I believe your alternative is exactly equivalent, so the reason they didn't do it that way is just that they preferred their way for whatever reason. Presumably they found it familiar and readable and ...

The C language has been a programming staple for decades. Here’s how it stacks up against C++, Java, C#, Go, Rust, Python, and the newest kid on the block—Carbon. The C programming language has been ...

Separating interface from implementation has many practical benefits. Here’s a simple way to do just that, in ANSI-standard C code. How do you organize medium-sized or larger C programs? Few C ...