MS DOS overlay programming

Addition: here's probably how I would implement it given how you described it and if I wanted to be quick about it. Of course some pointer massaging may be in order if you're not in a memory model where routine pointers and variable pointers are compatible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- class init_vars { // all your initialization variables. No pointers please. // with an appropriate assignment operator. }; const init_vars *init=(init_vars *)initialization_routine; void initialization_routine() { init_var *tmpvars=new(init_vars); // do initialization stuff // add noops here if necessary to pad the routine to sizeof(init_vars) *init=*tmpvars; delete tmpvars; } void end_of_initialization_routine() {} // for ease of calculating the size // of the initialization routine.