Why Doesn't Standard C Support Anonymous Structs?

Understanding C 's Restriction on Anonymous Structs

C compilers may allow the use of anonymous structs as a non-standard extension, raising questions about the rationale behind its absence in the language's standard.

The justification lies in the compatibility with C, which supports anonymous unions but not structs. C inherited this compatibility, allowing anonymous unions for consistency.

Moreover, the use of anonymous structs in C is limited. The example provided can lead to undefined behavior in C as reading or writing different members of a union without proper safeguards is not well-defined.

Instead, C offers alternative solutions for representing user-defined types. One such solution is demonstrated in the code snippet provided, where an array-based struct with accessor methods provides similar functionality without the drawbacks of anonymous structs.

Therefore, the absence of anonymous structs in the C standard can be attributed to compatibility with C, the availability of alternative solutions, and the potential for undefined behavior when working with unions.

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