Initializing Vars in non-OS C systems

[chris at umcp-cs.UUCP]

Since the thing that started this discussion was Whitesmith C, let me
point out yet again that the problem is not that they don't set statics
to zero.  They *do* set statics to zero -- try

	main () { static x; putfmt ("x=%d\n", x); }

and you get zero (I forget if you use putfmt that way, but you probably
understand what I mean).  The problem is that they don't create a
global variable unless you initialize it!  Try

	int var;
	main () { foo (var); }
	foo (n) int n; { }

Compile, and you get:  "Undefined: var.".  If you use

	int var = <any integer> ;

it compiles correctly.  But if you don't initialize it it's considered
*external*.

				- Chris
-- 
In-Real-Life:	Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci
UUCP:		{seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!chris
CSNet:		chris at umcp-cs
ARPA:		chris.umcp-cs at UDel-Relay