Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari.oz.au!csource!david
From: david@csource.oz.au (david nugent)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Prototypes
Message-ID: <559@csource.oz.au>
Date: 9 Jul 90 06:19:23 GMT
References: <55550@lanl.gov>
Organization: Unique Computing Pty Ltd, Melb, Aust.
Lines: 30

In <55550@lanl.gov> rdw2030@venus.tamu.edu writes:

>With all this talk about prototypes lately, I must admit... though I've been
>programming in C for years, I've never understood why they exist!  Programs
>run without them!

Sure.
     

>My question... why prototypes?  I know they are part of the ANSI standard, but
>what is their purpose!?

Simple - type checking, and the benefit of implied type casting.  The latter
is particularly good in a memory segment (ugh!) environment, and takes care
of near/far pointer conversion.

By using prototypes, you lessen the need to ever need to use LINT; for basic
maintenance, anyway.  They've saved me many hours of frustrating bug-busting
by allowing the compiler to check types passed as parameters.

Converting from a situation where you use none to using prototypes should
a) be annoying as hell, and b) be rewarding in the long run.


david

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