A recent GCC bug report ( http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11633) asks about the validity of
int count = 23;
int foo[] = { count++, count++, count++ };
is this undefined or unspecified or something else? I can find nothing in
9.5.2 [dcl.init.aggr] that indicates whether the components of
an initializer-list are evaluated in order or not, or whether they
have sequence points between them.
6.7.8/23 of the C99 std has this to say
The order in which any side effects occur among the initialization list expressions is unspecified.I think similar wording is needed in 9.5.2 [dcl.init.aggr]
Steve Adamczyk: I believe the standard is clear that each initializer expression in the above is a full-expression (6.9.1 [intro.execution]/12-13; see also issue 392) and therefore there is a sequence point after each expression (6.9.1 [intro.execution]/16). I agree that the standard does not seem to dictate the order in which the expressions are evaluated, and perhaps it should. Does anyone know of a compiler that would not evaluate the expressions left to right?
Mike Simons: Actually there is one, that does not do left to right: gcc/C++. None of the post increment operations take effect until after the statement finishes. So in the sample code gcc stores 23 into all positions in the array. The commercial vendor C++ compilers for AIX, Solaris, Tru64, HPUX (parisc and ia64), and Windows, all do sequence points at each ',' in the initializer list.