Symmetry
After using the milk, you:
a) return the carton to where you found it in the fridge
b) return the carton to any free space in the fridge
c) leave the carton on the kitchen table
It doesn't matter that you know how to reverse a linked list; any answer other than "a" suggests you aren't a very good programmer.
Details matter, and symmetry helps you manage them. Return the milk to where you found it. Close files you have opened. Free memory you have allocated.
During a talk about Java, memory management, and garbage collection, one speaker (I can't recall his name) explained why Java wouldn't be suitable for embedded systems. Feigning a heart attack, he clutched his chest and collapsed onto the podium. Moments later, he raised his hand, saying "I'm okay, I'm okay. It's just my pacemaker doing garbage collection."
C has no such limitation, and simply stated, for every malloc(), there should be a free(). There are situations though, tha…
a) return the carton to where you found it in the fridge
b) return the carton to any free space in the fridge
c) leave the carton on the kitchen table
It doesn't matter that you know how to reverse a linked list; any answer other than "a" suggests you aren't a very good programmer.
Details matter, and symmetry helps you manage them. Return the milk to where you found it. Close files you have opened. Free memory you have allocated.
During a talk about Java, memory management, and garbage collection, one speaker (I can't recall his name) explained why Java wouldn't be suitable for embedded systems. Feigning a heart attack, he clutched his chest and collapsed onto the podium. Moments later, he raised his hand, saying "I'm okay, I'm okay. It's just my pacemaker doing garbage collection."
C has no such limitation, and simply stated, for every malloc(), there should be a free(). There are situations though, tha…
