Checksum: 01526
Lines: 23
Path: utzoo!utgpu!utfyzx!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader)
Date: Thu, 31-Mar-88 18:33:21 EST
Message-ID: <1988Mar31.183321.4740@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: strcpy
References: <12622@brl-adm.ARPA> <18516@think.UUCP> <1988Mar27.171450.14256@sq.uucp>
Reply-To: msb@sq.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto

Regarding:
> > If a machine has a fast instruction that
> > does a search for a byte and a fast block move instruction, it would
> > probably be best for strcpy to be written
> > 
> > 	memcpy (dest, src, strpos (src, '\0') + 1);
> > 
> > (assuming that memcpy and strpos are inlined into the appropriate
> > instructions ... )

I said, in an article I am now canceling:
> The above
> algorithm is two-pass, and therefore not robust in the face 
> of *shared memory*.

It has been pointed out to me that a one-pass algorithm is also not
robust in a shared-memory situation.  The two-pass and one-pass
algorithms merely fail in slightly different ways and on slightly
different race conditions.

Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
	"I'm a little worried about the bug-eater," she said.  "We're embedded
	in bugs, have you noticed?"		-- Niven, "The Integral Trees"