Valgrind and such

I am really pleased with the functionality of Valgrind " Val grinned" ( some Nordic thing I think ) and it is very similar to a utility that I wrote in the 80's for analyzing software by emulation. It is an extremely effective tool and certainly should be a weapon in every good programmer's arsenal.

I was testing with a program that I modified from source that was made by Brian Paul who is certainly an extremely _talented ⁺⁴ ( to the 4th power :) ) programmer. I found that there was a single instance of using a variable without initialization and I would say this is where some of the non-determinant behavior in some people's software derives from. It is a program made in 1997 and so I can see that other things have changed and the code could have been completely clean when it was made. It is the fact that library code can change and that is why I like to keep my tools sharp and qualify ever aspect of every piece of code I make with changes in any possible configuration.

Today I am focusing on library functions. Duplication of function and changes that affect multiple packages are two of the areas that I am concerned about. I also have a new code analysis tool that I am going to test. In a lot of ways I am doing catch up work for those many years that I wasted developing utility for a closed source environment controlled by a monopoly and as such, the tools are obsoleted by the system on purpose to restrict competition.

On a totally unrelated issue, immortality and possibility. The biggest problem with the idea of immortality is the fact that without advancement and a protection from that which comes, it is not possible. Immortality comes at the cost of continual advancement and it is not solely a product of the tools that can maintain a consistent repeating stability. It is an odd thing that is considered by some and I wonder what rationality drives them to the choices that they make. Many people seek to change their appearance and may even consider selecting and changing their genetics to conform to a more appealing or vogue or survivable trait. It seems that they seek something with great fervor and effort which is nothingness.