What happens before main() is executed in C and why is it important?

Re:What happens before main() is executed in C and why is it... by ddtaylor on Friday May 04, 2018 @07:42PM (#16999321)

Is it strange that C++ is able to do this but C itself cannot? Sometimes I hear the argument that "C is lower level" and their is the idiom that "C++ is C but better" (not that I believe these are true)

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Re:What happens before main() is executed in C and why is it... by Retric on Friday May 04, 2018 @07:48PM (#16999343)

It's somewhat misleading when they say the C++ code runs before main. What's going on is after the same initialization steps the first code of your program is executed.

C and C++ have different syntax for what that code is, but it's pure semantics as far as the computer is concerned and C++ gives you zero extra power.

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Re:What happens before main() is executed in C and why is it... by kbumsik on Friday May 04, 2018 @07:53PM (#16999368)

It is certainly possible to do this with C by editing a startup code. In embedded system, a source code of startup is provided and exposed by manufacturer's SDK so it is quite straightforward to do this.

Besides that, I can't see much difference between doing something before main() and just putting some code on the very top of main().

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