Messages in this thread |  | | Subject | Re: [PATCH] removal of "static foo = 0" | Date | Sun, 26 Nov 2000 11:52:37 +0100 (MET) | From | (Rogier Wolff) |
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John Alvord wrote: > On Sun, 26 Nov 2000 04:25:05 +0000 (GMT), Alan Cox > <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> wrote: > > >> AB> of changes that yield a negligable advantage and reduce stability > >> AB> a tiny little bit. That is pushing Linux in the direction of this > >> AB> abyss. You notice that the view gets better, and I get nervous. > >> > >> Can somebody stop this train load of bunk? > >> > >> Uninitialized global variables always have a initial value of > >> zero. Static or otherwise. Period. > > > >That isnt what Andries is arguing about. Read harder. Its semantic differences > >rather than code differences. > > > > static int a=0; > > > >says 'I thought about this. I want it to start at zero. I've written it this > >way to remind of the fact' > > > >Sure it generates the same code > > It also says "I do not know much about the details of the kernel C > environment. In particular I do not know that all static variables are > initialized to 0 in the kernel startup. I have not read setup.S."
Nope. It doesn't say that. Maybe if you wrote the code. But if Andries or I had written that line, it just says that when written the programmer thought about the initial value, and that the initial value matters on this variable.
It is a concise form of documentation. As Andries explained, this can also be done with comments or with
static int a /* = 0 */;
However, I like the "=0" variant much better.
If you're worried about the inefficiency of the compiler, take it up with the compiler guys. Or write an extra preprocessor step or something like that.
Roger.
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