Coding Cookbook/Initialization

Initialization is the first stage that a computer program performs to prepare itself for operation. A computer programmer may use a basic template that contains the initialization code for the program.

Stages of initialization

The initialization stage of a program includes:

• Population of variables with default values
• Preliminary system checks
• Interpretation of command line parameters
• Consideration of the environment
• Processing of the configuration files
• Memory and resource reservation
• Service registration
• Secondary system checks
• Freeing the initialization code segment

Procedural programming languages

For a procedural programming language, the initialization code usually follows the declaration headers, or at the beginning of the main startup function or within constructor blocks, depending on the programming language being used.