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From: dunc%moria@Sun.COM (duncs home)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Global variables (was Re: Caution for those considering MSC 5.0)
Message-ID: <42890@sun.uucp>
Date: 23 Feb 88 19:25:16 GMT
References: <11754@brl-adm.ARPA> <620@viper.Lynx.MN.Org> <2302@umd5.umd.edu> <987@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP>
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In article <987@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP> lee@ssc-vax.UUCP (Lee Carver) writes:
>NEVER, NEVER, NEVER assume the system is going to put something
>there unless you explicitly request it.  It stops a lot of bugs dead
>in their tracks.  You might get away with it if you don't, but how
>will you be sure?

According to K&R 8.6:
	"Static and external variables which are not initialized are
	guaranteed to start off as 0; ..."

However it's still a good idea to do your initializations explicitly;  it
helps keep programmers who are unfamiliar with the fine details of C from
getting needlessly confused.  (And since a lot of those programmers seem to
be writing micro C compilers, it makes you program more portable 8^).