From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!csu-cs!silver Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Title: nil pointer deref leads to non-nil responses! Article-I.D.: csu-cs.1991 Posted: Thu Jan 20 13:06:33 1983 Received: Fri Jan 21 03:11:13 1983 Thanks for all the responses! Whew! That'll make me think twice about asking a question again (sure, it will...) Anyway, it seems that everyone agrees that nil pointer derefs are poor practice; many systems trap them; and, as I suspected, in some cases, a nil pointer (i.e., int *a; a = 0) does point to real, modifiable memory. In some cases on the same systems (dep. on ld options), you get a signal if you commit this heinous crime. Some people didn't realize that I asked the question cause my system does trap the attempt, so I couldn't "try it". OK? No more mail please? (~@ Alan Silverstein