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Date:      Thu, 13 May 1999 12:48:42 -0500
From:      Chris Costello <chris@calldei.com>
To:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc:        chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: BSD, GPL, the world today. (fwd)
Message-ID:  <19990513124842.A19831@holly.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.37.19990513105719.04696100@localhost>; from Brett Glass on Thu, May 13, 1999 at 11:31:38AM -0600
References:  <4.2.0.37.19990513102444.04697e40@localhost> <4.2.0.37.19990513095524.04429440@localhost> <Pine.BSF.3.96.990513104700.2143C-100000@beelzebubba.sysabe <4.2.0.37.19990513095524.04429440@localhost> <19990513112210.A19394@holly.dyndns.org> <4.2.0.37.19990513102444.04697e40@localhost> <19990513113714.B19394@holly.dyndns.org> <4.2.0.37.19990513105719.04696100@localhost>

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On Thu, May 13, 1999, Brett Glass wrote:
> At 11:37 AM 5/13/99 -0500, Chris Costello wrote:
> 
>  >Also, integers should be only 4 bits, and bytes should only be
> >2 bits long.
> 
> Nothing personal, but the sentence above reflects a fear of safeguards
> that almost amounts to paranoia. It seems to have been instilled in 
> many programmers that the ability to engage in well-known unsafe
> practices -- even if there are better and safer ways to do the
> same things -- is essential to being able to program at all. Making 
> programming tools safe does not unduly limit them.

   I'm rarely paranoid, that was sarcasm. :)

> What's really scary, though, is that some carpenters I've seen are 
> foolish enough to remove the partial, retractable blade guard that 
> DOES come with the circular saw. Or to jam the safety latch on the 
> power switch open.

   Moronic practices by the human "component" doesn't make the
product any less good.  I can use Unix to screw up my disk
drives, does that mean Unix is a bad thing?

> These are usually the ones who are short a finger or two. 
> 
> --Brett

-- 
Chris Costello                                <chris@calldei.com>
Computer Science: solving today's problems tomorrow.


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