Re: Request for compiler option to disable multiple declarations in a single statement

[Eric Gallager <egall at gwmail dot gwu dot edu>]

On 4/19/18, Manish Jain <bourne.identity@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> One of the historical artefacts of the C language has been the burden of
> lugging around multiple declarations in a single statement, with some
> well-known pitfalls:
>
> int* ptr1, ptr2;
>
> Since ptr2 looks like a pointer but actually is not, standard coding
> guidelines recommend declaring like this:
>
> int *p1, *p2;
>
> If anything, this leads to bizarre statements - very misleading for
> those trying to understand pointer usage in C or just read code:
>
> int i;
> int *j = &i; // impression: *j is being assigned &i
>
> char *k = "Text";  // impression: *k is "Text"
>
> void *fx(char *z); // impression: *fx is will accept char & return void
>
>
> Each of these idiosyncrasies is best avoided by retaining the space
> after the asterisk (and removing the one before) in a pointer
> declaration. This really ought to be the standard coding guideline.
>
> As for the problem of multiple declarations fraught in the suggestion
> above, I would like gcc developers to please consider a compiler option
> (--single-declarations perhaps) under which the programmer can only
> introduce one declaration in one statement. If such an option could be
> made available, it takes care of all declaration woes and lets declared
> types bear close resemblance to what they appear to be from signatures.
>
> Would my idea have takers on this list ?
>
> --
> Thank you & Regards,
> Manish Jain
>

Clang has a warning flag called -Wcomma to warn about code like this;
perhaps GCC could add it as well.