Re: Really crummy error messages

[Florian Weimer <fw at deneb dot enyo dot de>]

Phil Edwards <pedwards@disaster.jaj.com> writes:

> For "first use this function" to be a correct English sentence [fragment],
> there is only one possible parse, and it's not what is intended.  "First use
> this function" is an /imperative/ with "use" as a verb (pronounced with a 'z'
> sound), and always leaves new users wondering, "first use /which/ function?"

I think this error message is dating back to the old K&R
prototype-less days, when you declared functions implicitly by
calling ("using") them.  After a call such as "foo()", you can take
the address of the function by just writing "foo" (without further
declarations).

At least that's my guess.  In any case, the error message is really
misleading, close to "tagged type must be declared at library
level". ;-)