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Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool

From jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool
Date 2012-03-23 21:45 +0100
Organization lccwin
Message-ID <jkinde$or2$1@speranza.aioe.org> (permalink)
References <jki5iu$jea$1@dont-email.me>

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Le 23/03/12 16:40, mathog a écrit :
> I just found out the hard way that the C99 "bool" type can result in
> some very hard to diagnose bugs. This problem came up in the context of
> a field in a structure which had been declared in a file "long ago and
> far away" and which I had not seen. From the usage in the file where the
> problem was found it looked like this value was an int, but it was a
> bool. As it turns out at least the gcc compiler (4.4.1) gives no
> warnings when bools are used in ways that are "int" like but make little
> or no sense for a bool.
>
> The rest of them make little or no sense for an operation on a bool, yet
> the compiler gives not a hint of a problem. For instance, there is no
> point, ever, in incrementing a bool by 2 since the most it can change is
> by 1.

I think you have an important point here. Bool is a logical value, not 
an arithmetic or floating point value. There is no sense in taking the 
square root of a bool, nor there is any sense in dividing a bool by any
integer: the result is always zero unless the other number is 1.

Treating boolean variables as integers is an error, and I think the 
standard should disallow arithmetic with booleans...

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c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool mathog <dmathog@gmail.com> - 2012-03-23 08:40 -0700
  Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-03-23 12:07 -0400
  Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-03-23 21:45 +0100
    Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-03-23 17:17 -0500
      Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-03-23 23:29 +0100
        Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-03-24 11:48 +1300
          Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-03-24 23:47 +0100
            Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2012-03-25 09:05 +0000
              Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-03-25 11:30 +0100
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-03-25 21:05 +0100
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool Lowell Gilbert <lgusenet@be-well.ilk.org> - 2012-03-25 16:15 -0400
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-03-25 22:14 +0100
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied   to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-03-25 23:46 -0400
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-03-26 12:05 +0100
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Lowell Gilbert <lgusenet@be-well.ilk.org> - 2012-03-26 15:22 -0400
              Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-03-25 11:44 +0100
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2012-03-25 13:06 +0100
            Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2012-03-27 11:12 -0700
        Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-03-24 01:15 -0500
          Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-03-24 23:29 +0100
    Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool mathog <dmathog@gmail.com> - 2012-03-27 09:53 -0700
      Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-03-27 11:07 -0700
      Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-03-27 14:16 -0400
      Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-04-26 07:57 -0400
        Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool jacob navia <jacob@spamsink.net> - 2012-04-26 14:08 +0200
        Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-04-26 09:09 -0400
          Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-04-26 21:29 -0400
            Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-04-26 21:58 -0400
              Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-04-26 22:32 -0400
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-04-27 06:31 -0400
                Re: c99 and the lack of warnings when int operations are applied to a bool ImpalerCore <jadill33@gmail.com> - 2012-04-27 08:31 -0700

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