Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!seismo!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Why Amiga Gurus????
Message-ID: <18372@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 31 Jan 91 17:26:28 GMT
References: <1991Jan31.035105.14277@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 36

In article <1991Jan31.035105.14277@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> nnn@po.CWRU.Edu (Nik N. Nik Mahdi) writes:

>   You know, I have been wondering about my Amiga, which sometimes
>gurus when I run certain softwares. I wonder what's wrong with
>it. Is it the computer system, or is it the software that causes
>it to Guru? 

Unless you have hardware problems, these crashes are caused by bugs in your
application programs.

>Why doesn't it happen to other computer systems, like IBM or Macintosh 
>(sometimes I got "System Error" on Mac, is it the same as the "Guru 
>Meditation" on Amiga?).

Well, it does happen on other system.  Only, many other systems aren't robust
enough to realize that a program has done something wrong, so they either
keep going, or simply freeze up.  From my experience, the "System Error" on
the Mac is more like the "System Error -- Task Held" response from the Amiga;
the OS has found a program doing something wrong, but it wasn't a catastrophe.
When a severe bug hits on the Mac, it usually just freezes up.  On the Amiga,
a severe bug usually causes a GURU (or SYSTEM ERROR in 2.0) type error message.

>Thus, can someone explain this to me. Why the software developer
>(if it is their fault!) didn't do anything to avoid this?

Generally the software developer never found the problem.  Occasionally, such
bugs are dependent on aspects of different systems -- what kind of CPU, memory,
etc. you're using.  Of course, at other times, you find that some developers
are simply too lazy or rush to market too fast to do proper testing.



-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
	"What works for me might work for you"	-Jimmy Buffett