Brook Spec V0.2 0.2 Streams

Brook introduces a new type-qualifier keyword memstream into the C language spec [A4.4 K&R]. Declaring an object memstream announces that it has special properties relevant to streaming. Declarations memstream objects are declared the same way as any other object with a type-qualifier, such as const or volatile [A8 K&R]. Stream Elements The purpose of declaring memstreams is to express a collection of objects which can be operated on in parallel. The collection of objects is referred to as a stream while each object is a stream element. The memstream type determines the stream element type as well as the number of elements contained in the stream. If a memstream declaration is not an array declaration [A8.6.2 K&R], the memstream object contains only a single stream element of the type equal to the memstream object. If the memstream declaration is an array declaration, then the type of the stream element is equal to the base type of the array. The base type is the type of the object after which all of the [constant-expression] specifiers which are directly associated with the variable name have been removed from the declaration statement (as defined by operator precedence). For example, memstream float val; Stream of floats, one element. memstream float a[4][5][9]; Stream of floats, 4*5*9 elements. typedef float mytype[3][2]; memstream mytype c[304]; Stream of float[3][2], 304 elements A few more complex examples, memstream char *daytab [13]; Stream of char *, 13 elements memstream char (*daytab)[13]; Stream of pointer to char[13], one element