Disallow null references in safe code?

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Sunday, February 02, 2014 12:52:44 Timon Gehr wrote:
> On 02/02/2014 04:39 AM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> > I'm not sure how I feel about that, particularly since I haven't seen such
> > data myself. My natural reaction when people complain about null pointer
> > problems is that they're sloppy programmers (which isn't necessarily fair,
> > but that's my natural reaction).
> 
> There is no such thing as 'naturality' that is magically able to justify
> personal attacks in a technical discussion, even if qualified.

Would you prefer that I had said "initial reaction" or "gut reaction?" I'm 
just saying that that's how I tend to feel when I see complaints about null 
pointers. I have never accused anyone of anything or otherwise attacked them 
because they complained about null pointers. That _would_ be rude.

> The situation does not have to be unbearable in order to
> improve it!

True, but I don't even agree that null pointers are that big a deal in the 
first place. If we really want to add non-nullable pointers or references to 
the language, then we can. I don't think that that's necessarily a bad idea. 
But I doubt that I'll use them often, and I do think that the whole issue is 
frequently blown out of proportion.

- Jonathan M Davis