C function prototyping and large projects

[Ray Dunn]

In article <24 at motto.UUCP> russ at motto.UUCP (Russell Crook) writes:
>We are just starting to use function prototypes, and are looking for
>suggestions on how to use them.
>....
>Do you regenerate the prototypes automatically, every time you rebuild
>or whenever the source file changes, or what?

As others have said in various ways to the first part of the question - use
function prototypes in the same way other global data is handled - include
them in *appropriate* .h files - do *not* just use one big .h file for
everything.

Get into the habit of creating a prototype in an appropriate header file
when you create a global function, in the same way you currently create any
other extern statement.  This .h file should be included in the "parent"
source file, as well as in referencing files.

If the procedure is static, put the prototype somewhere at the top of the
source file.

The answer to the automatic *generation* question is simple - do it once if
your code has not used prototypes before (this is why MS provided the
feature), disseminate the output into header files, then maintain the
information manually as you would for any other global information.

Continually re-generating prototypes can only lead to trouble, does not
adequately separate "static" and "extern" declarations, and doesn't
automatically get the information into the correct places.

Define things as global only on a "Need to know" basis - i.e. put static in
front of everything in sight!  (:-)/2

Hopefully prototyping will increase the diligence of using that little word
"static" when defining procedures which do not *need* to be global
(desperately trying to avoid flaming the inappropriate overloading of the
keyword "static" and the fact that the static/extern default is reversed
from what it should be - something not worth arguing about because it is
cast in 'C'oncrete)!

-- 
Ray Dunn.                      |   UUCP: ..!philabs!micomvax!ray
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