chap1 1020 B

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  1. .NH 1
  2. Introduction
  3. .PP
  4. C [1][2] is a dangerous programming language.
  5. The programmer is allowed to do almost anything, as long as
  6. the syntax of the program is correct.
  7. This has a reason. In this way it is possible to make a fast
  8. compiler which produces fast code.
  9. The compiler will be fast because it doesn't do much checking
  10. at compile time.
  11. The code is fast because the compiler doesn't generate run time
  12. checks.
  13. The programmer should protect himself against producing error
  14. prone code.
  15. One way to do that is to obey the
  16. .I
  17. Ten Commandments for C programmers
  18. .R
  19. [appendix B].
  20. This document describes an implementation of the
  21. .I lint
  22. program, as referred to in Commandment 1.
  23. It is a common error to run
  24. .I lint
  25. only after a few hours of debugging and some
  26. bug can't be found.
  27. .I Lint
  28. should be run when large pieces of new code are accepted by the
  29. compiler and as soon as bugs arise.
  30. Even for working programs it is useful to run
  31. .I lint,
  32. because it can find constructions that may lead to problems in
  33. the future.
  34. .bp