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From: throopw@xyzzy.UUCP (Wayne A. Throop)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: static stuff...
Message-ID: <381@xyzzy.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Nov-87 13:59:55 EST
Article-I.D.: xyzzy.381
Posted: Wed Nov 18 13:59:55 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Nov-87 10:22:51 EST
References: <3011@sigi.Colorado.EDU>
Organization: Data General, RTP NC.
Lines: 37
Summary: Just tragic, the conditions some people must labor under

> swarbric@tramp.Colorado.EDU (SWARBRICK FRANCIS JOHN)
> First, what is the significance of making a static function?
> Second, aren't all global variables automatically static.  Is there any
> reason to explicitly call them static?

Hoooooboy.  I have a great deal of sympathy for poor folks trying to
program with no reference manuals of their own, nor even access to the
reference manuals in libraries and the like.  That is, after all, the
only explanation for such a question I can imagine.  Let me help out
here.  I'll take the most basic and widespread C reference, K&R, look up
"static" in the index, refer to page 80 as the index indicates, and find
that

        An external static variable is known within the remainder of the
        source file in which it is declared, but not in any other file.
        External static thus provides a way to hide names [...]
        It is possible for a function to be declared static; this makes
        its name unknown outside of the file in which it is declared.
        In C, "static" connotes not only permanence but also a degree of
        what might be called "privacy".  Internal static objects are
        known only inside one function; external static objects
        (variables or functions) are known only within the source file
        in which they appear [...]

Harbison and Steele, my compiler reference manual, and practically every
other C reference material I can find to check say similar things in the
entries indexed by "static".  As I say, I can only imagine the hardship
some people are subjected to in attempting to use a language with no
reference material.  Why the university or firm such a person belongs to
permits such poor conditions is beyond me.  These people have my utmost
sympathy.

--
"When The Cow MOOS... udders TREMBLE!"
        --- The Cow, speaking to Madame Marsupial
            (from The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse)
-- 
Wayne Throop      <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!throopw