Strategies for Handling Padding in C Programming

In C programming, padding refers to extra memory added between structure members to align data for efficient CPU access. The compiler adds padding to align members to their natural boundaries. For example, in a 32-bit system:

struct foo {
  uint32_t i;
  uint8_t b;
};

struct foo {
  uint32_t i;
  uint8_t b;
};

struct foo {
  uint32_t i;
  uint8_t b;
};

struct foo {
  uint32_t i;
  uint8_t b;
};

Here, the compiler adds 3 bytes of padding after "b" to make the structure 8 bytes in total. The article discusses strategies to optimize memory layout and access, focusing on packed structures.

More information:
https://interrupt.memfault.com/blog/c-struct-padding-initialization

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C Structure Padding Initialization

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Strategies for Handling Padding in C Programming

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