automatic variables

I like C, but I have never had to use "automatic variables." I am going through my Petzold book and it mentions static and automatic variables. Does C have automatic varaibles, or is this something specific to windows programming? I vaguely remember them in prolog.

Thanks in advance

Yes, C has automatic variables. You've probably used them in almost every single C program you ever wrote without realising it. These are the same thing:

Code:

auto int var;

and...

Code:

int var;

In the book he mentions Local automatic variables being unique to each thread. How do you declare these?

a local variable is visible within a block {},has block scope, for example.

Code:

int x =0;  /* this is a global variable*/
int main() 
{ 
/* whereas */

int i; /*local variable*/
.
.
.
return 0;
}

A variable is local to the code block it resides in. If it doesn't reside inside a block (pair of braces), it is a global variable. To further the point:

Code:

void foo( void )
{
    /* variables declared here are local to foo */
    int localtofoo;

    {
        /* variables declared here are local to this inner block in foo */
        int localtoinnerfoo;

        {
            /* variables declared here are local to this inner block... */
            int localtothisinnerfoo;

        }

        /* localtothisinnerfoo is now gone... */

    }

    /* localtoinnerfoo is now gone... */

}

They're not global, meaning, they're not available outside this function. If we had declared a variable outside this function, (ie: global) it could be accessed from all parts within the function. They're also not static, and as such, they go out of scope when their code block ends, and you cannot return pointers to them to use them further.

Quzah.

Since in the book he writes:

Local automatic varaibles in a function are unique to
each thread, because they are stored on the stack and
each hread has it's own stack.

I took it that automatic varaibles were something else. Thank you for clearing that up for me.