Formal parameter names in function prototypes are optional, but are often used, ideally with names that convey something about the value that should be passed. In C and C++, those names have prototype scope, go away after the prototype is parsed and processed, and are irrelevant to code generation--but a discrepancy between the name of the formal in the prototype and the corresponding name in the function definition can mislead a programmer seeing only the prototype and cause him or her to pass the wrong value. It would therefore be worthwhile for a lint program to remember the prototype formal parameter names and report discrepancies between them and the parameter names in the function defintiion.