Archive
Posts Tagged ‘pointer arithmetic’
Verifying pointer arithmetic
July 16, 2010
4 comments
Today I’ll look at whether code that uses pointer arithmetic is any harder to verify than equivalent code that does not use pointer arithmetic.
Consider this function for copying an array (or part of an array) into another array (or part of another array):
void arrayCopy(const int* src, int* dst, size_t num) {
size_t i;
for (i = 0; i < num; ++i) {
dst[i] = src[i];
}
}
How (un)safe is pointer arithmetic?
March 3, 2010
10 comments
I recognize that this is a controversial topic – if you’re a safety-critical professional using C or C++, I’d be glad to hear your views.
Using explicit pointer arithmetic in critical software is generally frowned upon. MISRA 2004 rules 17.1 to 17.3 prohibit some particular cases of explicit pointer arithmetic that do not give rise to well-defined results. Read more…
Categories: C and C++ in critical systems
array class, pointer arithmetic
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