ACM Comm 2011 09 The Most Expensive One-Byte Mistake (Notes)

Link to publication "Protecting Users of the Cyber Commons" CACM September 2011

The Most Expensive One-Byte Mistake by Poul-Henning Kamp, p.42-44

The Most Expensive One-Byte Mistake

Did Ken, Dennis, and Brian choose wrong with NUL-terminated text strings?

Ideas

1. Creating a World Record, for good or bad, requires intent. A spectacular fiasco or bonanza do not count.
2. Changes that cannot be made directly at the statement level. (e.g., \( \textbf{matmul}(b, a) \) should be \( \textbf{matmul}(a, b)\) ).
3. C/UNIX/POSIX use NUL-terminated text strings.
   1. Another option is the address followed by the length. No counting needed.
   2. This required altering CPU designs to determine the length, and THEN process the string.

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Parent Article: Reading Notes