forsyth@minster.york.ac.uk (10/23/90)
on which statistical results are people basing the claim that pointers are a serious problem in software? i know about the pointers::goto argument, but that was an attempt to offer insight. it was a claim or a comment, not a proof! furthermore, it was made at a time when most systems software was still in assembly language (or cobol -- which hasn't got pointers!) are Sunview, SUNOS, Ada compilers, X11 etc. all overblown because of pointers? i had no idea. i'd never have guessed it from the source code i've read. deadlines, too little money, too much money, too little thought, too little experience, too much MS/DOS, too little claret: i think these have much more to do with the problem than pointers. i also think some are confusing `wanton use of pointers is bad' with `use of pointers is bad', in much the same way that `the longing for/love of money [cupidity] is the root of all evil' was corrupted by some into `money is the root of all evil': not quite the same thing.