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Date:      Fri, 14 Aug 1998 10:41:50 +0000
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc:        Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: 64-bit time_t 
Message-ID:  <199808141041.KAA13457@word.smith.net.au>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 14 Aug 1998 11:33:25 CST." <199808141733.LAA24664@lariat.lariat.org> 

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> At 10:24 AM 8/14/98 +0000, Mike Smith wrote:
>  
> >> Don't want to get into language wars here, but in case the current rash
> >> of security problems doesn't make it painfully obvious, C isn't a good 
> >> tool for ANYTHING.
> >
> >... which is why it's been a perfectly good tool for the last couple of 
> >decades.  Language has nothing to do with security, in case it wasn't 
> >already plainly obvious.  Security is a design issue.
> 
> Security is also a safety issue. Use safe tools, and you're less likely
> to create security holes.

"Safe" is context-sensitive.  Safety is not something that can 
generally be implemented in a language, as it can't know in what 
context it will be used.

C is not "unsafe", it is "not-safe", meaning that you're responsible for
your own security.  In this it is no less "safe" than any other 
language as you are a fool if you take the "safety" of any other 
language on trust.

-- 
\\  Sometimes you're ahead,       \\  Mike Smith
\\  sometimes you're behind.      \\  mike@smith.net.au
\\  The race is long, and in the  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\  end it's only with yourself.  \\  msmith@cdrom.com



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