There are 2 typos in your quote.
Yes.
This is an unnamed union, it is a Microsoft extension supported by GCC.
EVIL!
This kind of extension should not be used in serious software. We should compile with -ansi -pedantic to forbid these extensions.
I really recommend to do that. I could supply patches I did to get it compiled with gcc 2.95.
Except inline assembly and __attribute__ that should be put inside ifdefs, a C code which compiles well with GCC and the options specified above should compile on any other compiler.
-- Helmut Karlowski