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Tony Hoare, the inventor of null, has gone on record calling it his ‘billion-dollar mistake’. So what should replace it? Maybe, at its core, is a construct that allows programmers to move null checks into the type system, so they can be enforced at compile-time. Instead of forgetting to deal with a null check and finding out with an exception at run-time, you forget to deal with a null check and find out at compile-time, before anyone else even sees it! And that’s not just some null checks, that’s all of them, guaranteed! Schrodinger's Type: Maybe it's there. Maybe it's not.
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I disagree. Maybe is not better than NULL its more complex and will lead to more mistakes.
Worse than that this is yet another example of trying to 'fix it by changing the language'. Hasn't 15 years of failure from Microsoft made it clear enough THAT DOESN'T WORK.
You have to fix the problem, which is essentially the inability of most code to operate safely when given one or more empty parameters, not the language so as to hide empty parameters inside unions. As for the idea that this change means checks can be done at compile time, bilge, most NULLs arise from the lack of existence of user input, files, communication or some other artifact or item of data at runtime. Trying to ban these situations at compile time will simply lead to unhandled real world situations, commonly known as unhandled exceptions.
The one part of this that is correct is that the answer is to use the type system to create checked types that can throw when they evaluate to NULL. This can be done, I know because I've done it and definitely doesn't require any language level changes.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Matthew Faithfull wrote: Maybe is not better than NULL its more complex and will lead to more mistakes.
Just try a language that has no nulls and you'll change your mind quickly.
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Hmm, that's what they said about languages with no types.
No thanks, I'll wait for version 3.5 or 4.0 of said language when they put NULLs back in to solve the problems they caused by having to write situation specific exception handlers almost but not quite identically all over the code.
The solution is a conceptually more advanced type system where types include declaratively what they can and cannot be converted to, what values they can and cannot be set to including NULL.
This doesn't need a new language just proper use of some of the better ones we have already. In other words a better understanding of what a type is amongst developers rather then a new language which further obscures the answer to that question by trying and inevitably failing to do it for you.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Matthew Faithfull wrote: No thanks, I'll wait for version 3.5 or 4.0 of said language when they put NULLs back in to solve the problems they caused
 Some of the languages without nulls are pretty old (ML, for instance) and I've never heard of any of them adding them. Nulls are simply a mistake - a billion dollar one[^], according to Tony Hoare who first introduced them:
"I call it my billion-dollar mistake. It was the invention of the null reference in 1965. At that time, I was designing the first comprehensive type system for references in an object oriented language (ALGOL W). My goal was to ensure that all use of references should be absolutely safe, with checking performed automatically by the compiler. But I couldn't resist the temptation to put in a null reference, simply because it was so easy to implement. This has led to innumerable errors, vulnerabilities, and system crashes, which have probably caused a billion dollars of pain and damage in the last forty years. In recent years, a number of program analysers like PREfix and PREfast in Microsoft have been used to check references, and give warnings if there is a risk they may be non-null. More recent programming languages like Spec# have introduced declarations for non-null references. This is the solution, which I rejected in 1965."
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Point me at a substantial open source project written in ML and I'll consider learning it, or Spec# or that matter.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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Thanks, the link produces a 403 but I managed to find MLDonkey. It's been 15 years since I last looked at ML and it's still almost as ugly as SQL. The interesting thing to me is the apparent ability to integrate with something as concrete and 'real world' as GTK. That's real progress for a functional language, the idea that it might actually get used to write software rather than prove a point. I don't believe Miranda ever got that far. Maybe ML is worth another look but it will have to wait until after the elections, my brain is reading critical right now and all the sirens are going off. Time to sleep before tomorrows radio debate.
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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CodeMirror is a JavaScript component that provides a code editor in the browser. When a mode is available for the language you are coding in, it will color your code, and optionally help with indentation. A rich programming API and a CSS theming system are available for customizing CodeMirror to fit your application, and extending it with new functionality. Now with COBOL editor mode for your in-browser mainframe programming needs.
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Every program needs memory. Unfortunately, memory is finite. Software must cope with memory usage, and there are two ways to manage it: manually and automatically. Manual memory management is prone to errors, especially with exceptions and asynchronous code. This is why modern managed environments (.NET, Erlang, and many more) implement automatic memory management with garbage collection. Bring out your dead (memory allocations).
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By 2005, years of solid chip design and technological execution had the company walking with a swagger, as seen in marketing stunts which challenged Intel's then-current server processors to a "dual-core duel.” Nowhere was this attitude more apparent than AMD's 2005 lawsuit against Intel for anti-competitive business practices. Doubters didn't think the good times could last.... The perennial fighter kocked out by a 'second-best' mentality.
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This is a short video about Erlang, the functional programming language. Have you got anything without Erlang?
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One of Microsoft's goals with Windows 8, sources have said all along, was to try to convince the developer community that it is/was still worth writing "killer apps" for Windows. But if Blue, a k a Windows 8.1, allows users to opt to boot straight to the Desktop and avoid the Metro Start Screen as much as possible, doesn't this undermine the message that Metro is the future? What's the reason Windows devs should bother putting their eggs in the Windows 8/WinRT -- rather than the tried-and-true Win32 basket? Rumors of "Visual Studio Blue" say it could reveal much about the future of Windows.
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Genes contain information that defines the way our cells function, and some parts of the genome express themselves in much the same way across different types of cells and organisms. This would allow Endy and his team to build a language scientists could use to carefully engineer gene expression – what they call “the layer between the genome and all the dynamic processes of life.” Evolution 2.0.
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It looks like one day I'll get my wish.
A dark blue headstone 
UNHANDLED EXCEPTION
Division by zero at <date>
"It's true that hard work never killed anyone. But I figure, why take the chance." - Ronald Reagan
That's what machines are for.
Got a problem?
Sleep on it.
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Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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You know how security people get all uppity about SSL this and SSL that? Stuff like posting creds over HTTPS isn’t enough, you have to load login forms over HTTPS as well and then you can’t send auth cookies over HTTP because they’ll get sniffed and sessions hijacked and so on and so forth. This is all pretty much security people rhetoric designed to instil fear but without a whole lot of practical basis, right? That’s an easy assumption to make because it’s hard to observe the risk of insufficient transport layer protection being exploited, at least compared to something like XSS or SQL injection. But it turns out that exploiting unprotected network traffic can actually be extremely simple, you just need to have the right gear. An in-depth guide to packet sniffing with the WiFi Pineapple.
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I want one of those, even if it is just to learn with! That is a cool little device!
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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That just bumped my paranoia level up a couple of notches. I was already more or less aware of the basic risks and weaknesses with the access points, but the scariest thing is how devices like this are becoming easier and cheaper to acquire.
The geeky Linux setup will eventually be replaced by a simpler interface, opening the door for a class of less tech savvy, amateur hackers.
Soren Madsen
"When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty
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I can see a few other uses for it, such as in an academic setting (e.g. A Network Infrastructure class), or for creating an ad-hoc wifi network at a convention or something like that.
There are hundreds of uses for things like this, not all of them are malicious.
Gryphons Are Awesome! Gryphons Are Awesome!
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I offer these but you may wish to add your own pieces of really bad advice... Honourable Mention: "Leave the back-up until tomorrow."
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Now, how about 10 pieces of great advice? 
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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new definition of Maunder Minimum = the minimum amount of rewrites it takes Chris to get something working
Bryce *chortle*
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Now if you'd had you're wits about you, or Mick was around to give you some actual creativity, you would have said "the minimum amount of pints before he's fully lubricated"
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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dude that'd have been pointless - we all know that the Maunder Maximum is 1
Universal constant that.
bryce
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