Thread: Basic Concept

In the statement:
int a;
please explain me whether here 'a' is simply an alias given to the memory location allocated for this int variable or something else.

and will the memory be allocated in the above statement....or it will be allocated only when we assign some integer value to it.

In C we have Declarations and Definitions. Declaration is like an alias, as you say. Definition is the process of allocating memory for that variable.

When you declare a variable you are just telling the compiler that you are going to use that variable, that is defined somewhere else. When you define a variable you allocate memory for it (why I am feeling that I am telling this twice?)

In most cases (like in your example) you both define and declare a variable. You will see situations where a variable is defined somewhere and declared somewhere else. A variable is defined once (allocated once) but can be declared many times.

Consider this piece of code:

Code:

int main (void)
{
  ...;
  ...;

  ...;

}

void fun1 (void)
{
  ...;
}

void fun2 (void)
{
  extern int a;

  ...;
}

int a;

void fun3 (void)
{
  ...;
  ...;
}

extern int a; is a declaration of a variable that is defined somewhere else.

int a; is its definition.

Only functions fun2 and fun3 may use variable a. But this is another story.

By the way, you dont need to compile the code above