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| Image communication apparatus |
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| Facsimile/telephone controller |
| OF THE INVENTION FIGS. 1a and 1b show a line sensing relay 14 and a double pole single throw latch ... |
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| High-frequency selecting switch terminal |
| OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it can be seen that the housing (1) is threaded (11) ... |
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| High speed pipeline merge sorter with run length tuning mechanism |
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| High speed pointer based first-in-first-out memory |
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| Circuits, systems and methods for preventing queue overflow in data processing systems |
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| Polled FIFO flags |
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| Image forming system including interconnected and priority allocated image forming devices |
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System and method for enabling pointers to be passed from computer programs written using computer programming languages that do not support pointers
| Details |
Inventors: Wang, I-Shin Andy; Sharp, Frederick Thomas; Wu, Rita Shiao-yuan; Ng, John Shek-Luen; Hwang, Kuo-Wei; Chen, David Y.;
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp. (Armonk, NY)
Primary Examiner: Kriess; Kevin A.
Assistant Examiner: Chaki; Kakali
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Johnson; Prentiss Wayne Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, pllc
Described herein is a system and method for enabling an application to pass a structure containing a pointer member to an external entity, wherein the application represents a computer program executing in a computer system, and the computer program is written in a computer programming language that does not support pointers. The application declares a variable V, a structure type having a member P, and a variable M of the structure type. The application invokes a function written in a computer programming language that supports pointers. A reference to the variable V is passed to the function. The function, when executed, obtains and returns an address of the variable V. The application sets the member P in the variable M equal to the address of the variable V. The application then passes the variable M to an external entity. In this manner, the present invention enables a structure having a pointer embedded therein to be passed to the external entity. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by letters patent is: 1.
A method performed by an application representing a computer program executing in a computer system, the computer program written in a computer programming language that does not support pointers, the method enabling the application to pass a pointer to an external entity, the method comprising the steps of: (1) declaring a variable V; (2) declaring a structure type having a member P; (3) declaring a variable M of said structure type; (4) invoking a function written in a computer programming language that supports pointers, a reference to said variable V being passed to said function, said function when executed obtaining and returning an address of said variable V; (5) setting said member P in said variable M equal to said address of said variable V; and (6) passing said variable M to an external entity.
2.
The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of: declaring a structure type having a member P of a data type, wherein memory allocated to an instance of said data type is greater than or equal to memory allocated to a pointer.
3.
The method of claim 2, wherein said data type is equal to long integer.
4.
The method of claim 1, wherein in step (1) said variable V is declared as a non-string, and wherein step (4) comprises the step of: invoking an ADDR function written in a computer programming language that supports pointers, a reference to said variable V being passed to said ADDR function, said ADDR function when executed performing the steps of: (i) receiving said reference to said variable V; and (ii) returning said reference to said variable V.
5.
The method of claim 1, wherein in step (1) said variable V is declared as a string, and wherein step (4) comprises the step of: invoking an ADDR.
sub.
13 STRING function written in a computer programming language that supports pointers, a reference to a handle associated with said variable V being passed to said ADDR
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I/O Systems 
