Messages in this thread |  | | | From | Russell King <> | | Subject | Re: [PATCH] removal of "static foo = 0" | | Date | Sat, 25 Nov 2000 21:07:08 +0000 (GMT) |
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Andries Brouwer writes: > What a strange reaction. If I write > > static int foo; > > this means that foo is a variable, local to the present compilation unit, > whose initial value is irrelevant because it will be assigned to before use.
Wrong. The initial value is well-defined. Go and read any C standard you choose. Any C standard you care. You will find out something really interesting. I can guarantee that you will find out that it will be initialised to zero. Unconditionally. No question. Absolutely.
> It is a bad programming habit to depend on this zero initialization.
Why? Again, it is WELL defined, and is WELL defined in any C standard.
> Indeed, very often, when you have a program that does something > you need to change it so that it does that thing a number of times. > Well, put a for- or while-loop around it. But wait! The second time > through the loop certain variables need to be reinitialized. Which ones? > The ones that were initialized explicitly in your first program. > Make the program into a function in a larger one. Same story.
Your point here is as clear as mud.
> If it is your intention to destabilize then you need not read the following. > But let us assume that you try to make a perfect system.
There is absolutely NO destabilisation going on here. Get a grip, read the C standards, read the C startup code. Then come back with something more relevent. _____ |_____| ------------------------------------------------- ---+---+- | | Russell King rmk@arm.linux.org.uk --- --- | | | | http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/personal/aboutme.html / / | | +-+-+ --- -+- / | THE developer of ARM Linux |+| /|\ / | | | --- | +-+-+ ------------------------------------------------- /\\\ | - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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