C Programming - Declarations and Initializations - Discussion

Declaring is the way a programmer tells the compiler to expect a particular type, be it a variable, class/struct/union type, a function type (prototype) or a particular object instance. (ie. extern int i)

Declaration never reserves any space for the variable or instance in the program's memory; it simply a "hint" to the compiler that a use of the variable or instance is expected in the program. This hinting is technically called "forward reference".