Question

 typedef struct _name name;
 struct _name { char name[256]; };

 // ...
 name Name;
 char *buf = (char*)malloc( 256*sizeof(char) );

 // ...
 // if I do not want to write strcpy (Name.name,buf); 
 // and write: list_name_insert (&List,0,&Name);
 // if just write:
 list_name_insert (&List,0 /* index */,(name*)buf /* pointer to elem */);
 // Will it be correct?
 // ...

In function list_name_insert standard C field-by-field elem copying perform.
In other words, is it the same srtuct { char[]; } and char* in ANSI C?

Answer 1

The answer to these two questions rolled into one is no and no.

A struct with one member has a struct type; it does not have the same type as its single member.

Also, arrays and pointers are not the same thing. An array can decay to a pointer as in

char buf[256];
char *p = buf;

but not the other way around.