auto keyword

[cat5ive]

Hi,

void func1(int y)
{
   auto int count;
}

what's the keyword auto for? The book only mention that we can include it with automatic variable but did not tell what's the advantage of including it? And it seem that I still need to explicitly initialize variable count(so it doesn't contain garbage). So may be it should be something like this instead?

void func1(int y)
{
   auto int count=0;
}

Can someone please explain to me?

 

[DaveSinkula]

http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/q1.12.html

 

[Marikallees]

> what's the keyword auto for?
IIRC, auto was only used in a compiler symbol table. Other than that the only other possible purpose for auto is to format your declarations so that they match up vertically in the presence of other qualifiers:

const  int  a;
auto   long b;
static char c;

Semantically, it's worthless because anywhere that auto would be legal already defaults to it. So it would be redundant.

 

[cat5ive]

Thanks all.