Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!linus!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: optimizing assert
Message-ID: <2662@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: 19 Jan 88 00:51:20 GMT
References: <11295@brl-adm.ARPA> <2300@haddock.ISC.COM>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT.
Lines: 16

In article <2300@haddock.ISC.COM> karl@haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer) writes:
>If the expression has side effects, I think it's clear that the user does want
>them to be evaluated.   If the expression has no side effects, the compiler is
>free to generate zero instructions.

This is fine as long as the assert expression calls no functions.  But
unless you in an environment which permits global optimization, which most
of us aren't, the compiler will have to make any function calls which are
used in the expression.

This would include, for example, assert(pow(x, 2) < y) -- to touch on
another recent topic of discussion.
-- 

Frank Adams                           ihnp4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Ashton-Tate          52 Oakland Ave North         E. Hartford, CT 06108