Chapter 3: Problem 20

Give one good reason that you should not use global variables in a program.

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer: A critical issue with using global variables is that they can lead to unintended side effects and make debugging difficult, as any part of the program can access and modify their values. To avoid this issue, one should use local variables and pass values through function arguments, which limits the scope of variables and makes the code easier to understand and debug.

Step by step solution

Understanding Global Variables

Global variables are variables that are defined outside a function or a block of code, and are accessible throughout the entire program. This means that any part of the code can modify the value of a global variable.

Reason to Avoid Global Variables

One major reason to avoid using global variables in a program is that it can lead to unintended side effects and make debugging difficult. Since global variables can be accessed and modified by any part of the program, it can be challenging to track down which part of the code is changing the global variable's value. This can result in unintended consequences and make the code harder to maintain and debug. Using local variables and passing values through function arguments helps to limit the scope of variables and makes the code easier to understand and debug.

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Give one good reason that you should not use global variables in a program.

Short Answer

Step by step solution

Understanding Global Variables

Reason to Avoid Global Variables

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