From: Johan Holmberg <holmberg@...>
Date: 2004-10-14T02:37:23+09:00
Subject: Kernighan & Richie ---> prototypes ?


Hi !

The Ruby source code mostly uses non-prototype declarations of
functions (a.k.a. "Kernighan & Richie" declarations).

But a number of files uses prototypes. At least the following files
as far as I can see:

    euc_jp.c, main.c, regcomp.c, regenc.c, regerror.c, regexec.c,
    regparse.c, sjis.c, st.c, utf8.c, util.c, win32/win32.c

That must mean that the old-style is just a "rest of the past",
and Ruby will not compile with a pre-prototype compiler any more.
Correct ?

Considering this, and the fact that prototypes actually *help* the
programmer to write correct code, I wonder:

  What is holding back a conversion of the K&R code
  to use prototypes ?

I would be willing to try to help with the conversion if time is the
only reason it hasn't been done yet. I think it would be a good
thing to get rid of the old K&R style of code. I was recently bitten
by the lack of type-checking in K&R code when I prepared a patch to
the Ruby source, and it felt so unnecessary ....

I see in the list archives that almost the same question was asked
by Michal Rokos a couple of months ago. But I couldn't find any
answer that time.

/Johan Holmberg