Thread

1. Aurornis · 1789744309 · focus · HN ↗

   I never would have guessed that the unreachable() function would get executed in that example. Probably not something you’d encounter in practice, though I have seen some weird things happen with layers of #ifdef

   1. mathisfun123 · 1789751045 · focus · HN ↗

      > Probably not something you’d encounter in practice

      it's actually probably the most common footgun you'll encounter in practice: non-void functions with no return statements just keep executing past their end. ask me how i know.

      compile with -Wreturn-type if you want to avoid such things...

      1. drdexebtjl · 1789763030 · focus · HN ↗

         C on the other hand puts an implicit `return 0` at the end, but only on the main function for some reason. Very weird.

         1. mpyne · 1789772153 · focus · HN ↗

            C++ also special-cases the `main` function. Probably because `main` is the interface to the OS so it gets special language treatment.

            1. mitxela · 1789779045 · focus · HN ↗

               In C++ you're not allowed to call main yourself, so that the compiler can call the global constructors at the start of main.

               1. pjmlp · 1789798610 · focus · HN ↗

                  Which also exist as C extensions, in some compilers.

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