Structures and Unions

Abstract

Arrays are good for dealing with groups of identically typed variables, but they are unsatisfactory for managing groups of differently typed data. To service groups of mixed data, you need to use an aggregate type called a structure. (Other languages, such as Pascal, call this data type a record.) Another aggregate type, called a union (similar to a variant record in Pascal), enables you to interpret the same memory locations in different ways.

Art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars.

William Blake, To the Public