You're completely right, it's odd. Also I didn't realise that the return type was also on the same line as the function name, in which case, even more odd. I t

You're completely right, it's odd. Also I didn't realise that the return type was also on the same line as the function name, in which case, even more odd. I think the idea dates back to early C. I've definitely seen C code with the return type on a separate line.