Talk:External variable

This article is really bad (on May 1st, 2009) - using extern keyword is not necessary to make either function or variable external. A Few sentences are misleading lies. Nobody should learn ehat extern variable is in C/C++ from this article. I recommend K&R pages 32, 33, 39, 67, 70, 73, 204 and 205 - they explain it pretty well but I am too lazy to correct the article ;-) (Artur)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.205.192.125 (talk) 16:20, 1 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Moved from the article "extern variable", added a redirect, and edited it a bit. Enjoy :) --Kurotsyn 19:42, 29 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Users like you are why wikipedia has legitimacy issues. Get a clue bat. 71.191.37.203 19:17, 11 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah yeah yeah. Your writing style and hostility aren't exactly helping Wikipedia either, you know.

In my defense, though, at the time I wrote the article I'll admit I didn't know everything about external variables - I had just recently learned about them, and decided to come here to see if Wikipedia had anything else on them that I didn't know. Apparently, it didn't (in fact, the whole one paragraph long article was ripped off word-for-word from some other website) and so I thought I'd add to it.

I'll also admit that the example I gave in my article is completely stupid, seeing as how you could just declare the global variables before any function in the same file and you wouldn't have to waste your time redeclaring them as extern in every single function. Also, the several sources who taught me (some teachers, some online resources) about external variables taught me the whole (incorrect) bit about external variables not being true global variables and all that jazz. I did later learn that this was false, but by then I had forgotten about this article and had started to focus on other things (like the Howard Carter and French conjugations articles). When I created the article I thought it was a good start, and I was waiting for someone with more experience in the field to add to it, but no one did. (It was on my watch list, but no one edited it and so I forgot about it until you came along and reminded me :p)

Also, I did at the time understand purpose and uses for external variables - but I was waiting for someone else with more expertise who could explain it better than I could. Again, that never happened and I forgot about this article.

Anyways, now that someone's finally come to edit it, I did just remember how bad the article was.

However, that didn't require any hostility towards me, dude. Like I said, your writing style isn't necessarily fit for Wikipedia. I like the new info you added, but it needs a major clean up - your "steamroll" of the article is comparable to a Cleveland steamer. I'll try to clean it up - and this time I know what I'm talking about. ;) --Kurotsyn 03:42, 16 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've tried editing this page to clean it up a bit. I added the basic definition with example, and tried to consolidate some of the paragraphs in the details. I also removed the sentences that stated "this is commonly misunderstood as..." and just left the sentences corresponding to what it actually is.

I don't consider myself enough of an expert to completely refine the details section, so I'll leave that to someone else. The example in the second last paragraph is overly complex, and TUs are not defined. The last two paragraphs can probably be removed if someone can replace them with a simpler example. -- Wight 28 September, 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.97.172.62 (talk) 14:50, 28 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ahem. This also works for functions

The scope is a little bit narrow-minded in this article.

[file 1] void myFunction (foo, bar);
[file 2] extern void myFunction (foo, bar); /* uses function from file 1 */ -andy 92.229.79.6 (talk) 16:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrite

I just rewrote this article. Comments are welcome. Please be nice :)

Italo Tasso (talk) 18:35, 11 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Extern

A person associated with but not officially residing in an institution, especially a nonresident physician on a hospital staff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.79.137.126 (talk) 04:21, 9 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The article is about "external variables", an element of some programming languages such as C. This definition of "extern" is unrelated to it. Italo Tasso (talk) 05:08, 1 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]