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Article #891

Re: Newbie Wants Advice on C-Programming

#891
From: John MAX Skaller
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:30
39 lines
2261 bytes
In article <1992Dec28.184038.20725@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> feldman@speedy.zko.dec.com (Gary Feldman) writes:
>
>More importantly, allowing the assembly language view to influence your
>coding is more likely to be a source of bug-ridden programs, and not
>a preventative.  

	Trying to write programs without understanding machine
principles?

>This is especially true these days when more and more
>programs are being written to run on multiple architectures.  In such cases,
>assumptions made at the assembly level on one machine can be horribly invalid
>on another.  All sorts of things -- pointer arithmetic, alignment assumptions,
>speed assumptions, big endian vs. little endian, regiter behavior, casting
>behavior -- can break.

	How could you possibly understand any of these issues *without*
knowing some basic machine principles?

>
>If your goal is bug-free programs, then except for some limited problem domains,
>it is far more important to really understand the abstract semantics of C 
>independently of any assembly language, as well as quality design and testing
>methodologies.  
>

	I cant agree, if only because understanding the abstract
principles is extremely hard for even the brightest of us.

	For example, what is a 'type'?
	What is an 'object'?
	What is an 'lvalue'?
	What is a 'subtype'?

-- 
;----------------------------------------------------------------------
        JOHN (MAX) SKALLER,         maxtal@extro.ucc.su.oz.au
	Maxtal Pty Ltd, 6 MacKay St ASHFIELD, NSW 2131, AUSTRALIA
;--------------- SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING SOFTWARE ------------------
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU!maxtal
References: <1992Dec25.050515.20871@ncsu.edu> <1992Dec25.073517.16089@grebyn.com> <1992Dec28.184038.20725@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>

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Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c
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From: maxtal@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (John MAX Skaller)
Subject: Re: Newbie Wants Advice on C-Programming
Message-ID: <1992Dec29.003005.27059@ucc.su.OZ.AU>
Sender: news@ucc.su.OZ.AU
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Organization: MAXTAL P/L C/- University Computing Centre, Sydney
References: <1992Dec25.050515.20871@ncsu.edu> <1992Dec25.073517.16089@grebyn.com> <1992Dec28.184038.20725@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:30:05 GMT
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