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Date:      08 May 2003 23:33:54 +0100
From:      Paul Richards <paul@freebsd-services.com>
To:        Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@ofug.org>
Cc:        freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: `Hiding' libc symbols
Message-ID:  <1052433233.619.27.camel@cf.freebsd-services.com>
In-Reply-To: <xzpu1c5unx1.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0305011046140.73226-100000@InterJet.elischer.org> <XFMail.20030501140549.jhb@FreeBSD.org> <20030501182820.GA53641@madman.celabo.org> <20030503201409.GA41554@dragon.nuxi.com> <20030505175428.GA19275@madman.celabo.org> <20030506170919.GD36798@dragon.nuxi.com> <20030506175557.GE79167@madman.celabo.org> <20030508161223.GL1869@survey.codeburst.net> <xzpu1c5unx1.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no>

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On Thu, 2003-05-08 at 22:30, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote:
> Paul Richards <paul@freebsd-services.com> writes:
> > Any C code that isn't written according to the standard that defines
> > C is broken.
> 
> That includes most of the FreeBSD source tree.

To some extent true, but we don't deliberately break the rules or
flagrantly disregard them. It's more a case of the code having a long
lineage and things having changed, or deliberately breaking the rules
but being fully aware of the reason for doing so (we're not pedants,
good programming practices result in solid code, but if there's a good
reason for breaking the rules and you know what you're doing it's
sometimes appropriate to do so).

> > There's just no argument to be made that FreeBSD should be hacked
> > to support C code that is written by programmers who haven't bothered
> > to learn the rules of C properly.
> > [...]
> > My opinion is that FreeBSD should cater to the people who know their
> > stuff and let the crap programmers out their be shown the bugs that
> > exist in their code when they try to use it on FreeBSD.
> 
> Now I know why people accuse us of elitism...
> 
> Let's please not favor pedantry over robustness.

This isn't elitism. A professor or teacher is not elitist when they
correct the mistakes of less experienced pupils. FreeBSD should
highlight bad habits so people can see that they are making mistakes and
improve their skills.

A poor teacher is one who ignores the bad habits developing in their
pupils, and I'd like FreeBSD to foster a community where good
programming skills are developed.

-- 
Paul Richards <paul@freebsd-services.com>
FreeBSD Services Ltd



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