Design Article
Using MISRA C and C++ for security and reliability. Part II
Greg Davis, director of engineering, Compiler Development
8/15/2012 8:41 AM EDT
This next rule is specific to MISRA C.
. Functions shall have prototype declarations and the prototype shall be visible at both the function definition and call. (C Rule 8.1/required)
Consider the following code:
. Functions shall have prototype declarations and the prototype shall be visible at both the function definition and call. (C Rule 8.1/required)
Consider the following code:
This code may look OK, but it will not work as expected with most compilers. C has some rather dangerous rules that assume that type of a function when the function has not been declared. In File2.c, GetMaxTemp is called, but never declared A conforming ANSI/ISO C compiler will assume that GetMaxTemp() returns an int. In reality, GetMaxTemp will return a double. Depending on the architecture and compiler different things will happen, but this code will rarely work the right way. MISRA C avoids this problem by forcing the user to declare functions before they are used. This rule is absent from MISRA C++ since the C++ language has long required this.
The biggest question that I have about this rule is whether it is necessary to require that a function prototype for a static function be visible at the point where the static function is defined. For example, it seems okay to define and then use a utility function like:
At the top of a file before it is ever used. Of course, the requirement that a global function be declared before it is used helps ensure that the declaration of a function matches the definition.
The biggest question that I have about this rule is whether it is necessary to require that a function prototype for a static function be visible at the point where the static function is defined. For example, it seems okay to define and then use a utility function like:
At the top of a file before it is ever used. Of course, the requirement that a global function be declared before it is used helps ensure that the declaration of a function matches the definition.
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