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Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all?

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David Resnick <lndresnick@gmail.com> writes:

> On Tuesday, June 26, 2012 3:47:08 PM UTC-4, Rui Maciel wrote:
>> Undoubtedly, VLAs are convenient.  Yet, with that convenience comes the 
>> danger of making an otherwise flawless program susceptible to nasty memory 
>> allocation problems.  No matter how convenient VLAs might be, having to 
>> handle unexplainable segfaults that can't be avoided with the dilligent use 
>> of safeguards may not be an acceptable tradeoff.
>
> Yep, they should be used with caution.  Mind you, the same arguments
> apply to using recursion. How deeply you can safely recurse, and the
> consequences if you go too deep, also murky.  

I completely agree.  But it strikes me that programmers are more aware
of the dangers of recursion than of VLAs.

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Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 15:28 +0100
  Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-26 11:54 -0400
  Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-06-26 21:05 +0200
    Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 21:04 +0100
      Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-06-26 13:09 -0700
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-27 17:50 +1200
          Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-06-27 07:57 +0200
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 00:49 -0700
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-06-27 13:50 +0100
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-27 10:21 -0400
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-06-27 19:56 +0100
          Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-06 00:55 +0300
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Andrew Cooper <amc96@cam.ac.uk> - 2012-07-05 23:37 +0100
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-06 16:53 -0700
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-06 18:26 +1200
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-07 17:37 +0300
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-08 08:03 +1200
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-07-06 02:58 -0700
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-06 18:11 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-07-09 02:33 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-09 11:35 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2012-07-09 22:33 +0000
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-10 10:52 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2012-07-09 12:03 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-07-10 09:19 +1200
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 07:25 +0100
    Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-06-27 07:10 +0200
      Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-06-27 20:48 +0200
  Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Jens Gustedt <jens.gustedt@loria.fr> - 2012-06-26 21:13 +0200
    Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 20:47 +0100
      Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-06-26 13:05 -0700
      Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? David Resnick <lndresnick@gmail.com> - 2012-06-26 13:51 -0700
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2012-06-26 17:10 -0700
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 07:27 +0100
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-06-27 20:23 +0100
  Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-27 11:20 -0700
    Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-28 09:35 +1200
      Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-27 17:23 -0700
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-28 13:06 +1200
          Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-06-29 10:48 -0700
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-06-30 21:58 +1200
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2012-06-30 03:37 -0700
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-01 19:31 -0700
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-06 00:54 +0300
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-06 17:58 -0700
        Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-06 00:49 +0300
          Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-06 16:38 -0700
            Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-07-07 18:00 +0300
              Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-07 12:40 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? pacman@kosh.dhis.org (Alan Curry) - 2012-07-08 02:54 +0000
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-07-08 13:33 +0200
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? pacman@kosh.dhis.org (Alan Curry) - 2012-07-08 22:18 +0000
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-09 10:57 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? pacman@kosh.dhis.org (Alan Curry) - 2012-07-09 21:38 +0000
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-10 11:12 -0700
                Re: Variable-length arrays: should they be used at all? Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-08 11:28 -0700

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