From 16a794fbeef0c1d98069dc825e55af38945b5165 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Justus Klausecker <justus@klausecker.de>
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 22:26:04 +0100
Subject: 111/112: Add exercises for packed structs/unions

The first exercise introduces the `packed` keyword as an alternative for
bitwise operations. Its main goals are establishing a solid understanding
of field order and conveying the fact that packed containers are basically
integers.
It introduces the concept of container layouts and briefly explains the
default `auto` layout before introducing the `packed` layout (but doesn't
touch `extern` at all).
The exercise also presents a real-world use case for packed containers,
namely LZ4 frame descriptors.
Furthermore it covers equality comparisons between packed containers.

The second exercise talks about switch statements with packed containers
and goes into some more detail on packed unions.
---
 patches/patches/111_packed.patch  | 57 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 patches/patches/112_packed2.patch | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 89 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 patches/patches/111_packed.patch
 create mode 100644 patches/patches/112_packed2.patch

(limited to 'patches')

diff --git a/patches/patches/111_packed.patch b/patches/patches/111_packed.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d38ac68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/patches/111_packed.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+--- exercises/111_packed.zig	2026-03-13 11:18:44
++++ answers/111_packed.zig	2026-03-13 11:18:57
+@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
+ 
+ const PackedStruct = packed struct {
+     a: u2,
+-    b: u?,
++    b: u4,
+ };
+ 
+ comptime {
+@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
+ 
+ const PackedUnion = packed union {
+     a: bool,
+-    b: u?,
++    b: u1,
+ };
+ 
+ comptime {
+@@ -113,31 +113,31 @@
+ pub fn main() void {
+     {
+         const expected: Bits = @bitCast(@as(u4, 0b1000));
+-        const my_bits: Bits = .{};
++        const my_bits: Bits = .{ .d = 1 };
+         if (my_bits != expected) complain(my_bits, expected, @src());
+     }
+ 
+     {
+         const expected: Bits = @bitCast(@as(u4, 0b0001));
+-        const my_bits: Bits = .{};
++        const my_bits: Bits = .{ .a = 1 };
+         if (my_bits != expected) complain(my_bits, expected, @src());
+     }
+ 
+     {
+         const expected: Bits = @bitCast(@as(u4, 0b0010));
+-        const my_bits: Bits = .{};
++        const my_bits: Bits = .{ .b = 1 };
+         if (my_bits != expected) complain(my_bits, expected, @src());
+     }
+ 
+     {
+         const expected: Bits = @bitCast(@as(u4, 0b0011));
+-        const my_bits: Bits = .{};
++        const my_bits: Bits = .{ .a = 1, .b = 1 };
+         if (my_bits != expected) complain(my_bits, expected, @src());
+     }
+ 
+     {
+         const expected: Bits = @bitCast(@as(u4, 0b1101));
+-        const my_bits: Bits = .{};
++        const my_bits: Bits = .{ .a = 1, .c = 1, .d = 1 };
+         if (my_bits != expected) complain(my_bits, expected, @src());
+     }
+ }
diff --git a/patches/patches/112_packed2.patch b/patches/patches/112_packed2.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b01eb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/patches/112_packed2.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+--- exercises/112_packed2.zig	2026-03-13 11:14:08
++++ answers/112_packed2.zig	2026-03-13 11:14:16
+@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@
+     const s: S = .{ .a = true, .b = -1 };
+     switch (s) {
+         .{ .a = true, .b = -1 } => {}, // ok!
+-        .{ .a = true, .b = ??? },
+-        .{ .a = ???, .b = 0 },
+-        .{ .a = ???, .b = ??? },
++        .{ .a = true, .b = 0 },
++        .{ .a = false, .b = 0 },
++        .{ .a = false, .b = -1 },
+         => @compileError("We don't want to end up here!"),
+     }
+ }
+@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
+         .{ .a = 3 } => {}, // ok!
+         .{ .a = 2 },
+         .{ .b = 1 },
+-        .{ .b = -1 },
+         .{ .a = 0 },
+         => @compileError("We don't want to end up here!"),
+     }
+@@ -65,7 +64,7 @@
+     // Reminder: if the sign bit of a float is set, the number is negative!
+ 
+     var number: Float = .{ .value = 2.34 };
+-    number.bits.??? = ???;
++    number.bits.sign = 1;
+     if (number.value != -2.34) {
+         std.debug.print("Make it negative!\n", .{});
+     }
-- 
cgit v1.2.3