Re: function declaration without args no longer works

From	cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross)
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: function declaration without args no longer works
Date	2026-04-29 18:55 +0000
Organization	PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Message-ID	<10stk66$kk5$1@reader1.panix.com> (permalink)
References	<10sl5na$5ov$1@reader1.panix.com> <10spm2q$5fq$1@reader1.panix.com> <10spqdr$2vs2g$1@dont-email.me> <10ss83f$c4t$1@reader1.panix.com>

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In article <10ss83f$c4t$1@reader1.panix.com>,
John Forkosh  <forkosh@panix.com> wrote:
>David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> wrote:
>> [...]
>
>[snip]
>   This endless squabbling that I'm now seeing about
>using the $ char in variable names is utterly ridiculous.
>I'd never do it, but anybody else can do whatever they like.
>End of story, as far as I'm concerned.

Some believe it is important to understand the standard and what
it allows and does not allow, in order to understand the overall
countours of the language and its boundaries.  The distinction
between what the standard classifies as a permissible extension
and what is implementation-defined is important, if you are
someone writing a compiler.  Granted, most of us are not writing
compilers that often, but still, I would not categorize those
subthreads as either "squabling" or "uttery ridiculuous."

Indeed, you evidently got paid to write code that used those
extensions because, at some point, someone sat down and hashed
out their understanding of what, exactly, the available
references for the language at the time said about this very
matter.  It is very likely they did so in a very similar way to
what is happening now.

>> [snip]
>> There's nothing wrong with a bit of assembly when it is essential 
>> (things like task switching in an OS) or make a big difference to the 
>> efficiency.  But there is a lot wrong with a library (or in my current 
>> situation, an RTOS) that is full of assembly for simple tasks that would 
>> not only be far clearer in C, but almost certainly much more efficient.
>
>Absolutely. That's one thing we agree on that 110% (or better).
>I've always liked the description of C as "a portable assembly language".

As mentioned, C as a "portable macro assembler" hasn't really
been true since the first optimizing compilers came along in the
1970s.

This is a pretty good read on the subject:
https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3212479

>You can pretty much look at C code and see more-or-less what an
>assembler will do with it. And nowadays cc -O3, or whatever,
>frequently does a better job than I would/could if programming
>exactly the same thing directly in assembly.

Eh....  I mean, a lot of folks can eyeball a line of code and
guess more or less the approximate shape of what is going to
come out the other end.  But that's also true in Fortran or Rust
or Pascal.

>[snip]
>Yeah, as above, prototypes as well as various other stuff you
>suggested, for completely new code destined to remain on Unix/C.
>But situations are frequently more complicated than just "new code".
>Some of your (and others') remarks sound (to me) like you're coding
>in a blissful vacuum. But the world I see is full of pre-existing
>complications that frequently can't be precisely predicted, and
>that often can affect your choice of coding style. Better to be
>conservative and safe than flamboyant and sorry. (Not saying
>your suggestions are flamboyant, but the sentence sounded
>cuter that way:)

Prototypes were standardized nearly 40 years ago, and were in a
number of implementations prior to that (the 1987 revision to
the "Guide to VAX C" lists them, for instance).  Both Stratus's
C compiler for VOS and HPE's for NonStop support the 1989 ANSI
standard; I'd imagine they did so relatively quickly after the
standard was ratified.

`typedef` was present in the 7th Edition Unix C compiler for
so-called "typesetter C" and, outside of a few very constrained
compilers hosted on 8-bit environments, has probably been in
every compiler since.

Of course, `//` as a comment indicator predates C (it came from
BCPL: `/* ... */` actually comes from PL/I).

It's rare indeed to come across a system that doesn't support at
least the 1989 C standard; Multics is an example: despite the
last physical DPS/8m not shutting down until 2000, its compiler
was a PCC port and was strictly pre-ANSI.

I get that one can be constrained by the demands of backwards
compatibility with existing environments, but in this specific
case, for many of the things listed, "new code" is code that is
starting to feel those aching knees and back pain rolling out of
bed in the morning.

	- Dan C.

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function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 13:59 +0000
  Re: function declaration without args no longer works Michael Bäuerle <michael.baeuerle@gmx.net> - 2026-04-26 16:24 +0200
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 16:29 +0000
      Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-04 19:36 +0000
        Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-05-05 00:15 -0700
          Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-05 09:10 +0000
            Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-05-05 11:17 +0200
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-05 11:07 +0000
            Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-05-05 02:24 -0700
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-05 11:20 +0000
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-05 18:09 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-07 12:52 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-07 14:51 +0000
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-05-06 11:41 +0200
            Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-05-05 10:03 -0700
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-05-07 12:35 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-05-08 07:36 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-05-08 18:39 +0000
  Re: function declaration without args no longer works richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) - 2026-04-26 14:32 +0000
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 16:35 +0000
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-29 16:43 -0700
      Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-30 08:39 +0200
  Re: function declaration without args no longer works Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-04-26 17:50 +0300
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 16:39 +0000
      Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-27 00:30 +0000
        Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-27 08:30 +0200
          Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-28 07:02 +0000
            Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 10:16 +0200
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-04-28 15:33 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 20:24 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-04-28 20:22 +0000
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-29 06:22 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-29 09:15 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-29 10:06 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-04-29 11:25 +0300
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-29 11:26 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-04-29 20:07 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 00:14 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 17:57 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-30 03:09 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-30 00:48 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 20:18 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-01 04:12 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 23:29 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-05-01 19:31 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-05-01 13:49 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-05-01 12:49 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-01 22:31 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-02 00:13 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-05-01 19:27 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-05-01 19:28 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-02 03:07 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-05-02 16:16 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 01:39 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-30 00:38 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 03:07 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-30 05:54 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 14:32 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-04-30 09:45 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-30 12:48 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-04-29 11:05 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-29 16:32 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-30 01:22 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-29 10:42 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 14:31 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-30 08:42 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-30 13:17 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 14:40 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 22:14 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-29 18:55 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-29 21:19 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-04-29 16:46 -0700
            Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:25 +0200
              Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-28 13:13 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 15:48 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-04-28 15:05 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 16:37 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:02 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-29 09:29 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 02:49 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-04-29 20:06 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 17:13 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 00:45 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-04-29 21:11 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 01:40 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-29 20:09 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-04-30 14:57 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-30 15:07 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-04-30 16:20 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-30 16:10 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-04-30 17:48 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-30 22:31 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-30 22:18 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-05-01 00:25 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 00:08 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-05-01 01:24 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 17:46 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 01:55 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-05-01 10:48 +0100
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 11:20 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 20:23 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-05-01 10:32 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-30 14:43 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-30 22:34 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-05-01 13:32 -0400
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-05-01 18:12 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-30 03:50 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-30 08:52 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:56 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 15:41 -0700
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-29 21:20 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-28 17:14 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 17:31 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-28 19:06 +0000
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-28 21:44 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-04-28 17:06 +0200
                Re: function declaration without args no longer works cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-28 19:23 +0000
  Re: function declaration without args no longer works David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-04-26 17:35 +0200
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 16:50 +0000
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-04-26 15:52 -0700
  Re: function declaration without args no longer works Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-04-26 08:38 -0700
    Re: function declaration without args no longer works John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2026-04-26 16:56 +0000

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