static initialization order fiasco

Question

I was reading about SIOF from a book and it gave an example :

//file1.cpp
extern int y;
int x=y+1;

//file2.cpp
extern int x;
int y=x+1;  

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Answer 1

The whole point (and the reason it's called a "fiasco") is that it's impossible to say with any certainty what will happen in a case like this. Essentially, you're asking for something impossible (that two variables each be one greater than the other). Since they can't do that, what they will do is open to some question -- they might produce 0/1, or 1/0, or 1/2, or 2/1, or possibly (best case) just an error message.