Path: csiph.com!news.swapon.de!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Problem with the function that should display new letter
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:07:26 -0700
Organization: None to speak of
Lines: 39
Message-ID: <ln37wvccip.fsf@kst-u.example.com>
References: <35a13b2e-2412-40ea-89e4-1985879e542c@googlegroups.com> <b19da732-dcbc-4e78-abbb-a56d7f7877a7@googlegroups.com> <d9a7ctFg1b3U1@mid.individual.net> <34ba9d6a-42ad-4d2d-9405-5c46b98369b8@googlegroups.com> <n0q18q$v5b$1@dont-email.me> <n0q9lm$rtv$1@dont-email.me>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="945944de09706c9b4e29b53c9d2efdc2"; logging-data="4016"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19qN6bvYTwVL9Daqqi5H1er"
User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1 (gnu/linux)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:ovWAHmBh0Bx8A5MssljwrzQZ2bA= sha1:9lfFvtImrqqfy3UYBayrJPKjapo=
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:74080

Bartc <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
> On 28/10/2015 08:35, Richard Heathfield wrote:
>> So, in any hosted implementation (such as the one you are using), the
>> interface to main must be either:
>>
>> int main(void);
>> OR
>> int main(int argc, char **argv);
>
> (That's what I used to think. But you don't get the latter interface 
> automatically, not under Windows anyway.
>
> The only interface the OS recognises is 'int main(void)' (or 'int 
> anyfunction(void)' depending on what entry point name is used in the 
> executable).
>
> The use of 'main(argc, argv)' requires that the C implementation 
> arranges to call an internal function which obtains these arguments from 
> the OS. It's usually done transparently so that it looks like the OS 
> calls main(argc, argv) directly.

You say it's not done automatically; then you say it's "usually done
transparently".

Sounds like it *is* done automatically.  It doesn't matter whether the
OS calls main directly, or whether it "looks like" it does so.  The
point is that it works.

> You find this stuff out when, for example, you try and use the 'ld' 
> linker directly without going through gcc.)

So don't do that.  Sure *you* might have circumstances where that might
be necessary.  Alla doesn't.  You're adding needless confusion.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"