C’s Biggest Mistake (2009)

Post by akira2501 » Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 1:03 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #105

makecheck wrote: post #104

Unfortunately working with dynamically-allocated buffers is still a thing; adding array syntax just favors one form of size specification without solving the other case. Although C is usable on many types of hardware, interesting things could be done, e.g. on desktop OSes if certain hardware-specific extensions were made. One of the things I wish we could do with our now-absurdly-large pointers (64-bit) is to reserve…

> Unfortunately working with dynamically-allocated buffers is still a thing; adding array syntax just favors one form of size specification without solving the other case. All that is needed is a mechanism for forming a fat pointer from a pointer and a length. In D this looks like: int* p = cast(int*)malloc(length * sizeof(int)); if (!p) fatalError(); int[] a = p[0 .. length]; ... int x = a[length + 1]; // runtime er…

    struct foo {
        int a[10];
    } f;

    func(&f);

Post by Gibbon1 » Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 1:12 AM UTC

mark-r wrote: post #119

Gibbon1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this I agree with. In a better world 'arrays' would have added in the 1980's. The arguments about memory limitations is spurious since if you're writing good code you always pass a pointer and the length. Always no exceptions. Yeah and all the string functions should have been marked as depreciated with C89 and fully depreciated with C99.

Yes, you can always pass a pointer and a length explicitly. And that's what the "safe" versions of e.g. string functions do. But it's still incumbent on you as the programmer to use them properly. It would still be beneficial to have a compiler mode where all that was done for you automatically and it was impossible to have a buffer overrun.

Post by kortilla » Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 1:16 AM UTC

datman347 wrote: post #138

boring_twenties wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro tip: Google the name of the person before responding to them, it can help avoid the taste of foot in your mouth which you are currently experiencing.

Anyone that has to rely on their name for an argument isn't worth listening to.

Post by baybal2 » Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 1:24 AM UTC

teej wrote: post #54

Upvoter33 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"C is finished if it doesn't address the buffer overflow problem" You should keep making this prediction ... one day you might be right! :)

C code is being replaced by Rust fast. The only limit is how quickly programmers can become good at Rust. It's already happening.

Post by sys_64738 » Sun, Sep 13, 2020, 1:28 AM UTC