Re: [Dev-C++] Deliberate crashes - more information

[Bob W. <bo...@ph...>]

MessageIoannis,
  It's all theoretical, you may try to place data in address you assume =
allocated too. From my experience making it 0 doesn't protect you in =
reality if you do not know what is going on. :) The last thing you will =
do on a pointer assuming it points to allocated space is to delete it. =
Before you will try to read/write from there (and boom even if it is 0). =
So the real solution to such problems is to know what is going on in the =
code.=20
Boy! Do I agree those two statements. Perhpas the most practical =
demonstration of the importance of knowing what is going on in the code =
is when you import a source code routine that someone else has written, =
and there are problems with the either logic or the syntax. If you do =
not understand the underlying algorithm and the coding, it is impossible =
to fix the problem. It goes without saying that code that is written in =
a clear, self-documenting style filled with enough comment to make the =
code crystal clear.=20
  For knowing what is going on, keep code separated inside small =
functions each of one doing some specific job.=20
Again I could not agree more. Weveral years ago when the amount of =
memory available for code space was limited either by the cost of ram or =
software and hardware architectures, building many small functions was =
not feasible because the overhead associated with such a metohdology =
quickly filled and often overran the space available.=20
  There are ways for bullet-proof code but it is not yet the time for =
you to think of them, just keep learning and keep experimenting with C++ =
as you are doing.
And now we get back into an area of a potential disagreement. In =
addition to teaching the syntax of a language, any teacher, tutorial, =
book, etc., should make sure all of its examples are bullet proof, and, =
where appropriate, methods of insuring that any code created with the =
language feature under discussion should be discussed. Good langruage =
specific programming practices should not be separated from the =
fundementals of good code design.=20