
        sizeof(*newList) + newLen * sizeof(newList->data[0]));
    if ( newList )
    {
        newList->length = newLength;

        // initialize new elements - origLen
        // is already at the start of any 
        // new data elements
        for ( ; origLen < newLen; origLen++ )
        {
            newList->data[ origLen ] = -1;
        }
    }

    return( newList );
}

Free a list:

free( list );

Explanation:

A structure with a flexible array member is allocated as a single variable-sized chunk of memory. The first elements of the allocated memory are fixed, as in a normal structure. The last "flexible" element is an array of variable size. Thus the structure and its variable amount of actual data are both allocated at one time.

Conversely, a structure that contains a pointer to a variable-size array must be allocated in two steps - one allocation for the structure itself, and another for the data array.

When using dynamic allocation, flexible array members make for much simpler code. The downside is using structures with flexible array members as "normal" local variables has issues. For example, given

typedef struct
{
   unsigned length;
   ElemType data[];
} SqList;

this code is problematic:

void someFunc( void )
{
    SqList list;
       .
       .
       .
}

Where's the data element? It doesn't really exist, and there's no way to allocate a data element for such a structure given that example code. You could use alloca() for the entire structure including the data element, but that can cause problems if the code is in a loop.