Subj : Re: strange string pointer to strings...?
To   : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp
From : maeder
Date : Sat Oct 01 2005 10:54 am

Bob Gonder <notbg@notmindspring.invalid> writes:

> Thomas Maeder [TeamB] wrote:
>
>>Bob Gonder  writes:
>>
>>>>/* list of words and meanings */
>>>>char  *dic[][40] = {
>>>>  "atlas", "A volume of maps.",
>>>
>>> This would more properly be written
>>>
>>> char  *dic[] = {
>>> 	  "atlas", "A volume of maps.",
>>> 	  "car", "A motorized vehicle.",
>>> 	  "telephone", "A communication device.",
>>> 	  "airplane", "A flying machine.",
>>>
>>> 	0,0  /* null terminate the list */
>>> 	};
>>
>>Better yet
>>
>>char const *dic[][40] = {
>
> Now, see... that looks a lot like a two dimensional array of pointers
> to me.

I meant to only add const to your suggestion; but I didn't.

The correct definition of dic is

char const *dic[] = {
	  "atlas", "A volume of maps.",
	  "car", "A motorized vehicle.",
	  "telephone", "A communication device.",
	  "airplane", "A flying machine.",

	0,0  /* null terminate the list */
};


It's simply a bad idea to let a pointer to non-const point at objects
that must not be modified.

.