4 ms·

There are no unsafe languages, only unsafe coders.

• Someone 10y ago
  There are no unsafe cars, either, only unsafe drivers. However, there also are plenty of cars that safe drivers will refuse to drive. You don't need crumple zones, safety belts, etc. in a car you will never drive.
• metajack 10y ago
  There are only unsafe coders.
• Jweb_Guru 10y ago
  I'm going to go ahead and say that if (1) deciding whether code is valid for your language is undecidable, (2) no industrial compiler makes any effort to conservatively accept only valid programs, and (3) unsoundness cannot even be detected at runtime (this is true of C in the multithreaded case) and may result in completely arbitrary behavior, your language is unsafe.
• geofft 10y ago
  I enjoy using computers because they make fewer mistakes than humans. I would like to apply the same principle to the language I program computers in. Make it the computer's job to minimize mistakes - it might not be perfect, but it's definitely better than I am!
  • lacampbell 10y ago
    I agree with this sentiment. What I disagree with is the sentiment (which I'm not saying you expressed) of a silver bullet for it. IE if only our test coverage was complete, or our type system was sophisticated enough.
    • LambdaComplex 10y ago
      You're right, there's no silver bullet. But it seems like some people have the mindset of "Since everything is bad and (to some extent), there's no point in trying to improve."
• mamcx 10y ago
  >There are no unsafe languages, only unsafe coders. And who develop the languages? Coders. Ergo, exist unsafe languages.
• naasking 10y ago
  > There are no unsafe languages, only unsafe coders. There are no unsafe nuclear launch buttons, only unsafe nuclear launch button pushers. Hmm, maybe some buttons should be harder to push...