type-checking function arguments
Jerry Farrell
jfarrell at sun.UUCP
Thu Sep 15 03:41:36 AEST 1983
I want the compiler to type-check for me because
1) I'm tired of being handed a program with the remark "OK, it's
fully tested and solid." and discovering 6 places where foo is
passed when it should be *foo;
2) Lint barfs on constructions the compiler accepts (e.g. /**/ ina
macro definition, but it doesn't get fixed, because we can creep
along without it, and there's all these other things . . . .
3) Preparing a lint library is a royal pain -- unless I'm willing to
reconstruct cc's lexical analyzer (including keeping the comments),
I get to massage my source by hand into the appropriate format;
4) Probably as a result of (3), the lint libraries tend to be about 3
years behind the code.
Compilers need not have trouble with any of the difficulties listed in Lantz'
message; see Mesa, for instance. The claim that lint's optionality saves
you from paying compile overhead all the time while still providing safety
needs a lot more empirical backing than I've seen.
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