Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!mit-vax!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!cbosgd!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!mostek From: mostek@ccvaxa.UUCP Newsgroups: net.lang.c Subject: Re: Array Initialization - (nf) Message-ID: <2371@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Jul-83 23:46:40 EDT Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.2371 Posted: Thu Jul 7 23:46:40 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 12-Jul-83 06:48:22 EDT Lines: 14 #N:ccvaxa:8800007:000:528 ccvaxa!mostek Jul 6 17:04:00 1983 According to "The C Programming Language" by Kernigan and Ritchie, static and externals are ALWAYS initialized to zero, whereas automatic and register variables are garbage. So if you're array is external or static, you don't need to initialize it (and hope noone ever changes the declaration). If a C compiler doesn't follow this, there is a bug somewhere, in the C compiler or in the manual. If you have the execution time and text space to spare (one usually does), a safe rule is to always explicitly initialize.