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Using non-owned memory: It is common to use pointers to access and modify memory. If such a pointer is a null pointer, dangling pointer (pointing to memory that has already been freed), or to a memory location outside of current stack or heap bounds, it is referring to memory that is not then possessed by the program. Using such pointers is a ...
In object-oriented computer programming, a null object is an object with no referenced value or with defined neutral (null) behavior.The null object design pattern, which describes the uses of such objects and their behavior (or lack thereof), was first published as "Void Value" [1] and later in the Pattern Languages of Program Design book series as "Null Object".
Dereferencing any of these variables could cause a segmentation fault: dereferencing the null pointer generally will cause a segfault, while reading from the wild pointer may instead result in random data but no segfault, and reading from the dangling pointer may result in valid data for a while, and then random data as it is overwritten.
Common exceptions include an invalid argument (e.g. value is outside of the domain of a function), [5] an unavailable resource (like a missing file, [6] a network drive error, [7] or out-of-memory errors [8]), or that the routine has detected a normal condition that requires special handling, e.g., attention, end of file. [9]
The "sawtooth" pattern of memory utilization: the sudden drop in used memory is a candidate symptom for a memory leak. If the memory leak is in the kernel, the operating system itself will likely fail. Computers without sophisticated memory management, such as embedded systems, may also completely fail from a persistent memory leak.
Memory scrubbing consists of reading from each computer memory location, correcting bit errors (if any) with an error-correcting code , and writing the corrected data back to the same location. [ 1 ] Due to the high integration density of modern computer memory chips , the individual memory cell structures became small enough to be vulnerable ...
Using the information provided by the assertion failure (such as the location of the failure and perhaps a stack trace, or even the full program state if the environment supports core dumps or if the program is running in a debugger), the programmer can usually fix the problem. Thus assertions provide a very powerful tool in debugging.
C does not provide direct support to exception handling: it is the programmer's responsibility to prevent errors in the first place and test return values from the functions.