>Using uninitialised variables is virtually always bad, regardless of the
> scope. And the fact that
> global variables are zeroed at the program start is afaik not defined
> by the Pascal standard. It's
> just a side effect of the way most operating systems work.
I think something like:
procedure test;
var blah: integer = 0;
begin
end;
Is useful.. i.e. initialized variables that are done on the spot.
And similarily a record could be:
procedure test;
var blah: TRec autoinit;
begin
end;
This would allow safe programming without compromising backwards
compatibility.
But... in the mean time.. a solution is to make a standard record init
procedure and do it like:
procedure test;
var blah: TRec;
begin
init(blah);
end;
Which will be what I use for now...
And always do this by habit for safety now that I know this trick of the
fillchar and such - only ever avoiding it when needing speed (but that
is premature optimization).
I realize that local scope uninitialized vars are the way systems work
according to the system.. but we are humans and error prone humans...We
can make languages safer I think and more consistent and human friendly
at a higher level. Humans just make so many mistakes even though
systems are supposed to work they way they are.
i.e. really it is just a convenience and a "standard good practice"
being now recommended right within the programming language...and more
safety as an option. Just as I am also a fan of reference counted
ansistrings versus using less safe pchars.. etc.
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