Hi all, One of the historical artefacts of the C language has been the burden of lugging around multiple declarations in a single statement, with some well-known pitfalls:
int* ptr1, ptr2; Since ptr2 looks like a pointer but actually is not, standard coding guidelines recommend declaring like this: int *p1, *p2; If anything, this leads to bizarre statements - very misleading for those trying to understand pointer usage in C or just read code: int i; int *j = &i; // impression: *j is being assigned &i char *k = "Text"; // impression: *k is "Text" void *fx(char *z); // impression: *fx is will accept char & return void Each of these idiosyncrasies is best avoided by retaining the space after the asterisk (and removing the one before) in a pointer declaration. This really ought to be the standard coding guideline. As for the problem of multiple declarations fraught in the suggestion above, I would like gcc developers to please consider a compiler option (--single-declarations perhaps) under which the programmer can only introduce one declaration in one statement. If such an option could be made available, it takes care of all declaration woes and lets declared types bear close resemblance to what they appear to be from signatures. Would my idea have takers on this list ? -- Thank you & Regards, Manish Jain
