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    SubjectRe: Style question: Should one check for NULL pointers?
    Hua Zhong wrote:

    > Not always true. In some cases you know how to handle: just return
    > without doing anyting.

    That is NOT an error condition - the API specifically allows NULL to be
    passed in, and specifically states that no action will be taken in that
    case.

    But consider the following code:

    sscanf(0,0);


    That IS an error condition - both the string to scan and the format
    string are NULL. In this case sscanf should return EITHER 0 (no items
    matched) or better still -1 (error).

    As others have said - ideally, if you have any doubt about a new
    function you are writing being able to succeed, you should write it to
    return a success report.

    However, my whole point was that simply checking for null and doing
    nothing when null was not a valid value was violating the rule of "don't
    check if you don't know how to handle".

    -
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