Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!peter_alau@playstation.sony.com
From: "Steve Spiller" <steve@microdot.com>
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.problems.pc
Subject: Re: Debugging, debugging...
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 09:49:42 -0700
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Ed Federmeyer wrote in message
<01bdbe48$45ce1b60$549a7095@edfhome.3com.com>...
>Sorry I can't help with the GDB problem, but I did notice that the Yaroze
>does
>not like freeing NULL pointers, unlike most other systems, which treat
>free(NULL)
>as a NOOP.  (The book "Writing Solid Code" has a good writeup on freeing


As a matter of fact, I have a copy of that on my desk here at work. :)

>NULL pointers, and he essentially thinks allowing free(NULL) to be BAD
>because
>it allows latent bugs to creep in, but that so much code would stop working
>if it
>suddenly didn't work, that it needs to be left as-is!)
>
>Anyway, since I've taken to checking for NULL before free(), my programs
>have
>become much more stable.  (I can trace the root cause of WHY the pointer
>was NULL when I didn't think it should be, etc.).


Well, I didn't want to check for NULL becuase they shouldn't be NULL!  Since
I am still unable to get GDB to work properly for me, I've been reduced to
flooding the code with printf()'s for debugging.  :)

>
>You might give it a try.
>EdF
>

Thanks for the suggestions!
-Steve