The third in a continuing series of blog posts about simple rules for keeping bugs out of embedded software written in the C programming language.
Rule: C’s static keyword shall be used to declare all functions and variables that do not need to be visible outside of the module in which they are declared.
Reasoning: C’s static keyword has several meanings. At the module-level, global variables and functions declared static are protected from inadvertent access from other modules. Heavy-handed use of static in this way thus decreases coupling and furthers encapsulation.
Coding Standard Rule #2
Coding Standard Rule #4
These rules are excerpts from the Embedded C Coding Standard book.
Tags: embedded, programming, safety, standards