[pjmlp]

Bounds checking exists at very least since JOVIAL in 1958, or if you consider FORTRAN compilers have add an option for bounds checking for quite some time, 1957.

Here is my favourite quote, every time we discuss bounds checking.

"A consequence of this principle is that every occurrence of every subscript of every subscripted variable was on every occasion checked at run time against both the upper and the lower declared bounds of the array. Many years later we asked our customers whether they wished us to provide an option to switch off these checks in the interests of efficiency on production runs. Unanimously, they urged us not to--they already knew how frequently subscript errors occur on production runs where failure to detect them could be disastrous. I note with fear and horror that even in 1980 language designers and users have not learned this lesson. In any respectable branch of engineering, failure to observe such elementary precautions would have long been against the law."

-- C.A.R Hoare's "The 1980 ACM Turing Award Lecture"

Guess what programming language he is referring to by "1980 language designers and users have not learned this lesson".