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From: karl@haddock.UUCP (Karl Heuer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: portability and standards
Message-ID: <609@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jun-87 21:21:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: haddock.609
Posted: Mon Jun 22 21:21:13 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Jun-87 04:11:13 EDT
References: <2290@calmasd.GE.COM> <16939@cca.CCA.COM> <17198@amdcad.AMD.COM> <2166@dg_rtp.UUCP>
Reply-To: karl@haddock.ISC.COM.UUCP (Karl Heuer)
Distribution: world
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston
Lines: 23

In article <2166@dg_rtp.UUCP> meissner@dg_rtp.UUCP (Michael Meissner) writes:
>I use a somewhat similar scheme that allows simple initializations:
>  #ifndef GLOBAL
>  #define GLOBAL extern
>  #define INIT(x)
>  #endif
>in the main program before the includes, I define:
>  #define GLOBAL
>  #define INIT(x) = x

I used to use an equivalent trick, until I discovered that it's okay to have a
declaration *and* a definition in the same file.  Now I put declarations into
the include file (without the above macros), and also include this file in the
main program or globals.c or whatever, where I have the definitions.  If they
don't match, the compiler will say so.

This means I have to update both the header file and the globals.c file if I
change things, but I consider that a small price to pay.  On the flip side, I
can change the value of a global without editing the header; this is useful in
a "make" environment.  (Also, it neatens things up -- I never liked having to
use those macros.)

Karl W. Z. Heuer (ima!haddock!karl or karl@haddock.isc.com), The Walking Lint