Programming and Graphics

94 Introduction to C++ Programming and Graphics

As an example, running the program:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void counter();

//--- main:

int main()

{

for(int i=1;i<3;i++)

{

counter();

}

cout << endl;

return 0;

}

//--- function counter:

void counter()

{

static int n=0;

n++;

cout << n << " ";

}

prints on the screen:

12

Every time the functioncounteris entered, the static variablenincreases by
one unit. A static variable can be used to count the number of times a function
is called from another function.

In another application, we use thestaticdeclaration to prevent a vari-
able from being reinitialized:

for (i=1;i<=5;i++)

{

static int count = 0;

count++;

}

At the end of the loop, the value ofcountwill be 5, not 1.