What is function prototype in C language

A function is a self-contained block that carries out a specific well-defined task.

Types of functions

Functions are broadly classified into two types which are as follows −

• Predefined functions
• User defined functions

Communications among functions

Functions communicate among themselves by using arguments and return value.

Farm of ‘C’ function for return-datatype function name (argument list) is as follows −

{    local variable declarations;    executable statements(s);    return (expression); }

For Example, void mul (int x, int y).

{    int p;    p=x*y;    printf(“product = %d”,p); }

Prototype functions

These functions can be done in two ways as explained below −

• Create a copy of the function declaration with the arguments typed, with or without identifiers for each.

For example,

int func(int, float, unsigned [2]); int func(int i, float f, unsigned u[2]);

• We can also prototype a function by writing the function definition in prototype form.

For example,

int func(int i, float f, unsigned u[2]){    < code for func > }

Use of function prototype

• A prototyped function which is called with one or more arguments of incompatible type.

• When the explicit or implicit declarations for the same function are encountered. This version of the compiler scrutinizes the duplicate declarations carefully and catches inconsistencies.