#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

// struct Element {  // BAD - wastes spaces
//  int   as_int;
//  char* as_string;
//  Node* as_list;
//  float as_float;
// };

union Element {  // shares the same space in memory for *ONE* of the fields
    int   as_int;     // 4 bytes (on our platform)
    char* as_string;  // 8 bytes ("  "   "       )
    float as_float;   // 4 bytes ("  "   "       )
    //             WHOLE: 8 bytes (max of 4, 8 ,4)
};

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
    union Element element = { .as_int = 5 };
    printf("element.as_int == %d\n", element.as_int);

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
/* vim: set tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 fileencoding=utf-8 noexpandtab: */