Let's not vague post on HN. What's the problem with the above?
The problem is the code unconditionally dereferences the pointer, which would be UB if it was a null pointer. This means it is legal to optimize out any code paths that rely on this, even if they occur earlier in program order.
The problem is the code unconditionally dereferences the pointer, which would be UB if it was a null pointer. This means it is legal to optimize out any code paths that rely on this, even if they occur earlier in program order.