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Groups > comp.lang.c > #98316

Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C"

From David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C"
Date 2016-12-07 23:45 +0100
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <o2a3bg$cf6$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (9 earlier) <o27id0$ht9$1@dont-email.me> <87y3zsfnep.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <o28p9e$lhj$2@dont-email.me> <87fum0ezb6.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <o28u0n$4v8$2@dont-email.me>

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On 07/12/16 13:08, Richard Heathfield wrote:
> On 07/12/16 11:47, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>> jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> writes:
>>
>>> Le 07/12/2016 à 04:06, Ben Bacarisse a écrit :
>>>> These instructions raise an exception when overflow occurs.  No doubt
>>>> one could harness that to provide what looks like an overflow flag but
>>>> it would not be as simple as returning a bit from some status register.
>>>
>>> So what?
>>> Any overflow trap sets that flag!
>>
>> What flag?
>>
>>> And it would be simpler than what I have to generate for the x86. In
>>> the x86 I have to generate the test and the jump. Using the dec alpha
>>> I wouldn't have to generate anything, just set the overflow signal to
>>> a function that does the appropiate thing.
>>
>> Yes, my remark was about the machine having an overflow flag.  But I'm
>> still confused about what you are proposing.  For a compiler writer to
>> detect overflow is one thing, but making that facility useful to
>> programmers is another.  I would like to know what you are proposing.
>>
>> I've seen a lot of different approaches and I'm not much of a fan of any
>> of them.  I get the feeling there is probably a useful way to do this
>> but I'm not sure I know what it is.
>>
>> I lean towards a construct that lets the programmer delineate the code
>> for which overflow checking matters:
>>
>>   if (_Overflow(c += a*b)) ... handle overflow ...
>>
>> Being a high-level sort of person I'd want this to propagate into
>> function calls which might mean that the compiler needs to generate both
>> a checked and an unchecked version of each function if there is some
>> cost to the checking:
>>
>>   if (_Overflow(f(g()))) ...
>>
>> f and g called outside of an _Overflow(...) expression should not pay
>> any price.  This, though, goes wrong with functions called through a
>> pointer object.
>>
>> What mechanisms have people used before, and what was good/bad about it?
>>
>>> All the code I need to generate for doing the same thing would be
>>> superfluous.
>>>
>>> I repeat: There is NO MACHINE that hasn't a way for testing overflow,
>>> even if all regulars here say the contrary.
>>
>> Has anyone said that?
>
> I said that C doesn't require the CPU to have an overflow flag. That is
> not the same as claiming that there is a machine that doesn't have one.
>

MIPS and RISC-V do not have overflow flags.  They /do/ have methods for 
checking for overflow, but they don't use flags.

In particular, MIPS has an "add" instruction that causes a trap or 
processor exception on overflow, which is a pretty drastic action.  In 
order to detect overflow at runtime without using exceptions, you need 
quite complex code:

(This example is taken off a webpage, and I haven't tested it.  But it 
looks okay, based on my very limited knowledge of MIPS assembly)

#addition...
addu $t0, $t1, $t2 # caution, don't trap!
xor  $t3, $t1, $t2 # if signs differ $t3 < 0
slt  $t3, $t3, $zero
bne $t3, $zero, No_overflow #signs differ
xor $t3,$t0,$t1 # signs match, check result
slt $t3,$t3,$zero #sum sign different
bne $t3,$zero, Overflow..


Basically, MIPS (and RISC-V, and Alpha) designers realised that people 
are very rarely actually interested in checking for overflow.  It is 
usually far easier to use types that are big enough to work without 
overflow.  So rather than having a flags register, which is complicated 
and a bottleneck in a superscaler pipelined architecture, they simply 
didn't bother with overflow in most cases - and added a few "kill the 
program on error" trap on overflow instructions.



>> Someone may have done but I don't recall any (let
>> alone all) regular poster dong so.
>
> Nor do I.
>
>> In fact you are a regular who says the opposite.
>
> I think Jacob may not understand what "regular" means. Jacob, a
> "regular" is someone who posts many articles over a lengthy period of
> time. That includes you, Jacob. You /are/ a regular.
>

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Thread

"Let’s Stop Bashing C" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2016-12-05 19:57 -0600
  Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 02:34 +0000
    Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-06 00:13 -0600
      Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-06 23:15 +0000
        Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-06 21:16 -0600
    Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 11:54 +0000
    Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-06 12:07 +0000
      Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 12:25 +0000
        Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-06 14:07 +0100
          Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 13:40 +0000
        Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-06 19:40 +0100
          Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2016-12-06 13:55 -0500
            Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 19:13 +0000
              Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-06 11:51 -0800
                Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-06 12:22 -0800
            Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-06 20:16 +0100
            Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-06 11:20 -0800
              Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-06 22:15 +0100
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2016-12-06 16:49 -0500
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-06 14:24 -0800
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 00:07 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-07 22:04 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 23:44 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-07 23:02 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-07 15:28 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-08 21:36 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 12:56 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-08 23:03 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 14:21 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-08 23:36 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-08 21:59 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-08 23:25 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 14:34 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-08 23:59 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details Melzzzzz <mel@zzzzz.com> - 2016-12-09 00:18 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> - 2016-12-09 00:06 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2016-12-09 11:35 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-09 12:12 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-09 13:33 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-12-09 15:41 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-10 09:28 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-10 09:58 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-14 22:53 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-11 03:10 -0600
                Re: micro-architectural details jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2016-12-11 13:48 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-11 14:43 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-11 16:23 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-11 12:53 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-11 21:27 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-11 08:46 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-14 21:14 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-15 08:25 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-14 21:11 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-15 14:28 +0000
                Re: micro-architectural details David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-11 18:38 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-15 00:25 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-09 07:42 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-09 11:54 -0800
                Re: micro-architectural details David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-09 10:27 +0100
                Re: other missing features (no-brainers) Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-09 17:05 +0100
                Re: micro-architectural details jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2016-12-09 09:51 +0000
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-12-06 20:42 -0500
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-06 14:16 -0800
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 00:31 +0100
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-06 15:55 -0800
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 01:01 +0100
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-06 16:42 -0800
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 01:55 +0100
                Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-07 07:11 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2016-12-06 23:05 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 00:43 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-07 03:06 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 11:47 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2016-12-07 03:10 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2016-12-07 03:13 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-07 11:47 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-07 12:08 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-07 23:45 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 00:22 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-07 15:32 -0800
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 01:25 +0100
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-07 16:36 -0800
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-07 17:09 -0800
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 10:28 +0100
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-08 08:34 -0800
                Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" Gareth Owen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2016-12-08 20:08 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 10:24 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 15:49 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-08 15:23 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 16:58 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-08 18:57 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-08 15:29 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 17:09 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-08 16:41 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 17:04 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 17:15 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2016-12-08 11:34 -0500
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 18:40 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 10:00 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-08 19:05 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 19:58 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 08:22 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 20:12 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 11:40 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-10 02:44 -0600
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-08 16:22 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 20:14 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-10 02:19 -0600
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 07:44 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-08 22:05 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-08 22:14 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-09 10:39 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-08 13:33 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-09 11:13 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-07 06:27 -0600
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-07 07:17 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-07 23:43 -0600
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2016-12-07 07:41 +0000
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 11:45 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-07 09:22 -0800
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" jacobnavia <jacob@jacob.remcomp.fr> - 2016-12-07 11:49 +0100
                Re: "Lete2??s Stop Bashing C" Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2016-12-07 09:28 -0500
            Re: "Lete2��s Stop Bashing C" "James R. Kuyper" <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2016-12-06 14:22 -0500
            Re: Subject field encoding Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-07 21:40 +0100
              Re: Subject field encoding Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-07 13:01 -0800
              Re: Subject field encoding Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2016-12-07 16:02 -0500
            Re: "Lete2�™s Stop Bashing C" asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2016-12-08 15:50 -0800
          Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-06 19:07 +0000
    Re: "Let€™s Stop Bashing C" Xcott Craver <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2016-12-07 16:48 -0500
      Re: "Let's Stop Bashing C" Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-07 23:29 +0100
  Re: "Let’s Stop Bashing C" "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2016-12-06 12:06 +0800

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