Uniform pointer syntax for c variables/fields/parameters

My strategy of declaring pointer/array/pointer array/etc. variables or fields in C.

I recently came up with this idea that might help to solve the confusion when declaring any sort of pointer in C.

The problem

char *str;

In C, a '*' in a variable declaration could mean two things:

• a pointer to a character array
• a pointer to a single char

Anyone reading this code might guess from the name of the variable that this is a character array, but with unconventional types any variable names, things get hard to read quickly. Yeah, you could just write a comment to say what this type expresses... but some people are too lazy to write a lot of documentation or are to lazy to read it. So how do you tell the reader of your code quickly and efficiently what exact types you're using?

General idea

Note: please dont do this: char* a,* b;, do this: char* a; char* b; when possible

Lets start with some examples:

1. int * x; -> int pointer
2. int* x; -> int array
3. int * * x; -> int pointer pointer
4. int** x; -> int array array
5. int ** x; -> int pointer array
6. int* * x; -> int array pointer
7. int ** ** x; -> int pointer array pointer array

This principle is suitable for any number of pointer-indirections, as you might have noticed. It's quite simple: for pointer types use ' *' (whitespace!) and for array types, use '*'. Thats it! Don't forget to leave a whitespace between the asteristics and the variable name.

Lets examine the last example:

1. int * is a int pointer, because of the ' *', which stands for pointer
2. int ** is a int pointer array, because of the ' *' for pointer and the following '*' which stands for array
3. int ** * consists of ' *', '*' and ' *'
4. int ** ** consists of ' *', '*', ' *' and '*', so you've got a int pointer array pointer array.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

Criticism

When do you even use double pointers? Couldn't you just document the field/parameter using comments?

Yes, you could just put a comment above the function that uses double indirection pointers. And (At least I hope) nobody uses these frequently. But this syntax convention should help in any situation with pointers, double indirection or not. Even when using single pointers, i think this convention makes C code more easily understandable. One could also argue that this pointer syntax is faster to read and comprehend than a comment.

This looks so ugly!

It's probeably a different convention than you use, so it's unfamiliar to you. No problem. Your code might look 'uglier', but at least it differentiates pointer types correctly.

Why not use '[' and ']' instead of some weird whitespace placement?

Because thats not how C variable syntax works. You can do this in Java, but Java has no pointers, so...

More criticism is welcomed.

Have a nice day!