What the reasons for/against returning 0 from main in ISO C++?

Question

I know that the C++ standard says that return 0 is inserted at the end of main() if no return statement is given; however, I often see recently-wri

Answer 1

It makes behavior of the code explicit.

Answer 2

By being explicit you are explicitly showing your intent.

By relying on something implicit you could have 2 cases: 1) You intended it, 2) You forgot it.

Answer 3

Because this is how they did it 30 years ago. It is more of a convention IMO.

Answer 4

Because it just looks weird to not "return" something from a function having a non-void return type (even if the standard says it's not strictly necessary).

Answer 5

• Makes it clear to other programmers that you didn't just forget to put the return statement there.

• Some compilers may issue a warning if you don't return anything.

• Shows explicitly what the function returns.

• Many programmers don't know about this rule.

Answer 6

Misunderstanding. There's simply no reason to, and if someone doesn't know that they'll add return 0;.