The Shape of Code

Software is not the only entity that can contain faults. The requirements listed in a specification are usually considered to be correct, almost by definition. Of course the users of software implementing a specification may be unhappy with the behavior specified and wish that some alternative behavior occurred. A cut and dried fault occurs when two requirements conflict with each other.

The C Standard can be read as a specification for how C compilers should behave. Despite over 80 man years of effort and the continued scrutiny of developers over 20 years, faults continue to be uncovered. The latest potential fault (it is possible that the fault actually occurs in many existing compilers rather than the C Standard) was brought to my attention by Al Viro, one of the Sparse developers.

The issue involved the following code (which I believe the standard considers to be strictly conforming, but all the compilers I have tried disagree):

int (*f(int x))[sizeof x];  // A prototype declaration
 
int (*g(int y))[sizeof y]  // A function definition
{
return 0;
}

These function declarations are unusual in that their return type is a pointer to an array of integers, a type rarely encountered in this context (the original question involved a return type of pointer to function returning … and was more complicated).

The specific issue was the scope of the parameter (i.e., x and y), is the declaration still in scope at the point that the second occurrence of the identifier is encountered?

As a principle I think that the behavior, whatever it turns out to be, should be the same in both cases (neither the C standard or its rationale state such a principle).

Taking the function prototype case first:

The scope of the parameter x “… terminates at the end of the function declarator.” (sentence 409).

and does function prototype scope include the return type (the syntax calls the particular construct a declarator and there are at least two of them, one nested inside the other, in a function prototype declaration)?

Sentence 1592 says Yes, but sentence 279 and 1845 say No.

None of these references are normative references (standardize for definitive).

Moving on to the function definition case:

Where does the scope of the parameter x begin (sentence 418)?
“… scope that begins just after the completion of its declarator.”

and where does the scope end (sentence 408)?
“… which terminates at the end of the associated block.”

and what happens between the beginning and ending of the scope (sentence 412)?
“Within the inner scope, the identifier designates the entity declared in the inner scope;”

This looks very straight forward, there are no ‘gaps’ in the scope of the parameter definition appearing in a function definition. Consistency with the corresponding function prototype case requires that function declarator be interpreted to include the return type.

There is a related discussion involving a previous Defect Report 345 submitted a while ago.

The problem is that many existing compilers do not treat parameter scope in this way. They operate as-if there was a ‘gap’ in the parameter scope of function definition (probably because the code implementing this functionality is shared with that implementing function prototypes, which have been interpreted to not include the return type).

What happens next? Probably lots of discussion on the C Standard email reflector. Possible outcomes include somebody finding wording that requires a ‘gap’ in the scope of parameters in function definitions, it agreed that such a gap ought to be specified by the standard (because this is how existing code behaves because this is how compilers operate), or that the standard is correct as is and any compiler that behaves differently needs to be fixed.