Error Checking in C

[utzoo!decvax!ittvax!swatt]

UNIX gives you a cryptic message and a core dump instead of a
traceback message because given the core image and a reasonable
debugger, you can quickly find out everything a traceback message
would give you plus a lot more.  That being the case, it's obtrusive
to tell you any more than your program blew up, and you have a
core image to work with to find out why.

It is unfortunate the UCB people broke adb's ability to deal
with local symbols when they went to arbitrary length identifiers,
but even so, it makes a pretty good post-mortem tool.

I can't imagine I'd find traceback messages useful in a UNIX
environment that already gives me a decent debugger.

	- Alan S. Watt