Being safe on the internet (was Re: Here we go again - ISP DPI, but is it interception?)

[Ian Mason]

On 7 Aug 2010, at 14:50, M J D Brown wrote:

>
> One method that has its adherents is to employ a widely-used language
> and compiler (on the basis that compiler faults may well have been
> exposed in the course of widespread use),

About 5 years ago I hit a bug in the gcc C compiler that mis-codes  
certain 64 bit arithmetic operations when compiling in 32 bit mode  
(i.e. 'long long int' handling where 'long int' is 32 bits), When  
compiling the latest Asterisk beta the other day I hit it again. I  
can't think of a more widely distributed and used C compiler.

Talking of safe languages no one has mentioned my old personal  
favourite Algol 68. it was even used as the systems programming  
language for a capability architecture processor and OS by Maurice  
Wilkes, the late Roger Needham, and others. Cue Dr. Gladman...