#: 5068 S15/Hot Topics
    11-Jul-90  09:57:56
Sb: #5052-Is Basic out of date?
Fm: Mark Wuest 74030,332
To: Mike Knudsen 72467,1111

Although I have *NEVER* written a line of code in Microware Basic (OSK) or
Basic09 (on my CoCo), I *have* ported and written tons of "C" programs on both
systems. Because I use a mixture of systems with and without memory management
under OSK, I have seen how easy it is to write code in "C" with pointers that
point out to sea and "get away" with it. It is amazing how many programs (right
here in our dl's) are being used every day by OSK'ers that are potentially
causing sporadic and random system problems because of blown pointers that the
68000 cannot catch. I know because my 68030 system with SSM invoked (system
security) refuses to run them. With source, the fixes are almost always
trivial. I believe Kevin's comment about the relative "safety" of B09 vs "C"
has merit.
 I am not trying to scare people away from "C" - it is all I use (except for
assembler under dire circumstances). I dislike systems which require a runtime
module (runb) to operate. It's been so long since I wrote anything in Basic
(about 14 years) that I can't remember any of it anyway.
 Think of this as just a reminder that, in "C" and assembler, you can write
bugs into your code that will never be caught by most people's systems.
 Mark (Mr. Desk Check Your Code) Wuest