[JoeAltmaier]

Wait - are we talking C/C++ here? where a function call, a variable declaration, an expression cast all look identical?

[mbel]

You are probably talking about C++, not C, unless those look identical to you:

    foo();
    int foo;
    (int)foo;

[JoeAltmaier]

the cast can equally be int(foo); or (int)(foo); The parenthesis are allowed and optional. The method can be declared (int) foo(int(x), int(y)); which can also be an invocation. etc.

[mbel]

int(foo) and (int) foo(int(x), int(y)) are not legal syntax in C. However, they are in C++ [0], which is my whole point.

[0] your method declaration has a small problem, it apparently cannot have parenthesis around returned type.

[therealdtscode]

I wouldn't really say they are optional. The two do different things. (int) foo (or (int)(foo)) is a c-style cast. int(foo) isn't a cast. Instead it invokes the int constructor with the argument foo.

[spdionis]

No, C/C++ have bad syntax too, imo.