'Multipurpose' linked list implementation in pure C

Question

This is not exactly a technical question, since I know C kind of enough to do the things I need to (I mean, in terms of not \'letting the language get in your way\'), so thi

Answer 1

Although It's tempting to think about solving this kind of problem using the techniques of another language, say, generics, in practice it's rarely a win. There are probably some canned solutions that get it right most of the time (and tell you in their documentation when they get it wrong), using that might miss the point of the assignment, So i'd think twice about it. For a very few number of cases, It might be feasable to roll your own, but for a project of any reasonable size, Its not likely to be worth the debugging effort.

Rather, When programming in language x, you should use the idioms of language x. Don't write java when you're using python. Don't write C when you're using scheme. Don't write C++ when you're using C99.

Myself, I'd probably end up using something like Pax's suggestion, but actually use a union of char[1] and void* and int, to make the common cases convenient (and an enumed type flag)

(I'd also probably end up implementing a fibonacci tree, just cause that sounds neat, and you can only implement RB Trees so many times before it loses it's flavor, even if that is better for the common cases it'd be used for.)

edit: based on your comment, it looks like you've got a pretty good case for using a canned solution. If your instructor allows it, and the syntax it offers feels comfortable, give it a whirl.