[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud thread summary

["Adam J. Thornton" <adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU>]

On Mon, Oct 26, 1998 at 04:17:24PM +0000, Jo Dillon wrote:
> Nope. Constant variables would be an oxymoron ;) A static variable
> is simply a variable whose value is shared between instances of a class
> (in C++ speak anyway). It's like a global variable but it's in the class's
> scope, which helps with name hiding.
> Holly Sommer (hsommer#micro,ti.com) spake thusly:
> > On Mon, 26 Oct 1998, Adam J. Thornton wrote:
> > > Static variables 
> > Wait... static variables? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Which brings me to a point that is certainly language-implementation
relevant, but not necessarily mud-specific:

WHY does C use the same keyword, "static," for "function you can't see
outside this source file" and "Variable whose value persists between
function calls" ?

Is there some perfectly good reason for this that I've never understood?
Or is it just overloading for the sake of overloading?

If 2), let's be really careful to *not* do this in our MUD language.

Adam
-- 
adam#princeton,edu 
"There's a border to somewhere waiting, and a tank full of time." - J. Steinman