RE: Correct use of STATIC variables

Does that mean you have to call all your subprocedures that contain
static variables and include code in each subprocedure so that it
behaves differently, ie, it initializes the variables then returns
without performing its normal task?

This sort of thing is 100% dependent upon what the program NEEDS to do, not
some established standard.

I have a routine that will efficiently read text data by blocks. This
routine's job is to spoon feed the caller with the data but efficiently
buffer it from an I/O perspective. The routine does not know when I switch
text files, so I have an optional flag that I can pass (which I call
"startOver"). In the case where "startOver" is set, the routine sets all
its pointers to the beginning of its buffer; resets counters, displacements,
etc.; reads a new block and returns the first text line found.

Your routines will do something different.

Dennis Lovelady
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislovelady
--
"I robbed from the rich, kind of like Robin Hood, except I kept it."
-- noted thief Bill Becker, quoted in Seattle Post-Intelligencer