Question

I’m trying to figure out there best way to define a global array with a constant size and I’ve come to the following options, all with their own flaws.

// 1:
#define ASIZE 10
int array[ASIZE];

// 2:
enum {ASIZE = 10};
int array[ASIZE];

// 3:
#define ASIZE_DEF 10
static const int ASIZE = ASIZE_DEF;
int array[ASIZE_DEF];

The problem with the first two is that I can’t get the value of ASIZE from GDB. I guess the third option is best because I can still dump the value of the const, but it also leaks in another macro. I can undef the macro after defining the array and const but if the #define and the const are in a separate file from the array declaration, then it gets a bit hairy.

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

You are dealing with a GDB issue, not a C issue. You can also do #4, which is arguably better than #3.

enum {ASIZE = 10};
static const int ASIZE_FOR_GDB = ASIZE;
int array[ASIZE];