From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID
	autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 10d15b,d730ea9d54f7e063
X-Google-Attributes: gid10d15b,public
X-Google-Thread: 103376,dab7d920e4340f12
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
X-Google-Thread: 1014db,dab7d920e4340f12
X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public
From: fjh@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson)
Subject: Re: C is 'better' than Ada because...
Date: 1996/07/31
Message-ID: <4tobi6$t5a@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 171285634
references: <31e02c32.342948604@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov>
 <4s4adc$l4a@ecuador.it.earthlink.net> <31EA0B65.3EF8@wgs.estec.esa.nl>
 <31EF7E48.5ABE@lmtas.lmco.com> <4ss8ru$3d4@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
 <31F28DBD.2A1D@harris.com> <dewar.837995420@schonberg> <31f3c52e.238719470
 <Pine.GSO.3.92.960726122347.25896E-100000@nunic.nu.edu>
 <4tnoeh$qjr@maverick.tad.eds.com>
organization: Comp Sci, University of Melbourne
newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.cobol
Date: 1996-07-31T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


fignet05.darrins@eds.com (Darrin Smith) writes:

>What makes C, or any other language unreliable anyway?

The large number of things that the C standard defines to have
"undefined behaviour" make C less reliable, especially when combined
with compilers that by default do a relatively very low amount of
static checking.  The relatively low-level nature of the code
(in comparison to many other languages) and specifically
the use of manual memory management also contribute to a greater
number of errors.  For example, many of the memory management errors
that can occur in string manipulation errors in C simply can't occur
in many other languages, including COBOL.

(Overheard in one of our computer labs:
	Student A:  What causes segmentation violations?
	Student B:  Programming in C.
;-)

That said, C has many advantageous qualities, and with careful
programming, good tools, and careful testing, talented programmers can
produce reliable programs in C.  Still, if reliability was critical,
C would not be my first choice.

--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>   |  "I have always known that the pursuit
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>   |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3         |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.