I've found that a great deal of these idioms are explained in the excellent book "Advanced C Programming: Deep C Secrets" by Peter van der Linden. Its one of my

I've found that a great deal of these idioms are explained in the excellent book "Advanced C Programming: Deep C Secrets" by Peter van der Linden. Its one of my goto books for when I want to enhance my 30 years of C-programming experience with a little more insight - I've read it multiple times since it was published, and always learn something new. Check it out if you want to dive more deeply into some of these oddities: http://archive.arstechnica.com/etc/books/deep-c.html http://archive.arstechnica.com/etc/books/deep-c.html