Take the 2-minute tour ×  Following is the most popular
implementation of strcpy in traditional systems. Why dest and
src are not checked for NULL in the start? I heard once that in
old days the memory was limited so short code was always
preferred. Will you implement strcpy and other similar functions
with NULL pointer checks at the start now days? Why not?
char *save = dest;    return save; share|improve this question
It may be safer in general. But that also means experienced
developers have to pay the cost of safety (that they do not
need) just so that inexperienced developers do not snarf up. – 
Loki Astari Sep 1 '10 at 9:09 Experienced developers have to pay
the cost of safety (that they do not think they need)... (FTFY).
–  Brian Hooper Sep 1 '10 at 10:21 @Brian Hooper - no, if you're
using C, you should know exactly what you need. My embedded code
never, ever needs NULL checks on strcpy because all buffers are
statically allocated and used directly. There is absolutely no
way I will ever pass NULL