How does a forward declaration work? - c

Question

I understand declaring factorial before main. But how can main calculate the answer when the factorial formula comes after it?
#include <stdio.h>
long long factorial(int);
int main()
{
int n;
long long f;
printf("Enter a number and I will return you its factorial:\n");
scanf_s("%d", &n);
if (n < 0)
printf("No negative numbers allowed!\n"); //prevent negative numbers
else
{
f = factorial(n);
printf("The factorial of %d is %ld\n", n, f);
}
return 0;
}
long long factorial(int n)
{
if (n == 0)
return 1;
else
return (n * factorial(n - 1));
}

Answer 1

But how can main calculate the answer when the factorial formula comes after it?
First thing — main does not calculate the answer; it's your factorial function which does it for you. Also there are 3 steps which I feel you need to know about when writing programs:
You write the code in a file.
You compile the file and the compiler checks for syntactical mistakes, no code calculation is happening in this phase its just mere lexical analysis.
Then linking takes place later. If you receive a linker error, it means that your code compiles fine, but that some function or library that is needed cannot be found. This occurs in what we call the linking stage and will prevent an executable from being generated. Many compilers do both the compiling and this linking stage.
Then when you actually run your code — it's then when the code's control flow goes into the factorial function when the calculation happens, i.e. at runtime. Use a Debugger to see this.
The below image is taken from Compiling, Linking and Building C/C++ Applications
From Wiki:
In computer programming, a forward declaration is a declaration of an
identifier (denoting an entity such as a type, a variable, a constant,
or a function) for which the programmer has not yet given a complete
definition....
This is particularly useful for one-pass compilers and separate
compilation. Forward declaration is used in languages that require
declaration before use; it is necessary for mutual recursion in such
languages, as it is impossible to define such functions (or data
structures) without a forward reference in one definition: one of the
functions (respectively, data structures) must be defined first. It is
also useful to allow flexible code organization, for example if one
wishes to place the main body at the top, and called functions below
it.
So basically the main function does not at all need to know how factorial works.

Answer 2

But how can main calculate the answer when the factorial formula comes after it?
The order in which a C program executes is only partially determined by the order in which the text appears.
For instance, look at the printf function you are using. That doesn't appear in your program at all; it is in a library which is linked to your program.
The forward declaration makes it known (from that point in the translation unit) that there is expected to exist such and such a function having a certain name, arguments and return value.
The simple answer is that your C program is processed from beginning to end before it begins to execute. So by the time main is called, the factorial function has already been seen and processed by the C compiler.
An address is assigned to the compiled factorial function, and that address is "backpatched" into the compiled main function when the program is linked.
The reason forward declarations are needed at all is that C is an old-fashioned language originally designed to allow one-pass compilation. This means that the compiler "translates as it goes": functions earlier in a translation unit are compiled and emitted before later functions are seen. To correctly compile a call to a function which appears later (or, generally, appears elsewhere, like in another translation unit), some information must be announced about that function so that it is known at that point.

Answer 3

It works in this manner: let's take an example to find factorial of 3
Recursion :
As factorial of 0 is 1 and factorial of 1 is also 1, so you can write like
if(n <= 1)
return 1;

Answer 4

Since in main function when compiler sees this f = factorial(n); function, the compiler has no idea of what it means. it doesn't know where the function being defined, but it does know the argument the function is receiving is correct, because it's a user defined function that has its definition after main function.
Hence there should be some way to tell the compiler that I am using a function with name factorial which returns long long with a single int argument; therefore you define a prototype of the function before main().
Whenever you call the function factorial the compiler cross checks with the function prototype and ensures correct function call.
A function prototype is not required if you define the function before main.
Example case where function prototyping is not required :
/*function prototyping is not required*/
long long factorial(int n)
{
//body of factorial
}
int main()
{
...
f=factorial(n);
...
}
Here, the compiler knows the definition of factorial; it knows the return type, the argument type, and the function name as well, before it is called in main.