From: "M. Schulter" <mschulter AT value DOT net>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: DJGPP makes big .exe's
Date: 17 Sep 1997 06:02:36 GMT
Organization: Value Net Internetwork Services Inc.
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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`Lord_RaT~ <avenger3 AT hotmail DOT com> wrote:

: void main()
: {
:  printf("This is my generic programme\n");
:  printf("This is fun/n");
: }

Hi, there.

As someone just starting to learn assembler, and hardly an expert in C
<grin>, I may hardly be an authority on programming style. However, may I
suggest a couple of points that might be helpful either in DJGPP or in
other environments?

Here's a revised version of your code, with three main changes:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
   { 
     printf("This is my generic programme\n");
     printf("This is fun\n");
     return(0);
}

(1) You should include the standard i/o library, stdio.h, which provides
functions including printf(). This assumes, of course, that you quoted
your complete program, and didn't have the #include in an unquoted
portion.

(2) While some books break this rule, main() must _always_ return an
integer, which informs the operating system of your program's exit
condition. Thus you should use 'int main(void)', and _not_ any form with
'void main'

(3) By the same rule, you should always have main() return a value, 0 for
a normal exit, as in this revision.

Please note that if you compile with gcc using the -Wall option, you'll
get warnings on issues of this kind; I've found it a great help in my own
programming.

BTW, GCC is my first compiler, and I hope the above is helpful.

Maybe I should explain something about the culture of this group: those of
us who have been here for even a few months have seen _lots_ of posts
which seem to treat a "hello, world" program as the ultimate benchmark for
a 32-bit compiler <grin>.

Actually, I would say that gcc and Emacs provides a great platform for
programs of any size, and would encourage you to keep on learning.

Most respectfully,

Margo Schulter
mschulter AT value DOT net

(To reply, please remove the extra . from my default address)