From 7380730318492371901 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f78e5,314ebdf2ff957e27 X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-04-11 11:49:40 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!kibo.news.demon.net!mutlu.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!devnull From: K.Hagan@thermoteknix.co.uk ("Ken Hagan") Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Subject: Re: Why int main()? Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 18:49:39 +0000 (UTC) Lines: 19 Approved: fjh@cs.mu.oz.au (Fergus Henderson , moderator of comp.std.c++) Message-ID: References: X-Trace: mail2news.demon.co.uk 1050086979 29366 10.0.0.1 (11 Apr 2003 18:49:39 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 18:49:39 +0000 (UTC) X-Received: from mulga.cs.mu.oz.au ([128.250.1.22]) by news.demon.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.12) id 1943ak-0007dV-00 for mail2news@news.news.demon.net; Fri, 11 Apr 2003 18:49:38 +0000 X-Received: by mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU id EAA21514; Sat, 12 Apr 2003 04:49:35 +1000 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU: fjh set sender to devnull@stump.algebra.com using -f X-Path: comp-std-cpp-robomod!not-for-mail X-Robomod: STUMP, ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov) X-Delivered-To: std-c++@ucar.edu X-Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ X-NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 13:36:13 +0000 (UTC) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-Priority: 3 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Spam-Status: No, hits=1.8 required=5.0 tests=INVALID_MSGID,PRIORITY_NO_NAME,REFERENCES,SPAM_PHRASE_00_01 version=2.41 X-Spam-Level: * Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.std.c++:18734 "Huw Ford" wrote: > Why was main defined as returning int? I'd guess ... because the remit of the original *C* committee was to standardise existing practice and such practice was overwhelmingly that of UNIX (and its offshoots such as MS-DOS). The return value is useful there. It's probably not a good way to design a language, but it does have the merit that existing practice is known to work, at least for those practising it. --- [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles, try just posting with ] [ your news-reader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu ] [ --- Please see the FAQ before posting. --- ] [ FAQ: http://www.jamesd.demon.co.uk/csc/faq.html ]