lef@nlm-vax.ARPA (Larry Fitzpatrick) (09/26/85)
I am interested in different approaches that C programmers use (used) to trace bugs having to do with errant pointers in memory. Most of us have probably put together a goodly-sized program that allocates and frees memory for the management of a variety of in-memory data structures. Programming errors related to the accessing and management of this memory (mostly: 1) reference through uninitialized or dangling pointers 2) reference through a pointer past the bounds of the data structure it is supposed to point to 3) garbage accumulation) can be very difficult to detect since the point of detection/damage can be far removed from the point of infraction. What I would like to know is what conventions/strategies/techniques has anyone out there found useful for 1) preventing these types of errors or 2) finding them when they occur. You may mail responses to me and I will summarize to the net. Thanks fitz lef@nlm-vax.arpa L Fitzpatrick National Library of Medicine Bethesda, MD 20894