From -7853152378956224353 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII X-Google-Thread: f78e5,ccbfcafab96cf493 X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-11-26 22:21:03 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!194.213.69.151!news.algonet.se!algonet!newspeer.clara.net!news.clara.net!dispose.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: Pete Becker Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Subject: Re: Proposol to increase robustness of programs Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 06:20:40 GMT Organization: Dinkumware, Ltd Approved: Fergus Henderson , moderator of comp.std.c++ Message-ID: <3C02E8F1.4BDAAF29@acm.org> References: <3BFE97B3.91430FB1@wanadoo.fr> X-Trace: mail2news.demon.co.uk 1006842045 mail2news:20544 mail2news mail2news.demon.co.uk X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Mail2News-Path: news.demon.net!mulga.cs.mu.oz.au X-Authentication-Warning: mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU: fjh set sender to devnull@stump.algebra.com using -f X-Robomod: STUMP, ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Nov 2001 01:14:00 GMT X-Accept-Language: en Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU id RAA07400 Lines: 27 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.std.c++:8310 Lo=EFc Joly wrote: >=20 > This works just fine, but now, suppose someone in charge of maintaining > the A class discovers that the declaration of f should have been : > virtual void f(char const *s); > He makes the change, but somehow forget to change class B. The compiler > will compile silently, but the program will not do the expected thing. > This is a real-world example that has already bitten me several times, > and is difficult to debug. >=20 You should complain to the person who made that change without understanding and documenting its implications. Adding a virtual function to a class (whether that's a consequence of adding a new function or changing an existing one) is a drastic change, and users of the class should be alerted to it. --=20 Pete Becker Dinkumware, Ltd. (http://www.dinkumware.com) --- [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles, try just posting with ] [ your news-reader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu ] [ --- Please see the FAQ before posting. --- ] [ FAQ: http://www.research.att.com/~austern/csc/faq.html ]