title: C: Behaviour of the `const` keyword
body: <p>I've been told that if I'm coding in ANSI C to declare in the order that the variables will be used, assert that pointers are not null and that indices are within bounds, and to initialize just before usage of the variable.</p>
  
  <p>If I declare a <code>const</code> can I initialize it after a block of assertions and code?</p>
  
  <p>In Java final initializations must occur at declaration, yet is it consistent through ANSI C implementations that I can initialize a <code>const</code> once, but not necessarily at the time of declaration?</p>