Re: Two questions on arrays with size defined by variables

On 10.02.2025 07:57, Keith Thompson wrote:

Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> writes:

[...]

 
Having a "return 0;" at the end of main() is neither obsolescent nor
deprecated.  It's still perfectly valid, with the expected semantics.
 
The only that changed in C99 is that reaching the closing "}" of
the main function does an implicit "return 0;".  This change was
borrowed from C++.
 
I do tend to dislike the change; it feels like an unnecessary special
case, and I used to advise people to add an explicit "return 0;"
anyway.  This was partly because C99 compilers were relatively rare,
and there were advantages to writing code that still worked with
C90-only compilers.
 
I usually omit the "return 0;", but I don't object to including it --
though I will occasionally mention in passing that it's "unnecessary
but harmless".  If nothing else, the history is interesting (at
least to me).

I'm with you.

Personally I think it's an uninteresting point; primarily because
it's a detail and, as you wrote, also a special case.

I would prefer - but for that reason of minor importance to me I
also don't mind as it is - if the language would allow all sorts
of interface variants, e.g.

  void main (void) { ... }    or also    void main () { ... }
  int main (void) { ... ; return rc; }

  void main (int argc, ...) { ... }
  int main (int argc, ...) { ... ; return rc; }

if they are _consistent_; i.e. no 'return' allowed in case of a
void declaration (with an implicit return 0 to the environment),
and requiring an explicit 'return' in case of an int declaration.

What I find bad is if some special [visibly inconsistent] form
is the norm and other [more consistent] forms are "UB" with the
"threat" of the proverbial missile launch as possible outcome.

I haven't checked what's actually valid in current or former
"C" compilers or standards. As it's of minor relevance (to me)
I just see whether the compiler accepts my main() declaration
or not. (There was never a problem here, so why should I care.)

Janis