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Does it matter which way I declare the main function in a C++ (or C) program?
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The void main() indicates that the main() function will not return any value, but the int main() indicates that the main() can return integer type data. When our program is simple, and it is not going to terminate before reaching the last line of the code, or the code is error free, then we can use the void main().
No. It's non-standard. The standard prototype of main is int main() with the optional command line arguments argc and argv . The int returned by main() is a way for a program to return a value to the system that invokes it.
In that case, the value returned is 0, meaning successful execution. is an error because the return type of main() is missing. It is never a good idea to use “void main()” or just “main()” as it doesn't confirm standards.
It is okay to use main() instead of int main() in C but this is an outdated practice.
The difference is one is the correct way to define main, and the other is not.
And yes, it does matter. Either
int main(int argc, char** argv) or
int main() are the proper definition of your main per the C++ spec.
void main(int argc, char** argv)
is not and was, IIRC, a perversity that came with older Microsoft's C++ compilers.
https://isocpp.org/wiki/faq/newbie#main-returns-int
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Bjarne Stroustrup made this quite clear:
The definition
void main()is not and never has been C++, nor has it even been C.
See reference.
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