Why is it possible to declare a struct and a non-struct with the same name?

Question

Apparently,

For reasons that reach into the prehistory of C, it is possible to declare a struct and a non-struct with the same name in the same scope

Answer 1

The reason it is like this has to do with C++ inheriting from C. It was not "added" to C++, it is there because it works that way in C.

In C, you have to use struct X and union Y (there is no class keyword in C), or use typedef struct X A; and then use the name A instead of strcut X (where X and A could be the same name).

In C++ the compiler will, as long as the name is unique, understand that X is referring to struct X. You don't have to type struct, union or class in front of the name, or use typedef to create a new, standalone name.

Since C++ is designed to allow (wherever possible) the use of C syntax, it is still allowed to write struct X when referring to a struct. This allows the use of a name that is otherwise ambiguous.

It is highly recommended to NOT make use of this "possibility" unless required by historical design decisions, because all it will achieve is more confusion...