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From: gl8f@astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: The worst compiler in the whole wide world
Message-ID: <1990Jul18.002117.1288@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: 18 Jul 90 00:21:17 GMT
References: <2330.26922b0b@csc.anu.oz> <16521@windy.dsir.govt.nz> <2107@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
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Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia
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In article <2107@vela.acs.oakland.edu> bbesler@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Brent Besler) writes:

>I have done alot of Fortran programming work with Silicon Graphics(a MIPS
>RSIC chip) based machine.  On both a Dec Ultrix machine like the 3100 or
>5820 and the SG machines many code will mysteriously start working if
>you compile them with the -static option.  

This isn't mysterious at all, it means you have bugs. Two common ways
to trigger this are to assume local variables are zero without
initializing them, and to assume local variables keep their values
across different calls without having a SAVE statement.

A program that runs on some machines isn't necessarily a correct
program.

--
"Perhaps I'm commenting a bit cynically, but I think I'm qualified to."
                                              - Dan Bernstein