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                   Document Number:  WG14 N___/X3J11 __-___


                           C9X Revision Proposal
                           =====================

   Title:              Removal of "auto" keyword
   Author:             David R. Tribble
   Author Affiliation: Self
   Postal Address:     6004 Cave River Dr.
                       Plano, TX 75093-6951
                       USA
   E-mail Address:     dtribble@technologist.com
   Telephone Number:   +1 972 738 6125 work
   Fax Number:         +1 972 738 6111
   Sponsor:
   Date:               1995-03-19
   Proposal Category:
      __ Editorial change/non-normative contribution
      __ Correction
      __ New feature
      X_ Addition to obsolescent feature list
      __ Addition to Future Directions
      __ Other (please specify)  ______________________________
   Area of Standard Affected:
      __ Environment
      X_ Language
      __ Preprocessor
      __ Library
         __ Macro/typedef/tag name
         __ Function
         __ Header
         __ Other (please specify)  ______________________________
   Prior Art: None, although the "entry" keyword was removed
        in the previous ANSI/ISO C spec.
   Target Audience: C programmers, and programmers who write
        programs that generate C code.
   Related Documents (if any): None.
   Proposal Attached: X_ Yes __ No, but what's your interest?
   Abstract:
        The "auto" keyword is rarely, if ever, used.  It is
        redundant when it is used (to declare variables local
        to a function).  Therefore, it should be deemed
        OBSOLETE as a reserved keyword.

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 PROPOSAL

 The "auto" keyword shall be deemed OBSOLETE.

 RATIONALE

 The "auto" keyword is redundant and unnecessary.
 It is only used to declare variables with block scope within
 function bodies and compound statements (blocks) [?].

 Most programmers never use the "auto" keyword, since it is
 implicit when defining local variables.

 Some program generators might be affected, however, by the
 removal of the "auto" keyword.

 SYNTAX

 This affects the lexical analysis of programs, because there
 is one less keyword.

 AFFECT TO EXISTING PROGRAMS

 If a given implementation has removed the "auto" keyword
 from its lexicon, old programs may still be compiled
 successfully by adding this directive to the code:

         #define auto

 Note that the same effect can be gotten with most compilers
 by using a compiler option:

         cc -Dauto= foo.c

 COMPATIBILITY

 The "auto" may also be considered for obsolescence or
 removal in C++.

 IMPACT

 This affects [6.1.1], [6.5.1], [6.7], [6.9.3].
 These are mostly removals of references of "auto" variables.

 This may (but probably doesn't) affect [6.1.2.2], [6.1.2.4],
 [6.5], [6.6.2], [6.7.1].

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