Array index out of bound in C

Question

Why does C differentiates in case of array index out of bound

#include 
int main()
{
    int a[10];
    a[3]=4;
    a[11]=3;//doe         


        

Answer 1

As I understand the question and comments, you understand why bad things can happen when you access memory out of bounds, but you're wondering why your particular compiler didn't warn you.

Compilers are allowed to warn you, and many do at the highest warning levels. However the standard is written to allow people to run compilers for all sorts of devices, and compilers with all sorts of features so the standard requires the least it can while guaranteeing people can do useful work.

There are a few times the standard requires that a certain coding style will generate a diagnostic. There are several other times where the standard does not require a diagnostic. Even when a diagnostic is required I'm not aware of any place where the standard says what the exact wording should be.

But you're not completely out in the cold here. If your compiler doesn't warn you, Lint may. Additionally, there are a number of tools to detect such problems (at run time) for arrays on the heap, one of the more famous being Electric Fence (or DUMA). But even Electric Fence doesn't guarantee it will catch all overrun errors.