C#

Pete O'Hanlon wrote:

which is not too good a practice

bob16972 wrote:

Are there equivalent const rules in C# (as acompared to C++) to help prevent the method from modifying the "pointer"

bob16972 wrote:

are requiring asserts and runtime checks all over the frackin' place

jschell wrote:

I suppose that depends on what you mean by "all over the ...place" and what exactly your intent is.

jschell wrote:

In either I might put some validation checks in other locations, but rarely do.

jschell wrote:

Finally null pointer exceptions in C# have stack traces on them. So arbitrary programming errors show up that way. Especially with sufficient unit testing.

bob16972 wrote:

Good luck with that.

bob16972 wrote:

That's assuming your debug sessions will take a particular code path

bob16972 wrote:

unit tests can get stale as code changes.

bob16972 wrote:

Since this might not be reliable, the runtime checks are usually the last stand to prevent runtime errors and replace them with graceful hickups or alternative behavior.

bob16972 wrote:

This coding style is MFC 101 and can be applied where ever pointers are sold.

bob16972 wrote:

Since the C# references can be null, this approach almost appears mandatory but that is the question at hand.

bob16972 wrote:

Someone please tell me there is a way to eliminate all these checks for null references in C# like I could in C++.

[ContractClass(typeof(ISomethingContract))]
public interface ISomething {
    public void DoSomething(AnotherClass pObject);
}

[ContractClassFor(typeof(ISomething))]
internal abstract class SomethingContract : ISomething {
    public void DoSomething(AnotherClass pObject) {
        Contract.Requires(pObject != null);
    }
}
}

void NameList::Append(NameList *ToBeAdded)
{
	Members->Append(*ToBeAdded->Members);
	ToBeAdded->Members->RemoveAll();
}

CObArray *Members

INT_PTR Append(const CObArray& src);

/*
No need to check the reference before using it
since references cannot be null.
*/

bob16972 wrote:

the violation occurs by the caller and before the prolog of the method completes. If the caller violates the standard definition of a reference, there is nothing I can do about it. I'm not even sure there is a way to check the reference for validity since the result of the action you described would be undefined (or at least, so it seems).

void Bar(CObArray &ar)
{
	int foo = ar.GetCount();
}

void Foo(void)
{
	CObArray *bob = NULL;

	Bar(*bob);
}

paul_71 wrote:

any assumptions about what happens after you took a reference to a "null" pointer are worthless

void Bar(MyClass pParam) {
    pParam.Member(); // guaranteed NullArgument exception if null
}

void Bar(ref MyClass pParam) {
    pParam.Member(); // guaranteed NullArgument exception if null   
    pParam = new MyClass();
}

void Foo() {
    MyClass tI1;
    MyClass tI2 = null;
    MyClass tI3 = new MyClass();

    Bar(ref tI1); // error, tI1 uninitialized
    Bar(ref tI2); // ok
    Bar(ref tI3); // ok

    Bar(tI1); // warning or error, not sure
    Bar(tI2); // NullArgumentEx...
    Bar(tI3); // ok
}

bob16972 wrote:

If the caller violates the standard definition of a reference, there is nothing I can do about it. I'm not even sure there is a way to check the reference for validity since the result of the action you described would be undefined (or at least, so it seems).

StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(@"C:\FilePath\AssemblyInfo.cs");
            string contents = reader.ReadToEnd();
            reader.Close();

            string NewCopyrightText = "Yippie. All rights reserved " + DateTime.Now.Year;
            // replace assembly version
            string replacement = "[assembly: AssemblyCompany(\"" + NewCopyrightText + "\")]";
            contents = Regex.Replace(contents, @"\[assembly: AssemblyCompany\("".*""\)\]", replacement);
            
            StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(@"C:\FilePath\AssemblyInfo.cs", false);
            writer.Write(contents);
            writer.Close();