When to use typedef in c?

Question

Can anybody tell me when to use typedef in C? In the following code I get a warning by gcc :

warning: useless storage class specifier in empty declaration

typedef struct node
{
  int data;
  struct node* forwardLink;
} ;

Answer 1

The syntax of typedef is typedef <type> <name>; it makes the type accessible through the name. In this case, you've only specified a type, and no name, so your compiler complains.

You probably want

typedef struct node
{
  int data;
  struct node* forwardLink;
} node;