Structures and Unions in C

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to structures and unions in C programming, focusing on definitions and key concepts explained in the lecture.

Structure

A user-defined data type in C/C++ that allows grouping variables of different data types into a single type.

Member

A single variable that is part of a structure.

Struct keyword

The keyword used to define a structure in C.

Dot operator

An operator (.) used to access members of a structure or union.

Union

A user-defined data type that can hold different data types in the same memory location, sharing that memory across its members.

Memory allocation in structures

Each member of a structure is allocated its own unique storage area.

Memory allocation in unions

All members of a union share the same memory location.

Heterogeneous data type

A data structure that can store data of different types.

Homogeneous data type

A data structure that can store data of the same type, such as in arrays.

Accessing structure members

Members of a structure can be accessed using the dot operator.

Accessing union members

Members of a union can also be accessed using the dot operator, but only one member can be accessed at a time.

Data overlap in unions

In a union, changing the value of one member overwrites the values of the other members since they share the same memory.

Array

A linear data structure that stores a fixed-size sequence of elements of the same data type.

Structure vs Array

A structure can hold multiple data types while an array only holds one type; structures are user-defined and arrays are built-in data types.

Instantiation

The creation of an instance of a data structure or object.