Thread: I wonder why

Can someone explain me one thing, why do you put static variables in the main function of the program. For example, in Petzold's "Programming Windows", he has

Code:

WinMain(...) {
     static TCHAR szAppName[] = TEXT("HelloWin");
     HWND hWnd;
     MSG msg;
     WNDCLASS wndClass;
...
}

Why does he make szAppName static if WinMain is only called once? Another question is - why only szAppName is declared static but not the rest of the variables? I just dont see the reason to make variables static in main function.

I believe that without the static keyword, it would generate code to copy the string "HelloWin" from a read-only data to mutable data on the stack. As it is, the compiler will allocate memory for the string and initialize it with the text "HelloWin", instead of code doing such a thing at run time.

I don't quite follow your explanation. Isn't static has only one meaning, that is, making a variable exist after the function is terminated?

Bleep bloop

Thank you for the link. But why the rest of the variables are not declared as static?

The reason I gave was certainly frivolous; the instructions needed to copy the string are extremely fast, but I can not think of any other reason. The other local variables do not require any particular initialization like the string does, and are space for them is allocated with a single instruction.