'Declaration' vs 'definition' vs 'initialization' vs 'assignment' - what's the difference from a C standpoint? - eviltoast

From what I’m able to understand:

  • declaration is when prototype or declaration is used to describe the features
  • definition is when a declaration is also assigned a literal or an object, such that a chunk of memory is allocated
  • initialization is the assignment of an object, either during definition or immediately after declaration
  • assignment is the setting of a value of a particular object at any stage of the program execution

Which of the follow terms overlap? Which of them is a superset/subset of each other?

  • CameronDev@programming.dev
    1·
    10 months ago

    Initialization is a subset of assignment. Its initialization the first time you do an assignment.

    I dont think declaration and definition overlap, but they are similar concepts. I think i would have swapped your descriptions though. Normally you have a function definition, which describes the function and its features, and you have variable declarations, which is literal objects/bits of memory.

    Please dont take this response as gospel, i am not super happy with it :/