Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ogicse!decwrl!wuarchive!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!mintaka!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!dkuug!iesd!kjeld
From: kjeld@iesd.auc.dk (Kjeld Flarup)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: problems/risks due to programming language, stories requested
Keywords: risk, programming language, AT&T breakdown
Message-ID: <1990Feb22.160509.8093@iesd.auc.dk>
Date: 22 Feb 90 16:05:09 GMT
References: <9790@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: kjeld@iesd.auc.dk (Kjeld Flarup)
Organization: Mathematics & Computer Science, University of Aalborg
Lines: 23

In article <9790@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> gb@cs.purdue.EDU (Gerald Baumgartner) writes:
>| | This is the bug that cause the AT&T breakdown
>| | the other day (no, it wasn't an MCI virus):
>| | 
>| | In the switching software (written in C), there was a long
>| | "do . . . while" construct, which contained
>| |    a "switch" statement, which contained 
>| |       an "if" clause, which contained a
>| |          "break," which was intended for
>| |       the "if" clause, but instead broke from
>| |    the "switch" statement.

>	Again it looks like this bug wouldn't have occurred in another
>	programming language.

Is the intent of using better programming languages to avoid bad
programmers. A normal thinking C programmer would not use a break out
of an if statement. Sure you get out of the if statement, but according
my c compiler the break statement searches back to a switch, while or for
statement. Besides breaking out of an if statement doesn't make sence.
-- 
*     I am several thousand pages behind my reading schedule.    *
Kjeld Flarup Christensen                         kjeld@iesd.auc.dk