### Question 18.8

Don't ANSI function prototypes render `lint` obsolete?

Not really. First of all, prototypes work only if they are present and correct; an inadvertently incorrect prototype is worse than useless. Secondly, `lint` checks consistency across multiple source files, and checks data declarations as well as functions. Finally, an independent program like `lint` will probably always be more scrupulous at enforcing compatible, portable coding practices than will any particular, implementation-specific, feature- and extension-laden compiler.

If you do want to use function prototypes instead of `lint` for cross-file consistency checking, make sure that you set the prototypes up correctly in header files. See questions 1.7 and 10.6.

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