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From: theo@natmlab.dms.oz (Theo ten Brummelaar)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Motivation behind a particular piece of code in cpp
Message-ID: <1963@natmlab.dms.oz>
Date: Thu, 26-Nov-87 00:59:45 EST
Article-I.D.: natmlab.1963
Posted: Thu Nov 26 00:59:45 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Nov-87 20:52:43 EST
References: <981@gumby.UUCP>
Reply-To: theo@nifty.UUCP (Theo Ten Brumelaar)
Organization: /usr/local/lib/news/organization
Lines: 37
Keywords: cpp, static, STATIC

In article <981@gumby.UUCP> uday@mips.UUCP (Uday Kurkure) writes:
}   I do not understand the motivation behind a following declaration
}   found in the sources of cpp.
}
}     #define STATIC
}    If STATIC is defined to be null, why would one use it in declarations ?

I don't know about you but when I'm working on a large programme over the
space of a few months I tend to forget what I intend for some variables.
Surely this is just another way of adding comments to code. I would
guess that whoever wrote the code you refer to does it for the same reason
that other people use defines like ;

#define FAST	register
#define COUNT	int
#define GLOBAL	extern
#define IMPORT	extern

and so on. I always thought the good thing about writting in C is
that you can make it look and feel like what ever you are most 
comfortable with.

Then again, maybe the compiler they were working on had static as default
and thus did not have a keyword 'static' implimented at all.


	Theo ten Brummelaar

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