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Comment by CamperBob2 | Hacker News Reader

    void CopyString(char *From, char *To)
    {
        /* Fill this in */
    }

The only correct answer to this interview question is "No."

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Well in an interview I guess something like "Of course we shouldn't allow C-strings in general outside of syscalls and argv, but for the purpose of the exercise...." And now you've shown that you know what you're talking about and that you won't be difficult to work with.

I don't think it was clear in 1994 that not passing the size of a string was a sin

Oh 100%, I was responding to the parent who's response was 'No'. Even if you have 100% ban on strcpy and z-strings you're forced to use them in certain cases (like argv), and I was pointing out that sometimes we engage with certain conceits in a job interview, and by refusing to engage with it you're giving out a signal that you'll be difficult to work with

/* YOLO */

while (*to++ = *from++) ;

Syntax error: variable "to" not found

Upper case is for compile-time constants. I couldn't make myself do it.

I see someone has read K&R.

Thought the same. Reckless today, literally standard back then.

Hey, in 2026 strcpy is still part of the C standard library (much to the chagrin of anyone security conscious).

The key point (which I believe static analysers these days can easily check for) is to check the sizes of the source and destination.

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