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From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Methodologies for C programming
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2018 12:15:53 -0800
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rbowman <bowman@montana.com> writes:
> On 12/27/2018 10:27 PM, Keith Thompson wrote:
>> rbowman <bowman@montana.com> writes:
>> [...]
>>> One of our stars had
>>>
>>> int bool;
>>>
>>> I'm not sure how he got it to compile.
>>
>> `bool` is not a keyword in C.  It's defined as a macro (expanding to
>> `_Bool`) only if you have `#include <stdbool.h>`.
>
> It's not a keyword in C but when you're doing cross platform development 
> and using a variety of compilers including various vintages of Visual 
> Studio offerings it's not a great choice for a variable name.

`bool` is a keyword in C++, and if you want to be able to compile
your C code with a C++ compiler, you obviously can't use `bool`
(or `class`, or `public`, or ...) as an identifier.  But there's
rarely a real need to write C++-compatible C code.  No C compiler
should complain about `int bool;`.  And I'm fairly sure all versions
of Visual Studio include a C compiler.

On the other hand, `bool` is almost certainly a lousy name for
a variable.

Unless the purpose of the declaration was to ensure that the code
wasn't being compiled with a C++ compiler (though I'd use `int
class;` for that).

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Will write code for food.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"