Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdcad!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcrware!jejones
From: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os9
Subject: Re: printf bug with C compiler...fatal runtime error!
Summary: it's a bug, but not, one would think, commonly tripped over
Keywords: printf(), %f
Message-ID: <946@mcrware.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 89 16:49:15 GMT
References: <1223@mmm.UUCP> <1225@mmm.UUCP> <2820@osiris.UUCP>
Reply-To: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Des Moines, Iowa
Lines: 12

In article <2820@osiris.UUCP> consult@osiris.UUCP
(Unix Consultation Mailbox (Phil)) writes:
>...why is this "bug" a problem?  Is the bit pattern created by
>poking 0x6666 into the middle of (double) 123.45 a legitimate double?

Yes, it is; Mr. Manning really did find a bug.  The value resulting
from the poke is somewhere around 1.6e180.  While one can suspect that
there are better formats to use to print numbers of that magnitude than
%f, it should neverthelesss be possible to do so, and as Manning quotes
Dave West as saying, it will be possible to do so in the future.

	James Jones