kernighan & ritchie weird prototype.

[denc4]

I found a piece of code in "The C programming language second edition ANSI C" which does not compile. Someone on this forum is bound to have it so i thought i'd post this question. It's on page 40 at the bottom. For the one's who don't have it:

The const declaration can also be used with array arguments, to indicate that the function does not change that array:

int strlen(const char[]);

The result is implementation-defined if an attempt is made to change a const.

As expected, my compiler complains:

error C2055: expected formal parameter list, not a type list

It wants the name of a local variable, not just char[]. Am i missing something? Or is the book wrong.. which i doubt.

 

[xwb]

Seems to work with Code Warrior. Which C compiler & OS are you using.

 

[denc4]

it does work, i forgot that prototypes don't necessarily need argument names.

i compiled it like this:

int strlen(const char[]);

main()
{
  return 0;
}

int strlen(const char s[])
{
  return 0;
}

The prototype is legal, the function head would be illegal without the "s" argument name. The "s" was not present on my previous attempt...