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From: farren@well.sf.ca.us (Mike Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: rexxarplib
Message-ID: <18464@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 12 Jun 90 08:15:57 GMT
References: <1674@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> <839@rulcvx.LeidenUniv.nl>
Lines: 24

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.
>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 are correct, now.  You might not be correct next year.  There are a
LOT of things that you can get away with in any given setup that you might
not be able to get away with the next time the system is updated.  An
example is my port of the Amiga version of Crystal Quest.  I was told
about a failure under what was then 1.4, right after last year's DevCon.
I don't remember the exact details, but it involves exactly the situation
that you describe, with OpenLibrary and a library which was resident under
1.3, but not under 1.4, and a subsequent failure when you used the boot
disk I had provided.  Once I did the error checking right, it worked fine
(and still does, I am told, under 2.0 - a fact of which I am quite proud).

Far better to check things which "never" fail than to miss just one...

-- 
Mike Farren 				     farren@well.sf.ca.us