Do I need to check for NULL pointers?

2 pointscassepipe2 comments

I am really confused right now, I have read this :

https://medium.com/pvs-studio/why-it-is-important-to-check-what-the-malloc-function-returned-ba39f3d13a83

Although I don't like the weird tone, it gives a good enough reason to check for NULL pointers but I also read that :

https://membarrier.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/stop-checking-for-null-pointers/

Hard to make up my mind. Help.

Those posts are not conflicting. The first one is about checking the result of malloc, the second one about checking a pointer argument to your own function. They're both correct.

The best answer is 'Yes'.

But in practical terms, I suppose it depends on whether you need that pointer to be NOT-NULL. If you're never ever going to use that pointer, you probably will get away with it.

But it's also a bit like 'If you never lie, you don't need a good memory'. If you always test for NULL, it's never going to blow up in your face when you least expect it.

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