From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 26418 invoked by alias); 9 Jan 2015 22:30:35 -0000 Mailing-List: contact zsh-workers-help@zsh.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk X-No-Archive: yes List-Id: Zsh Workers List List-Post: List-Help: X-Seq: 34193 Received: (qmail 13818 invoked from network); 9 Jan 2015 22:30:32 -0000 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.2 (2011-06-06) on f.primenet.com.au X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham version=3.3.2 X-Originating-IP: [86.6.153.127] X-Spam: 0 X-Authority: v=2.1 cv=AoZg3YNP c=1 sm=1 tr=0 a=39NrsSuza2clQiZR/7fYWQ==:117 a=39NrsSuza2clQiZR/7fYWQ==:17 a=kj9zAlcOel0A:10 a=NLZqzBF-AAAA:8 a=FtLwYmhfO4em6x7Zl8wA:9 a=CjuIK1q_8ugA:10 Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 22:30:28 +0000 From: Peter Stephenson To: zsh workers Subject: Re: PATCH: hist: remove wrong NULL terminator Message-ID: <20150109223028.6e003bff@ntlworld.com> In-Reply-To: <54B04A7A.1010402@eastlink.ca> References: <1420807419-9270-1-git-send-email-mikachu@gmail.com> <54B013C5.6090307@eastlink.ca> <54B04A7A.1010402@eastlink.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:39:06 -0800 Ray Andrews wrote: > On 01/09/2015 11:38 AM, Mikael Magnusson wrote: > > > Yes, but it's actually pretty harmless, most other variables on the > > stack in that function are never used if we enter this codepath. > > I guess so, since otherwise there'd be crashes all over the place. Still, it > has a lethal look about it. Trying to understand the culture of the project > I find myself wondering how things like that pass unnoticed, given the > unquestioned skill level of the people involved. Bart already answered this once. There is no "magic away problems with the force of my intellect" in programming any more than anywhere else. There are things that happen to show up in real life; there's painstaking use of tools as Mikael is doing; and there are things you happen to notice because you were in the area. The same is true of pretty much all software apart from the very small subset that can be proved mathematically correct (and even that's only necessarily true of the representation of the software in the form you're looking at). The next best step is to use a better language than C. I wasn't entirely joking when I talked about D, but it's not an option for us. pws