null dereference exception vs. segfault?

[bearophile]

Mafi:
> If you want a NullPointerException as part of your program flow, you can 
> use enforce() (in std.contracts I think). I don't think catching a 
> NullPointerException in a big code block where you don't know which 
> dereferencing should fail is good style.

enforce() is not a panacea (panchrest); as far as I know DMD doesn't inline any function that contains enforce(). So sometimes an assert() is better, especially if it's inside a contract (precondition, etc). DesignByConstrac-style programming is not something that just happens, you have to train yourself for some time for it.

Bye,
bearophile