C Community's Cavalier Attitude On Software Reliability

[Jacob Gore]

/ comp.lang.c / wtwolfe at hubcap.clemson.edu (Bill Wolfe) / Feb 25, 1990 /
>  When examples such as these are combined with the existence of so many
>  blatantly unsafe constructs within the C language, and the fact that C
>  software seems to erode public confidence in software reliability on a
>  regular basis (Nationwide Computer Network Infected By Worm; National 
>  Telecommunications System Crashes), it would seem appropriate to ask:
>
>    When is the C community going to clean up its act???

Which public is that?  The same public that absorbed the TV coverage of the
Hackers' Convention as a gathering of high-tech revolutionaries?

>    Nationwide Computer Network Infected By Worm

Robert Morris's Internet Worm?  Only one of the three holes it used had
anything to do with C, the other two were exploiting human laziness.  Or
are you talking about the more recent DECnet worm?

> National Telecommunications System Crashes

I'm not sure what you're talking about here.  If you are referring to the
recent near-meltdown of AT&T's long distance phone network, I don't think
AT&T's phone switch software is written in C (I believe it's some
assembly-level language).

Look, I am as much for reliable software as the next guy, but don't go
around setting up straw programs to beat up.  As for the BUGS section in
Unix manuals, sure they surprise people, until they realize that a
documented known bug, which may not be fixed for a variety of reasons, is
much easier to deal with than a bug swept under the rug and not fixed for
those same reasons.

Jacob
--
Jacob Gore		Jacob at Gore.Com			boulder!gore!jacob