Why there is no compiler error when return statement is not present?

Question

Unlike Java, in C/C++ following is allowed:

int* foo ()
{
  if(x)
    return p;
// what if control reaches here
}

This oft

Answer 1

AFAIR Visual Studio 2008 warns you about "execution path that does not have return value". It is allowed in the meaning of that "C++ won't stop you from shooting you in the foot". So you are to think, not the compiler.