Explanation needed for const int "error: variably modified ... atfile scope."

[Keith Thompson]

Peter I couldn't have put it clearer myself. In fact I didn't put it clearer.

Thanks for making my point better than I made it.

Something else that you might run across is that C's use of the words
"const" to mean read-only and "constant" to mean compile-time evaluable
are not universal.

For example, Ada uses the word "constant" to mean about the same
thing that C's "const" means:

R: constant Integer := Random(42);

It uses the word "static" to mean that something can be evaluated at
compile time (whereas C uses "static" to mean -- well, all sorts of
things).

The point is that, if you're going to be working in more than one
language, you need to keep track of the concepts and be prepared to be
flexible about the terminology. (But I recommend being *inflexible*
about the terminology within a given language.)

 

[Poster Matt]

Something else that you might run across is that C's use of the words
"const" to mean read-only and "constant" to mean compile-time evaluable
are not universal.

For example, Ada uses the word "constant" to mean about the same
thing that C's "const" means:

R: constant Integer := Random(42);

It uses the word "static" to mean that something can be evaluated at
compile time (whereas C uses "static" to mean -- well, all sorts of
things).

The point is that, if you're going to be working in more than one
language, you need to keep track of the concepts and be prepared to be
flexible about the terminology. (But I recommend being *inflexible*
about the terminology within a given language.)

Thanks for the advise Keith. I'll bare it in mind.

Cheers.