What are the advantages of Macros over External(Global) variables?
amrita111 4 Light Poster
WaltP 2,905 Posting Sage w/ dash of thyme Team Colleague
That's like asking what are the advantages of Apples over Video Games. They are two different things.
jnawrocki commented: why bother -1
nmaillet 97 Posting Whiz in Training
An external variable has a specific type. Therefore the compiler will do type-checking when compiling. You can also assign a value to a global variable at run-time.
As WaltP said, Macros are very different. When a Macro is referenced, the compiler simply copies the value and pastes it in the code where you've used it (before compiling). It is equivalent to using a Find & Replace tool in a text editor. It does allow for some additional functionality however, such as #ifdef/#ifndef, #undef and functions. Although those are somewhat dependent on the compiler.
cse.avinash -1 Junior Poster
Macros and External Variables are really two different things:-
Macros are preprocessor directive means they are executed before the actual compilation of code begins.They are started with #define.
External Variables are used for declaration of variables(local), they can be defined any where in the programs.By default value stored in global is 0 and declared as int type.
amrita111 4 Light Poster
Thank you
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