bitcoin-dev

Great Consensus Cleanup Revival

Great Consensus Cleanup Revival

Original Postby Antoine Riard

Posted on: July 4, 2024 13:20 UTC

The discussion revolves around the correct implementation and understanding of a function intended for use with single-linked lists.

It appears there's a critical evaluation of how elements are unlinked and potentially lead to memory leaks when searching for a match within the list. The specific concern is about the function ft_list_find, which is designed to iterate through a linked list to find an element that matches a given criterion. The correct usage involves employing a pointer to a pointer, allowing the function to modify the starting point of the list (start_list) directly. When a match is found, it's crucial that only the *start_list pointer is updated to point to the next element, without altering the original structure of the list. This method prevents running the loop unnecessarily if the pointer is initially set to the last item of the list, which aligns with expected behavior.

Furthermore, an example is provided to clarify the implementation, suggesting a definition for a list structure (pointer_t). This structure includes a void *content, a size_t content_size, and a pointer to the next element, emphasizing the importance of clear type definitions in managing such data structures efficiently.

In addition to discussing linked list management, there's an aside regarding programming language choices for system-level operations, particularly in the context of the libbitcoin project. It mentions the project's preference for C due to its direct memory management capabilities despite its lack of memory safety features. This choice underlines a trade-off between performance optimization and security considerations, illustrating why some developers might prefer languages like C++ or Rust for their balance of efficiency and safer memory handling. Despite not delving into details, the message hints at ongoing discussions about caching strategies and identity verification within development projects, indicating a broader conversation about best practices in software design and implementation.