Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide

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From	Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide
Date	Wed, 12 Aug 2020 16:18:14 -0700
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Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.com> writes:
> Keith Thompson:
>
>> C isn't nearly as lax as he implies it is.
>
> I agree with you and Elijah.  C would be making a much
> better impression but for slipshod programmers and compiler
> writers that cater for them. It should be good tone and
> taken for granted that compilers should not accept programs
> with errors and underfined behavior. Instances of undefined
> behavior should be considered individually and compilers
> instructed to accept them on a case-by-case basis.

In many (most?) cases, constructs that have undefined behavior
are defined that way because they're errors that are impossible to
detect in all cases.  Consider signed integer overflow, for example.

C only requires a diagnostic (which can be non-fatal) for a violation
of a syntax rule or constraint.  My personal preference would
have been to require all such errors to be fatal.  Compilers could
always have non-conforming options that tell them to allow bad code,
and it compilers could still be non-conforming by default.

But the current situation isn't too much different; it's mostly
just a matter of picking the right options.  Most compilers *can*
be invoked in a mode that rejects all syntax errors and constraint
violations with fatal errors.

The code in the article (that initialized a pointer object with
a value of a different pointer type) would almost certainly be
rejected on any real-world project.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
Working, but not speaking, for Philips Healthcare
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

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"Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 13:54 -0500
  Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 12:23 -0700
    Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Elijah Stone <elronnd@elronnd.net> - 2020-08-12 15:05 -0700
      Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-12 19:15 -0400
        Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2020-08-13 10:36 +0200
          Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Poprocks <please@replytogroup.com> - 2020-08-13 14:23 +0000
            What do when -Werror gets in your way (Was: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes") by JeanHeyd Meneide gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-08-13 14:49 +0000
        Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Elijah Stone <elronnd@elronnd.net> - 2020-08-13 23:25 -0700
      Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2020-08-13 01:15 +0000
        Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 18:42 -0700
          Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2020-08-13 06:15 +0000
            Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 23:23 -0700
              Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2020-08-13 06:44 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Poprocks <please@replytogroup.com> - 2020-08-15 22:51 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-15 19:41 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2020-08-16 02:02 +0100
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2020-08-16 05:47 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2020-08-16 12:03 +0100
                Kinda by definition... (Was: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide) gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-08-16 11:49 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-16 05:33 -0700
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com> - 2020-08-17 06:27 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-16 09:12 -0400
              Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-13 07:38 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-13 09:33 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-14 10:50 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-14 12:39 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-14 16:53 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-14 19:49 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> - 2020-08-15 02:31 -0700
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-15 16:10 -0700
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-16 09:25 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-16 10:50 -0700
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-16 15:40 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2020-08-16 19:39 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-16 21:12 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Harnden <richard.nospam@gmail.com> - 2020-08-18 08:47 +0100
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-18 08:26 -0400
              Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-08-13 12:48 +0000
            Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide John Bode <jfbode1029@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 09:46 -0700
      Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2020-08-13 06:14 +0000
    Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 01:19 +0300
      Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 16:18 -0700
    Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Scott Newman <scott69@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 09:25 +0200
      Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 00:41 -0700
        Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Scott Newman <scott69@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 12:53 +0200
          Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Richard Harnden <richard.nospam@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 12:52 +0100
            Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-08-13 15:17 +0200
          Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 10:38 -0700
            Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Scott Newman <scott69@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 19:44 +0200
              Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2020-08-13 19:10 +0100
              Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 11:42 -0700
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-08-14 05:56 +0000
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2020-08-14 09:14 +0200
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2020-08-14 08:45 -0400
                Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2020-08-14 16:51 +0000
            Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2020-08-15 09:11 +1200
    Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2020-08-24 16:58 -0700
  Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Philipp Klaus Krause <pkk@spth.de> - 2020-08-13 10:32 +0200
    Re: "Why the C Language Will Never Stop You from Making Mistakes" by JeanHeyd Meneide Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2020-08-23 07:04 -0700

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