Subject: Re: Paul Graham describes his new Lisp dialect, "Arc"
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 06:03:01 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3216088979694745@naggum.net>

* Ed L Cashin
| If they can change binaries that are in your path, then your system is
| toast anyway.  

  Huh?  Are you guys for real?

  Systems are upgraded by their system administrator, new software packages
  are installed by the system administrator, sanctioned or even requested
  by their owners and/or users.  There is no security breech here at all!
  It is the _normal_ operation that is a threat to the stupid design to
  conflate directory names with executable names.

  No wonder people design software with built-in security flaws when you
  guys cannot even read a description of the problem.

| The main problem I see with the feature is that you might name a
| directory something like "reboot" or some other no-argument command that
| does something you don't want.

  Since I already covered this case (sans examples, because examples cause
  even worse reading comprehension), you are just annoying me with Dylan-
  freak-like reading comprehension problems, right?

///
-- 
  The past is not more important than the future, despite what your culture
  has taught you.  Your future observations, conclusions, and beliefs are
  more important to you than those in your past ever will be.  The world is
  changing so fast the balance between the past and the future has shifted.