title: What weird C syntax is this?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicates:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2633776/c-variable-declarations-after-function-heading-in-definition">C variable declarations after function heading in definition</a><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1630631/what-is-useful-about-this-c-syntax">What is useful about this C syntax?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>I trying to understand some C code and came across this where variables are declared between the head of the function and the first brace.  </p>
  
  <p>Any Idea what these variables are?<br>
  Are they local or global?  </p>
  
  <p>What does the author intend to do here?</p>
  
  <pre><code>void someFunction (m_ptr, n_ptr, params, err)
              integer  *m_ptr;        /* pointer to number of points to fit */
              integer  *n_ptr;        /* pointer to number of parameters */
              doublereal *params;     /* vector of parameters */
              doublereal *err;        /* vector of error from data */
          {
              //some variables declared here
              int       i;
              ...
              ...
  
              //body of the function here
  
          }
  </code></pre>