Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Poor software (was '030 Ami vs '040 NeXT)
Message-ID: <16628@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 18 Dec 90 14:22:09 GMT
References: <9012040257.AA10743@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <1990Dec5.233501.43949@cc.usu.edu> <1990Dec10.163711.19847@engin.umich.edu> <22109@well.sf.ca.us> <14240@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com>
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 40

In article <14240@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com> fnf@riscokid.UUCP (Fred Fish) writes:
>In article <22109@well.sf.ca.us> farren@well.sf.ca.us (Mike Farren) writes:
>>gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) writes:
>>
>>>Most certainly true.  Who says that UNIX code is all that sloppy?

>>I do, for one.  Ever seen the Bourne shell source?

>Most of the absolutely worst C code I've ever seen has been in the course
>of maintaining Unix utilities over the last eight years or so.  

Probably true, though I have found that the popular UNIX systems of the past
few years, especially VAXen, make it easy to write bad code.  What, I'm blaming
it on the machines?!?  Yup.  For example, a few years ago I wrote a real quick
program in C on our VAX to read in our standard netlist interchange file format
and spit out a corresponding, nicely formatted, bill of materials.  It worked
great, never had a problem with it.  Then our VAX changed to a MIPS, and the
thing didn't even begin to compile.  Since I had better C tools by that time
on the Amiga, I tried it there.  I found the easy bugs, like where I said

	thing *x[256]	  but meant	thing x[256]

But that should have been found on the VAX, at least at runtime -- this was,
after all, a protected memory UNIX machine, not a "silly pc".  And of course,
the Lattice compiler kicked up all kinds of type warnings and the like that
UNIX compilers always ignore.  Bugs like this are always the programmer's
fault, of course, but systems and compilers that let you get away with 
blatent bugs and encourage bad programming don't help the generation of good
code.  

By the way, the program still isn't working on any of the systems.  One of 
these days I'll have the time to fix it....

>-Fred


-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
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		"I can't drive 55"	-Sammy Hagar