Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: gcc vs. commercial C compiler (Sun'
Message-ID: <1989Feb8.222348.26989@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <286@proton.UUCP> <225800115@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 89 22:23:48 GMT

In article <225800115@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>... I would see to it, were I so rash as to be in such a business,
>that, among other tests, there would be a group whose job it would be
>to examine the assembler output of the compiler to see that the compiler
>did its job right. I would attempt to have a group look at the output
>directly, without recourse to the source code, to try to figure out
>what it would do...

This sort of thing is not at all unknown in the avionics world, although
it is not universal.  Such groups normally work from the binary, by the
way, so as to be absolutely sure that they are really looking at the code
that will be executed.  Assemblers aren't necessarily trustworthy either.
-- 
Allegedly heard aboard Mir: "A |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
toast to comrade Van Allen!!"  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu