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If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Fwiw, I have seen how compilers are made. Makes me amazed a

by watt 3y ago

If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Fwiw, I have seen how compilers are made. Makes me amazed anything actually compiles and runs.

unmole 3y ago
> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. It's been a while so I don't remember all the details but I remember an ancient version of gcc refusing to accept perfectly valid zero initialisation of structs. Not terribly exciting but you don't have to be too clever to hit compiler bugs.
JohnFen 3y ago
> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Nah, it can happen through sheer chance. I remember hitting a compiler bug when I was young (the only time I hit a compiler bug). I was certainly not particularly smart, just unlucky. The interesting thing is that it had been drilled into me that "it's never a compiler bug" and so I banged my head against that wall for a couple of weeks before a more experienced programmer took interest and showed that it was actually a compiler bug.
jackhack 3y ago
> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Definitely not in my case -- sometimes we just stumble over these things. As an inexperienced programmer (around 1989 or 1990?) I found a bug in the beta of microsoft's first C++ compiler, shipped on a dozen 5.25" floppy discs. All the other developers around me said "Don't be stupid. It's your code, it's not the compiler!" but I distilled it down to a minimal test case and proved it. The bug? i=i+i; That's it. It would give random results based on prior instructions unrelated to i. I reported it and got a nice note back from the MSFT engineering team. Something like "Wow! I've no idea how we missed this. Good catch!"
DanielHB 3y ago
I have run into bugs that only happened in specific linux kernel versions when used with specific java runtimes

by watt 3y ago

If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Fwiw, I have seen how compilers are made. Makes me amazed anything actually compiles and runs.

unmole 3y ago

> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. It's been a while so I don't remember all the details but I remember an ancient version of gcc refusing to accept perfectly valid zero initialisation of structs. Not terribly exciting but you don't have to be too clever to hit compiler bugs.

JohnFen 3y ago

> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Nah, it can happen through sheer chance. I remember hitting a compiler bug when I was young (the only time I hit a compiler bug). I was certainly not particularly smart, just unlucky. The interesting thing is that it had been drilled into me that "it's never a compiler bug" and so I banged my head against that wall for a couple of weeks before a more experienced programmer took interest and showed that it was actually a compiler bug.

jackhack 3y ago

> If the code you write is uncovering bugs in compiler, you literally are too smart for your own good. Definitely not in my case -- sometimes we just stumble over these things. As an inexperienced programmer (around 1989 or 1990?) I found a bug in the beta of microsoft's first C++ compiler, shipped on a dozen 5.25" floppy discs. All the other developers around me said "Don't be stupid. It's your code, it's not the compiler!" but I distilled it down to a minimal test case and proved it. The bug? i=i+i; That's it. It would give random results based on prior instructions unrelated to i. I reported it and got a nice note back from the MSFT engineering team. Something like "Wow! I've no idea how we missed this. Good catch!"

DanielHB 3y ago

I have run into bugs that only happened in specific linux kernel versions when used with specific java runtimes