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Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools

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Måns Rullgård <mans@mansr.com> wrote:

> Fritz Wuehler <fritz@spamexpire-201108.rodent.frell.theremailer.net>
> writes:
> 
> >> Martin Crouch <spamspamspam@spaml.com> writes:
> >> > If I write some code like this:
> >> >
> >> > #include <stdio.h>
> >> > int main(void)
> >> > {
> >> >  char mystring[5];
> >> >
> >> >  printf("String:%s\n",mystring);
> >> >
> >> >  return 0;
> >> > }
> >> >
> >> > It compiles okay (no warnings),  but when runs it has undefined
> >> > results because I've not put anything into mystring before attempting
> >> > to print it, so it gets whatever garbage is left in memory.
> >> >
> >> > Are there any "pre-compiler" code analysis tools out there that would
> >> > pick up this sort of problem?  The platform is sparc Solaris 10.
> >
> > Yes, Ada language will help with this sort of issue. C isn't safe, it
> > expects you to take responsibility for what you write. 
> 
> And Ada expects the compiler to take responsibility.  Do you fully trust
> those who wrote the compiler and runtime support?

Not fully but certainly more than I trust people who write C compilers and
runtimes. Good Ada implementations save lots of debugging time. In the end
you really don't have to trust anyone but yourself, but if you use Ada you
still get the benefit of a properly designed system that views a project as
a whole instead of many separate parts and spots many common errors for you
before generating a broken or error-prone executable.

In other words just because you have a smart partner who's good at spotting
problems doesn't mean you give up any control. You can choose to listen to
him or not. But if you don't have a smart partner then all you have is
yourself. Extra eyes are usually a good thing.

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C Code "sanity checking" tools Martin Crouch <spamspamspam@spaml.com> - 2011-08-08 12:00 +0100
  Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2011-08-08 12:09 +0100
    Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Fritz Wuehler <fritz@spamexpire-201108.rodent.frell.theremailer.net> - 2011-08-09 08:50 +0200
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Måns Rullgård <mans@mansr.com> - 2011-08-09 10:55 +0100
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-08-09 14:15 +0100
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2011-08-10 01:58 +0200
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2011-08-10 12:29 +0200
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-09 14:17 +0100
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-08-09 09:17 -0700
          Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-09 17:36 +0100
            Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-08-09 12:19 -0700
              Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-09 20:36 +0100
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Michael Press <rubrum@pacbell.net> - 2011-08-09 19:24 -0700
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-10 10:27 +0100
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-10 14:01 +0100
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2011-08-13 09:42 +0200
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-08-13 16:04 -0700
                Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mssgmbh.com> - 2011-08-14 19:46 +0100
  Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-08 23:12 +1200
    Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-08-08 15:35 +0100
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Martin Crouch <spamspamspam@spaml.com> - 2011-08-08 16:05 +0100
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-08-08 22:57 +0100
          Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Måns Rullgård <mans@mansr.com> - 2011-08-08 23:32 +0100
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-09 08:03 +1200
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2011-08-08 22:51 +0100
          Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-09 10:01 +1200
    Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2011-08-08 22:06 +0000
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-08-09 10:18 +1200
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2011-08-08 23:25 +0000
  Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2011-08-08 14:01 +0100
    Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Måns Rullgård <mans@mansr.com> - 2011-08-08 14:47 +0100
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Martin Crouch <spamspamspam@spaml.com> - 2011-08-08 16:08 +0100
        Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Marc <marc.glisse@gmail.com> - 2011-08-08 15:39 +0000
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools William Ahern <william@wilbur.25thandClement.com> - 2011-08-08 10:20 -0700
      Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2011-08-09 00:59 +0100
  Re: C Code "sanity checking" tools mathog <dmathog@gmail.com> - 2011-08-08 08:48 -0700

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