3 ms·

Yeah, I'd definitely replace that whole function - with a try/catch-wrapped (or NaN-checked, etc.) attempt to parse the string as a double. Not a regex, which t

Yeah, I'd definitely replace that whole function - with a try/catch-wrapped (or NaN-checked, etc.) attempt to parse the string as a double. Not a regex, which then still would have to be tested to make sure it's exactly as strict as whatever parser it's going to be passed to, anyway.

Jtsummers 4y ago
Fair, but I'm not even sure where this value ends up yet so I don't want to parse it (vice validate it), just getting it to reject "1-2" as a double would be a start (currently accepted, note that it's not accepting expressions just values). Stage one of fixing this thing is just tackling obviously wrong code like this, their creative shared pointer implementation that's also wrong (the memory will be freed while other pointers still have access to it, and the reference counter is not in the shared pointer but the object it contains so checking the reference counter at that point will result in use-after-free errors), and their fantastic use of iterators that will crash the program if that code is ever called (they didn't understand iterator invalidation). And yesterday I found that they read a file (in its entirety!) one character at a time, tacking the results onto the end of a string. There is no parsing logic at that point, it's literally just building a giant string. And all of that is in what should be straightforward logic any trained novice can handle, the real critical code which solved a somewhat novel problem (not novel novel, but not an everyday problem) gets even more creative.
- throwanem 4y ago
  By the sound of it, this may well indeed be the rare case in which jwz's dictum fails to hold, and using a regex will yield one problem fewer - or, failing that, maybe kick a hole in the side and go looking for a river or two. In any case, good luck...

3 ms·

Yeah, I'd definitely replace that whole function - with a try/catch-wrapped (or NaN-checked, etc.) attempt to parse the string as a double. Not a regex, which t

by throwanem 4y ago

Jtsummers 4y ago
Fair, but I'm not even sure where this value ends up yet so I don't want to parse it (vice validate it), just getting it to reject "1-2" as a double would be a start (currently accepted, note that it's not accepting expressions just values). Stage one of fixing this thing is just tackling obviously wrong code like this, their creative shared pointer implementation that's also wrong (the memory will be freed while other pointers still have access to it, and the reference counter is not in the shared pointer but the object it contains so checking the reference counter at that point will result in use-after-free errors), and their fantastic use of iterators that will crash the program if that code is ever called (they didn't understand iterator invalidation). And yesterday I found that they read a file (in its entirety!) one character at a time, tacking the results onto the end of a string. There is no parsing logic at that point, it's literally just building a giant string. And all of that is in what should be straightforward logic any trained novice can handle, the real critical code which solved a somewhat novel problem (not novel novel, but not an everyday problem) gets even more creative.
- throwanem 4y ago
  By the sound of it, this may well indeed be the rare case in which jwz's dictum fails to hold, and using a regex will yield one problem fewer - or, failing that, maybe kick a hole in the side and go looking for a river or two. In any case, good luck...