Should Local Variable Initialisation Be Mandatory?

Question

The maintenance problems that uninitialised locals cause (particularly pointers) will be obvious to anyone who has done a bit of c/c++ maintenance or enhancement, but I still se

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it is necessary to "make them mandatory", but I personally think it is always better to initialize variables. If the purpose of the application is to be as tight as possible then C/C++ is open for that purpose. However, I think many of us have been burned a time or two by not initializing a variable and assuming it contains a valid value (e.g. pointer) when it really doesn't. A pointer with an address of zero is much easier to check for than if it has random garbage from the last memory contents at that particular location. I think in most cases, it is no longer a matter of performance but a matter of clarity and safety.