Don't define a (C-style) variadic function

Reason

Not type safe. Requires messy cast-and-macro-laden code to get working right.

Example

#include <cstdarg>

// "severity" followed by a zero-terminated list of char*s; write the C-style strings to cerr
void error(int severity ...)
{
    va_list ap;             // a magic type for holding arguments
    va_start(ap, severity); // arg startup: "severity" is the first argument of error()

    for (;;) {
        // treat the next var as a char*; no checking: a cast in disguise
        char* p = va_arg(ap, char*);
        if (!p) break;
        cerr << p << ' ';
    }

    va_end(ap);             // arg cleanup (don't forget this)

    cerr << '\n';
    if (severity) exit(severity);
}

void use()
{
    error(7, "this", "is", "an", "error", nullptr);
    error(7); // crash
    error(7, "this", "is", "an", "error");  // crash
    const char* is = "is";
    string an = "an";
    error(7, "this", is, an, "error"); // crash
}

Alternative: Overloading. Templates. Variadic templates.

#include <iostream>

void error(int severity)
{
    std::cerr << '\n';
    std::exit(severity);
}

template<typename T, typename... Ts>
constexpr void error(int severity, T head, Ts... tail)
{
    std::cerr << head;
    error(severity, tail...);
}

void use()
{
    error(7); // No crash!
    error(5, "this", "is", "not", "an", "error"); // No crash!

    std::string an = "an";
    error(7, "this", "is", "not", an, "error"); // No crash!

    error(5, "oh", "no", nullptr); // Compile error! No need for nullptr.
}

Note

This is basically the way printf is implemented.

Enforcement

• Flag definitions of C-style variadic functions.
• Flag #include <cstdarg> and #include <stdarg.h>

ES.expr: Expressions

Expressions manipulate values.