Wolfgang Denk wrote:
Dear Brent Cook,
In message 200907161744.51888.bcook@bpointsys.com you wrote:
This is hilarious, though I am curious what the real-world analog to 'return 0;' is :)
This depends on the caller's context. In case of hobby projects it usually means be_happy(), show_others(), drink_beer() or the like, where in commercial contexts it means send_invoice_to_customer().
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
Good answer. :-D Also see the second-to-last definition:
Zero is an enigmatic value. It can mean success (fclose) or failure (scanf). It can mean black or white. It can mean no permissions (chmod) or all permissions (umask). It can mean now (setjmp) or later (atexit). It can mean the beginning (lseek) or the end (read). It can mean myself (getpgrp) or child (fork). It can mean all (kill's 1st argument) or nothing (kill's 2nd argument). It can mean 'default' (SIG_IGN) or 'I don't care' (waitpid) or 'try to guess' (strtol). Indeed 0 lets you talk to God (setuid). Verily is 0 all things to all people.
-- an ancient usenet posting
Best regards, gvb