Re: On Undefined Behavior

From	Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: On Undefined Behavior
Date	2026-01-09 20:14 +0000
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<20260109120633.815@kylheku.com> (permalink)
References	<10j6qdt$3q9n4$1@dont-email.me> <86ms2nm89u.fsf@linuxsc.com> <20260109143647.0000372d@yahoo.com>

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On 2026-01-09, Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:42:53 -0800
> Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> wrote:
>
>> highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > While I consider myself reasonably good as C programmer, I still
>> > have difficulties in understanding undefined behavior.
>> > I wonder if anyone in this NG could help me.
>> >
>> > Let's take an example.  There's plenty here:
>> > https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/language/behavior.html
>> > So let's focus on https://godbolt.org/z/48bn19Tsb
>> >
>> > For the lazy, I report it here:
>> >
>> >   int table[4] = {0};
>> >   int exists_in_table(int v)
>> >   {
>> >       // return true in one of the first 4 iterations
>> >       // or UB due to out-of-bounds access
>> >       for (int i = 0; i <= 4; i++) {
>> >           if (table[i] == v) return 1;
>> >       }
>> >       return 0;
>> >   }
>> >
>> > This is compiled (with no warning whatsoever) into:
>> >
>> >   exists_in_table:
>> >           mov     eax, 1
>> >           ret
>> >   table:
>> >           .zero   16
>> >
>> >
>> > Well, this is *obviously* wrong.  And sure, so is the original code,
>> > but I find it hard to think that the compiler isn't able to notice
>> > it, given that it is even "exploiting" it to produce very efficient
>> > code.
>> >
>> > I understand the formalism:  the resulting assembly is formally
>> > "correct", in that UB implies that anything can happen.
>> > Yet I can't think of any situation where the resulting assembly
>> > could be considered sensible.  The compiled function will
>> > basically return 1 for any input, and the final program will be
>> > buggy.
>> >
>> > Wouldn't it be more sensible to have a compilation error, or
>> > at least a warning?  The compiler will be happy even with -Wall
>> > -Wextra -Werror.
>> >
>> > There's plenty of documentation, articles and presentations that
>> > explain how this can make very efficient code... but nothing
>> > will answer this question:  do I really want to be efficiently
>> > wrong?
>> >
>> > I mean, yes I would find the problem, thanks to my 100% coverage
>> > unit testing, but couldn't the compiler give me a hint?
>> >
>> > Could someone drive me into this reasoning?  I know there is a lot
>> > of thinking behind it, yet everything seems to me very incorrect!
>> > I'm in deep cognitive dissonance here! :)  Help!  
>> 
>> The important thing to realize is that the fundamental issue here
>> is not a technical question but a social question.  In effect what
>> you are asking is "why doesn't gcc (or clang, or whatever) do what
>> I want or expect?".  The answer is different people want or expect
>> different things.  For some people the behavior described is
>> egregiously wrong and must be corrected immediately.  For other
>> people the compiler is acting just as they think it should,
>> nothing to see here, just fix the code and move on to the next
>> bug.  Different people have different priorities.
>>
>
> I have hard time imagining sort of people that would have objections in
> case compiler generates the same code as today, but issues diagnostic.

If false positives occur for the diagnostic frequently, there
will be legitimate complaint.

If there is only a simple switch for it, it will get turned off
and then it no longer serves its purpose of catching errors.

There are all kinds of optimizations compilers commonly do that could
also be erroneous situations. For instance, eliminating dead code.

  // code portable among several types of systems:

  switch (sizeof var) {
  case 2: ...
  case 4: ...
  case 8: ...
  }

sizeof var is a compile time constant expected to be 2, 4 or 8 bytes.
The other cases are unreachable code.

Suppose every time the compiler eliminates unreachable code, it
issues a diagnostic "foo.c:42: 3 lines of unreachable code removed".

That would be annoying when the programmer knows about dead code
elimination and is counting on it.

We also have to consider that not all code is written directly by hand.

Code generation techniques (including macros) can produce "weird" code
in some of their corner cases. The code is correct, and it would take
more complexity to identify those cases and generate more idiomatic
code; it is left to the compiler to clean up.

-- 
TXR Programming Language: http://nongnu.org/txr
Cygnal: Cygwin Native Application Library: http://kylheku.com/cygnal
Mastodon: @Kazinator@mstdn.ca

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On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-01 22:54 +0100
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-02 00:26 +0200
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-01 23:57 +0100
    Re: On Undefined Behavior Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com> - 2026-01-02 22:56 +0000
      Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-03 20:48 +0200
      Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-04 14:38 +0100
        Re: On Undefined Behaviour Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-04 21:42 +0000
          Re: On Undefined Behaviour candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> - 2026-01-07 06:40 +0000
        Re: On Undefined Behavior James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-04 16:58 -0500
          Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-05 08:49 +0100
  Re: On Undefined Behavior James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-01 17:49 -0500
  Re: On Undefined Behavior antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-01-02 05:53 +0000
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-02 17:38 +0100
      Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-03 13:30 +0100
  Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-02 10:31 +0100
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-02 17:51 +0100
      Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-03 13:42 +0100
        Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-03 14:42 +0100
          Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-03 17:51 +0100
            Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-04 00:20 +0100
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com> - 2026-01-02 22:52 +0000
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-03 23:47 +0100
      Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-04 12:58 +0100
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-03 07:53 -0800
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-04 00:15 +0100
      NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-04 00:25 +0100
        Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-03 18:59 -0500
          Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-01-04 15:51 +0000
            Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-05 08:55 +0100
        Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-03 17:24 -0800
          Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-04 02:19 +0000
            Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-03 21:31 -0500
              Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-04 04:52 +0000
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-04 13:00 -0500
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-04 21:22 +0000
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-04 16:53 -0500
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-05 00:16 +0000
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-05 06:41 -0500
                Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-05 09:07 +0100
            Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-01-04 15:56 +0000
          Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-03 18:44 -0800
        Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-04 17:16 +0100
          Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-01-06 13:08 +0000
            Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-06 21:59 +0000
            Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-07 20:48 -0800
              Re: NULL dereference in embedded [was: On Undefined Behavior] Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-08 23:56 +0000
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-01-03 23:14 +0000
  Re: On Undefined Behavior "Paul J. Lucas" <paul@lucasmail.org> - 2026-01-03 17:10 -0800
    Re: On Undefined Behavior highcrew <high.crew3868@fastmail.com> - 2026-01-04 12:51 +0100
      Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-05 15:39 +0100
        Re: On Undefined Behavior "Paul J. Lucas" <paul@lucasmail.org> - 2026-01-06 18:08 -0800
          Re: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-07 11:25 +0100
          Re: On Undefined Behavior James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-07 06:31 -0500
          Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-07 14:10 +0200
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-01-09 01:42 -0800
    Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-09 14:36 +0200
      Re: On Undefined Behavior Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com> - 2026-01-09 20:14 +0000
        Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-10 18:19 +0200
        Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-10 18:41 +0200
          Re: On Undefined Behavior Kaz Kylheku <046-301-5902@kylheku.com> - 2026-01-13 23:31 +0000
            Re: On Undefined Behavior antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-01-14 03:57 +0000
            Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-14 10:47 +0200
            Re: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-14 14:49 +0000
        Re: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-10 17:08 +0000
      Re: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-01-11 11:48 -0800
        Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-11 22:52 +0200
          Re: On Undefined Behavior Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-01-11 22:53 -0800
            Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-12 11:44 +0200
              Re: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-12 20:29 -0500
          Re: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-02-03 05:29 -0800
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-09 15:54 +0200
    Re: On Undefined Behavior wij <wyniijj5@gmail.com> - 2026-01-10 00:08 +0800
  UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-12 16:28 +0200
    Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-01-12 15:58 +0000
      Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-12 20:08 +0200
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-01-12 20:02 +0000
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-12 21:09 -0500
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-13 11:31 +0200
              Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 22:21 -0500
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 22:19 -0500
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-14 09:35 +0100
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior antispam@fricas.org (Waldek Hebisch) - 2026-01-14 17:23 +0000
              Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-01-14 12:53 -0800
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-01-14 14:43 -0800
              Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-15 11:45 +0100
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-15 06:16 -0500
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-01-15 04:04 -0800
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-15 13:56 +0100
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-02-03 05:34 -0800
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-01-15 15:10 +0000
                Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-15 16:23 +0100
      Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-13 21:54 +0000
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 21:58 -0500
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-01-13 22:02 -0800
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-14 14:24 +0000
              Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-14 16:48 +0200
    Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-12 08:03 -0800
      Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-12 19:36 +0200
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-01-12 12:03 -0800
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-12 22:41 +0200
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2026-01-13 09:12 +0100
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior pa@see.signature.invalid (Pierre Asselin) - 2026-01-13 20:19 +0000
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 22:20 -0500
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-02-03 21:53 -0800
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-13 23:53 +0000
            Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-14 08:06 +0000
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Andrey Tarasevich <noone@noone.net> - 2026-01-13 08:11 -0800
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 22:10 -0500
          Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2026-03-01 22:53 -0800
        Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-13 22:20 -0500
    Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior "James Russell Kuyper Jr." <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2026-01-12 20:35 -0500
      Re: UB or not UB? was: On Undefined Behavior Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-01-13 11:07 +0200
  Re: On Undefined Behavior Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-01-13 20:37 +0000

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