 Therefore, a reference to the structure field codice_6 (where codice_7 is of type codice_8) will actually refer to the field codice_9 (where codice_10 is of type codice_4).In other words, the sockets library uses type punning to implement a rudimentary form of polymorphism or inheritance.Often seen in the programming world is the use of "padded" data structures to allow for the storage of different kinds of values in what is effectively the same storage space.