Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:31:19 +0100
Chris,
I teach my C++11 students to always use curly braces when defining a variable or assign an auto variable from an expression. This way it is guaranteed to be initialized. Any code that doesn't use them is easy to spot.
compilers further generate warnings, forcing them to run separate tools can be hard. An IDE with built-in checkers, like Eclipse CDT with CodAn can also help to give immediate feedback on programming errors which can be more effective.
Regards
Peter.
On 31.10.2013, at 10:16, Christopher Jefferson <chris_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Me and my wife teach C and C++ at Scottish Universities. I asked her
> what is the most important bit of UB she would like to see removed to
> make C++ easier to teach. Her suggestion (which I agree with) is how
> easy it is to no initialise variables, both in classes and on the
> stack. There are 2 main current ways I am aware of detecting UB from
> uninitalised variables:
>
> 1) Many compilers warn about stack variables being read before they
> are written to, with an appropriate warning level (but none provide
> these warnings with no warning flag, and some deductions require
> optimisation, which then means you have to compile twice to get a
> debugging version)
>
> 2) Tools like 'valgrind' will warn of more variable misuses.
>
> However, Rightly or wrongly, students will not use these tools
> correctly, and will get difficult to fix bugs.
>
> Her suggested fix is to introduce a new notation for constructors
> which means "I am not initialising this member on purpose". This will
> allow compilers to then add a warning at a high warning level that a
> member is missed from a constructor.
>
> I also wonder, what is people's opinion on telling students from day 1
> of a C++ class to always run their programs through valgrind, even
> their first "hello world" program? This would help them catch a much
> wider range of bugs earlier, but also teaches them a safety net they
> may come to excessively rely on.
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> ub mailing list
> ub_at_[hidden]
> http://www.open-std.org/mailman/listinfo/ub
I teach my C++11 students to always use curly braces when defining a variable or assign an auto variable from an expression. This way it is guaranteed to be initialized. Any code that doesn't use them is easy to spot.
compilers further generate warnings, forcing them to run separate tools can be hard. An IDE with built-in checkers, like Eclipse CDT with CodAn can also help to give immediate feedback on programming errors which can be more effective.
Regards
Peter.
On 31.10.2013, at 10:16, Christopher Jefferson <chris_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Me and my wife teach C and C++ at Scottish Universities. I asked her
> what is the most important bit of UB she would like to see removed to
> make C++ easier to teach. Her suggestion (which I agree with) is how
> easy it is to no initialise variables, both in classes and on the
> stack. There are 2 main current ways I am aware of detecting UB from
> uninitalised variables:
>
> 1) Many compilers warn about stack variables being read before they
> are written to, with an appropriate warning level (but none provide
> these warnings with no warning flag, and some deductions require
> optimisation, which then means you have to compile twice to get a
> debugging version)
>
> 2) Tools like 'valgrind' will warn of more variable misuses.
>
> However, Rightly or wrongly, students will not use these tools
> correctly, and will get difficult to fix bugs.
>
> Her suggested fix is to introduce a new notation for constructors
> which means "I am not initialising this member on purpose". This will
> allow compilers to then add a warning at a high warning level that a
> member is missed from a constructor.
>
> I also wonder, what is people's opinion on telling students from day 1
> of a C++ class to always run their programs through valgrind, even
> their first "hello world" program? This would help them catch a much
> wider range of bugs earlier, but also teaches them a safety net they
> may come to excessively rely on.
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> ub mailing list
> ub_at_[hidden]
> http://www.open-std.org/mailman/listinfo/ub
-- Prof. Peter Sommerlad Institut für Software: Bessere Software - Einfach, Schneller! HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil Oberseestr 10, Postfach 1475, CH-8640 Rapperswil http://ifs.hsr.ch http://cute-test.com http://linticator.com http://includator.com tel:+41 55 222 49 84 == mobile:+41 79 432 23 32 fax:+41 55 222 46 29 == mailto:peter.sommerlad_at_[hidden]
Received on 2013-10-31 14:31:36