Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!sco!seanf From: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Parity hardware for uninitialized variable checking? Message-ID: <3269@scolex.sco.COM> Date: 4 Sep 89 07:03:29 GMT References: <12.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us> <4322@druhi.ATT.COM> <14166@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> <28784@news.Think.COM> Reply-To: sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) Distribution: usa Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Lines: 17 In article <28784@news.Think.COM> barmar@think.COM (Barry Margolin) writes: >Runtime error detection slows down programs when done only in >software. That's why language designers would like hardware >facilities to support it. Some of us are of the opinion that hardware error detection slows things down. True, it's *possible* to design it in such a way that the slow-down is negligible (or, dream of dreams, nonexistant), but most people won't do that. Then again, some of us are of the opinion that virtual memory slows things down 8-). -- Sean Eric Fagan | "Time has little to do with infinity and jelly donuts." seanf@sco.COM | -- Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck), _Magnum, P.I._ (408) 458-1422 | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.