Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!occrsh!uokmax!rmtodd
From: rmtodd@uokmax.UUCP (Richard Michael Todd)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: MicroSoft C Ver 5.0 BUG!!
Message-ID: <984@uokmax.UUCP>
Date: 22 Dec 87 21:08:53 GMT
References: <2276@tekigm2.TEK.COM> <433@doug.UUCP>
Reply-To: rmtodd@uokmax.UUCP ()
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Lines: 27

In article <433@doug.UUCP> tim@doug.UUCP (Tim J Ihde) writes:
>In article <2276@tekigm2.TEK.COM>, marks@tekigm2.TEK.COM (Mark D. Salzman) writes:
>> The "cl" compiler crashes with the following error message:
>> run-time error R6000
>> - stack overflow
>I'm not sure I see what is happening - you state that the compiler itself
>crashes, but that it reports a run-time error?  A stack overflow complaint
The fact that a compiler crashes with "run-time error" doesn't surprise me 
at all.  After all, the compiler is itself a program, presumably written in
C; I assume Microsoft uses their own C compiler to create versions of MS C.
The run-time error presumably comes from the compiled C code that makes
up the C compiler.  Their C code can overflow its stack space just as easily
as yours can...
>and expand the stack space.  On the other hand, if the compiler
>bombs out with a complaint like that, then it not only means a bug in
>the compiler but a bug that MS did not anticipate and wasn't checking
>for!  I don't suppose your friend would have exemod'ed cl and decreased
Yep, that's probably what it means.  Unfortunately compilers are very complex
pieces of software, and you never can be sure that the thing will function
correctly under all conditions.  I myself don't use Microsoft C, but I've
found a couple of bugs that caused Aztec C v3.40 to crash.  (So far I haven't
seen 4.1 crash-yet.)  The best we can hope for is that when customers find 
the bugs that the companies do a good job of fixing them.
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Richard Todd
USSnail:820 Annie Court,Norman OK 73069
UUCP: {allegra!cbosgd|ihnp4}!occrsh!uokmax!rmtodd