Variables, references and pointers - Write the function zero (...) so that the following code works correctly

Question

I have following homework exercise from lecture "Variables, references and pointers":

Write the function zero (...) so that the following code works correctly: int x = 3; zero(x); cout << x << endl; // writes 0

This is my solution:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void zero(int &);
int main(void) {
 int x = 3;
 zero(x);
 cout << x << endl;
 return 0;
}
void zero(int & num) {
 num = 0;
}

What do you think about it?

Answer 1

This isn't too complicated, so there isn't that much to say. Your code is perfectly clear, but there are a couple things that could be improved.

---

using namespace std;

This is okay-ish for beginning programming classes, but using namespace std should usually be avoided. See Why is "using namespace std" considered bad practice?

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void zero(int &);

You could just not forward declare the function, and instead just define the function here. It's a little less code to write. It comes down to preference

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int main(void) {

Don't use void to say that a function takes no arguments. It's a C-ism, and should be avoided in C++. Just write int main() {.

---

int main(void) {
 ...
 return 0;
}

There's no need to have a return 0; at the end of main(). For the specific case of the main function, return 0; is implied at the end of the function.