Newsgroup: comp.risks

RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest  Saturday 1 May 1999  Volume 20 : Issue 36

   FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
   ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator

***** See last item for further information, disclaimers, caveats, etc. *****
This issue is archived at <URL:http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/20.36.html>
and at ftp.sri.com/risks/ .

  Contents:
Seagulls speak English: Aldershot (John Haseler)
Yet another satellite hits the dust (Joan L. Grove Brewer)
Titan 4B places military satellite in improper orbit (PGN)
No Bell Tolls for thee (Jeremy Ardley)
Risks of "smart" MS Internet apps (Andrew Shieh)
Re: Dodgy automatic address book resolution (Larry Pryluck)
MS-Outlook 98 risk of mislaying messages in Outlook today (Jahn Rentmeister)
Bloatware and the Windows API (Diomidis Spinellis)
Re: The Bloatware Debate (Henry Baker)
Bloatware and Nightlight Saving (R.A. Downes)
Update on DejaNews click-through monitoring (Richard M. Smith)
Re: WC Watch Company site ... (David B. Horvath)
Re: Risks of misaddressed mail (Frederick M Avolio)
REVIEW: "A Guide to Virtual Private Networks", Martin W. Murhamm (Rob Slade)
CONF: 12th Software Quality Week (Software Research)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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Date: Sat, 01 May 1999 15:19:23 +0300
From: Diomidis Spinellis <dspin@aegean.gr>
Subject: Bloatware and the Windows API

A number of contributors to previous digests have stressed the risks
associated with increasingly bloated software applications.  I believe that
a part to the complexity and unreliability of many modern software
applications can be attributed to their use of the Windows Application
Programming Interface (API).

I recently wanted to read - using C code - the name of the file pointed by a
Windows shortcut: a shell-level equivalent of the Unix symbolic link.  Unix
symbolic links can be read by using readlink(2) - a simple three argument
system call.  The code I had to write to examine the Windows shortcut
spanned over 100 lines of C and included initialisation of the COM
(component-object model) library, checking for Unicode filenames, getting
pointers to two COM interfaces, and releasing all the associated handles at
the end.  Seven of the API functions could return with an error which had to
be checked.  I am sure other readers can point to other similar examples.

The architecture, interface, and functionality of the Windows API make it
difficult to master and use effectively, and contribute negatively to the
safety, robustness, and portability of the applications developed under it.
The API is structured around a large and constantly evolving set of
functions and is based on a problematic shared library implementation (the
infamous Dynamic Link Libraries - DDLs). The provided interfaces are
complicated, non-orthogonal, abuse the type system, cause name-space
pollution, and use inconsistent naming conventions. In addition, the
functionality of the interface suffers from inconsistency, incompleteness,
and inadequate documentation [1].

I foresee that problems associated with the use or misuse of the Windows
API will provide material for many future RISKS digests.

[1] Diomidis Spinellis. A critique of the Windows application programming
interface. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 20:1-8, November 1998.
http://kerkis.math.aegean.gr/~dspin/pubs/jrnl/1997-CSI-WinApi/html/win.html

Diomidis Spinellis, University of the Aegean

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End of RISKS-FORUM Digest 20.36 
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