<JoeKiwi> Hi, is there a C channel for amateur c programmers?
<twkm> this one should work.
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<vy> We are all amateur...
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<JoeKiwi> is this valid C code? : #include <stdio.h> const unsigned int MAX = 10; int array[MAX]; int main(void){ ... }
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<Wulf> I think it's not
<JoeKiwi> i have to use #define instead of const?
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<Wulf> error: variably modified ‘array’ at file scope
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<twkm> well, const doesn't make a constant, which is what is needed at file scope.
<vy> JoeKiwi: Using gcc? ıf so compile the code with -std=c89 and -std=c99 options while -Wall is turned on.
<JoeKiwi> oh, im using VS2010
<JoeKiwi> oh ok twkm
<JoeKiwi> confusing, but ok
<twkm> also, as an aside, it is idiomatic that all upper-case identifiers denote macros.
<JoeKiwi> so const unsigned int MAX , should be Max
<Wulf> JoeKiwi: max. lower case.
<JoeKiwi> oh
<twkm> or max or MaX or ...
<twkm> however, if you insist on a non-macro identifer for a constant value use an enum, e.g., enum { max = 10 };, which will work with a file scope int a[max];
<JoeKiwi> I read that using a macro identifier is not type safe
<Wulf> JoeKiwi: macros don't have types.
<JoeKiwi> makes sense then
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<ws> that objection doesn't make sense in this context anyway
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<JoeKiwi> so they const keyword doesnt make a variable read only file scope?
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<twkm> read only isn't the same as making a constant.
<JoeKiwi> oh ok, so what IS a constant then?
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<Seadog> kind of like a promise that you can break if you want
<JoeKiwi> so you can label a variable const, but change the value later on
<twkm> no.
<twkm> you seem to have conflated identifiers with variables.  sadly common when guessing is used to learn c.
<JoeKiwi> hmm
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<JoeKiwi> a little bit harsh there
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<twkm> a variable that cannot be changed is not automatically made into a constant, though the compiler is free to treat it as such, but it is not required to do so.
<twkm> harsh.  okay, fine ... how are you learning c?  book?  web?  guessing after all?
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<twkm> anyway, an object that is read-only is still an object and might need to be read at run-time, thus cannot provide the compile-time value that sizes an array that is at file scope.
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<twkm> in c99 a variable can be used to size an array with block scope.
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<JoeKiwi> I don't see the correlation of an object not being able to provide a value to to specify an array at compile time if its read-only
<twkm> *shrug*