Clean and type-safe state machine implementation in a statically typed language?

Question

I implemented a simple state machine in Python:

import time

def a():
    print \"a()\"
    return b

def b():
    print \"b()\"
    return c

def c():
    print         


        

Answer 1

You can get the same effect in C as in Python code,- just declare that functions return (void*):

#include "stdio.h"

typedef void* (*myFunc)(void);

void* a(void);
void* b(void);
void* c(void);

void* a(void) {
    printf("a()\n");
    return b;
}

void* b(void) {
    printf("b()\n");
    return c;
}

void* c(void) {
    printf("c()\n");
    return a;
}

void main() {
    void* state = a;
    while (1) {
        state = ((myFunc)state)();
        sleep(1);
    }
}