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From: melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: problems/risks due to programming language, stories requested
Message-ID: <Ec.3251@cs.psu.edu>
Date: 1 Mar 90 00:55:44 GMT
References: <6960@internal.Apple.COM>
	<1990Feb28.213543.21748@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> <31039@brunix.UUCP>
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In-Reply-To: phg@cs.brown.edu's message of 1 Mar 90 00:04:47 GMT

In article <31039@brunix.UUCP> phg@cs.brown.edu (Peter H. Golde) writes:


   The C language might be made "simpler" if all 
   undeclared variable were automatically declared
   as auto int; thus saving the need for "useless" declarations.  I would
   not like to program in such a language, would you?

   To take a more "real-life" example, I have, at times, mis-typed
   a C program as follows:

	c = foo(d);     /* update count of flibbets *
	bam_whiz(c, d); /* and propagate change to zip module */
	return;        

   If I had used another language, this error would have been caught by
   the compiler.  Clearly this is a small point, but it illustrates
   my point: some languages and compilers permit a larger percentage 
   of minor errors to pass than others.  

   --Peter Golde


Some compilers will warn you if you have nested comments.  gcc, for example,
will warn you about this if you use the -Wcomment option.  But your point
is well taken.  Personally, it's the little things like this that make me
believe that everyone should ABANDON C and move on to C++(two others being
function prototyping and strong type checking).  Waddya think?  Wither C?


void count_flibbets(int d) 
// int d;   Stop doing this!!
{
	c = foo(d);     // update count of flibbets
	bam_whiz(c, d); // and propagate change to zip module 
	return;        
}


-Mike