On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Andrew Brown wrote:

> >Precisely!
>
> feeding 135471234 to isalpha() and expecting a sensible result is like
> feeding 135471234 to asin() and expecting a sensible result or like
> calling fprintf() with NULL for the fp.  all those inputs are outside
> the proscribed domains of the functions.  how a program handles that
> is not defined by any standard.  it is up to the program to make sure
> that it does not exceed the domain of a function, not the system.

I don't want to talk about pointers, I've already said that.

Even if I send 1123334 to asin(), I do -not- expect a segfault!

And, to make my point, sending 12498454 to islpha works on FreeBSD and BSDI,
giving the correct result (0).



What I'm trying to say is:

1) libc "should" be held to higher standard.

2) Other respected implementations do this.

3) We don't because of performance considerations?  Hmmm....

-Mike