On 12/5/2023 10:14 AM, Russell King (Oracle) wrote:

On Tue, Dec 05, 2023 at 09:44:05AM -0800, Jeff Johnson wrote:

quoted

So in my experience a function prototype IS the function definition, and
the actual function is just the implementation of that definition.

But that thinking obviously isn't shared by others.

Interestingly, the view that a function prototype is a function
definition does not seem to be shared by w3school, Microsoft, IBM,
and many more.

If we look at the C99 standard, then 6.9.1 Function definitions gives
the syntax as including a compound-statement, which is defined as
requiring the curley braces and contents. Therefore, a function
definition as defined by the C standard includes its body.

Note I was speaking in terms of functional languages in general, not C
specifically. Perhaps I should have used the term "specification"
instead of "definition" (which would align with the Ada terminology).

Having worked with closed-source systems, especially VxWorks, for many
years (where the header files contain all the documentation), it just
seems strange to embed the documentation in the .c files.

/jeff