Tentative definitions of incomplete arrays

Dale R. Worley drw at euler.math.mit.edu
Tue Oct 24 13:02:34 AEST 1989


Consider the program:

	int i[];

As far as I can figure out, it is a legal tentative declaration, and
has external linkage.  (The external linkage is what saves it from
line 35, section 3.7.2, 7 Dec 88 Draft ANSI Std.)  By 3.7.2, at the
end of the program, the compiler effectively processes:

	int i[] = 0;

However, this seems to be illegal, according to line 17 on page 73,
section 3.5.7.  What gives?  I suspect the first declaration above is
illegal, but I can't find a rule that forbids it.

Please e-mail replies, since I don't read this group.

Dale Worley	worley at compass.com



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