Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!cbmvax!jesup
From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: rexxarplib
Message-ID: <12550@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 11 Jun 90 19:55:24 GMT
References: <1674@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> <839@rulcvx.LeidenUniv.nl>
Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax (Randell Jesup)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 29

In article <839@rulcvx.LeidenUniv.nl> aips@rulcvx.LeidenUniv.nl (W. Jaffe) writes:

>I have an interesting problem. I wonder if it has any value
>to check whether an AllocMem of 1Kb fails. 
>In my opinion it is an absolute waste of time and space to do
>such a check, because the system would have crashed long before
>only 1Kb was left. Intuition don't like a low memory environment.

	It has great value.  Checking for allocation failure means you can
recover or at least fail gracefully instead of crashing the machine, and
perhaps losing the user's work in another program.  ALL allocations can fail,
and it doesn't mean the system is dead (though it may not be able to do things
like move windows until memory gets freed).  Sometimes lack of memory is
very temporary, due to a large allocation that is freed quickly, or if your
program or some other program notices a failure, and backs out of an operation,
freeing up memory it had already allocated.

	This is known as good programming practice.

>Also, it is absolute nonsense to check an OpenLibrary(graphics.library)
>call. If it is not there, you can better go to a repair shop.

	You have a better point here, though if you supply a version other
than 0 you need to check the result.

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"