Question

#define xyz

static xyz  myObject *__my_getitem (myObject* a, myObject *b) {
     myObject *r;
     .........
     ........
     return r;
 }

1. What is static?
2. What is xyz doing with static
3. Why is there a * in front of __my_getitem
4. What is the difference betweern myObject* a and myObject *a (position of *)

Answer 1

What is static?

It means different things in different contexts; you’ll need to read your book to understand all of its meanings. In this case, it means that the function is only available inside this source file, and not in any that are compiled separately and then linked to it.

What is xyz doing with static?

Causing confusion. It’s an empty macro (defined in the first line) so, before compiling the program, the preprocessor will replace it with nothing.

Why is there a * in front of __my_getitem

* after a type changes the type to a pointer; so this means that the function returns a pointer to a myObject. (By the way, you should never declare a name with two consecutive _ characters; names like that are reserved.)

What is the difference betweern myObject* a and myObject *a (position of *)

Nothing at all; whitespace never changes the meaning of the program, except where it is needed to separate tokens. Some people fight holy wars over the semantic implications of those two styles, but the language doesn’t care.