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by a1369209993 1861 days ago
> What is the meaning of use(*p) in case p is null?

It dereferences a null pointer, invoking undefined behaviour, then calls the function `use` with the resulting value.

> what should the compiler emit?

Probably something to the effect of:

  ld r0 [sp+.p]  # if p is not already in a register
  ld r0 [r0]  # *p
  jsr use
but it would be fine to emit something like:

  ld r0 [sp+.p]  # if p is not already in a register
  jz r0 .panic
  ld r0 [r0]  # *p
  jsr use
because the jz can only be taken when undefined behaviour happens.