4 ms·

I'd like to know, too. Have never seen either in practice.

• flohofwoe 6y ago
  The "pointless" cast is required for libraries that are written in the common subset of C and C++ so that they can be compiled both in a C or C++ compiler. Some people prefer to compile C code through a C++ compiler for various reasons, Microsoft has even been recommending this because their C++ compiler isn't quite as terribly outdated as their C compiler: https://herbsutter.com/2012/05/03/reader-qa-what-about-vc-and-c99/ https://herbsutter.com/2012/05/03/reader-qa-what-about-vc-an... (not that I agree with the reasons, but for a library it makes sense to not lock out people who prefer to compile C libraries as C++ when integrated into a C++ project).
  • scruple 6y ago
    Thank you! That's interesting and it makes sense.