Uninitialized variables used as their own initializers present a curious behavior in programming. While it may seem intuitive to expect an error or warning from compilers, this behavior is surprisingly allowed.
According to the C/C standards, uninitialized variables have an indeterminate value. This value can manifest as either an unspecified value or a trap representation.
In cases where the implementation supports padding bits in integer types and the indeterminate value is a trap representation, using it leads to undefined behavior. However, if there are no padding bits, the value remains unspecified, and no undefined behavior occurs.
The behavior becomes more complex when considering register variables. As described in the C11 standard, using an uninitialized variable as its initializer leads to undefined behavior if the variable has never had its address taken.
This implies that if the variable's address is accessed before it is initialized, the behavior is well-defined. Otherwise, it remains undefined.
The discrepancy in compiler behavior can be attributed to this conditional undefined behavior. Without the -Wall flag, compilers may not explicitly warn about the issue. However, with -Wall, they may generate a warning that the variable is uninitialized when used within its own initialization.
While the behavior may technically be allowed, it is generally not advisable to rely on it. Using uninitialized variables as their own initializers can lead to unpredictable outcomes and potential errors. Best practices dictate that variables should always be explicitly initialized when declared.
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