Improving C

[trb at masscomp.UUCP]

I beg His humblest pardon for contradicting a point made in "Software
Tools," but while I agree that bounds checking might certainly be needed
for detecting malicious input in programs, it might also add lots of
overhead to the darkest guts of a program, where you need the speed
and certainly don't need the checking.  Like jumping out of a plane and
making sure that the touchdown area is covered with pillows 100 feet
deep.

I'll take bounds checking in production code as long as I can turn it
off in sections of code where I don't want it, using a compiler
directive.  I know that I could certainly use checking when I debug,
and I often wish I had it, and I wish that other people had it when I
have to chase down their bugs.

Having to compile separate modules with and without checking wouldn't
be convenient enough, I think.

	Andy Tannenbaum   Masscomp Inc  Westford MA   (617) 692-6200 x274