> Fucking compilers, man. They're just acting as agents that derive the logical consequences of the code. The fact that the given example code is "surprising"

> Fucking compilers, man. They're just acting as agents that derive the logical consequences of the code. The fact that the given example code is "surprising" is analogous to this mathematical derivation: a = b a*a = b*a a*a - b*b = b*a - b*b (a - b)(a + b) = b(a - b) (a - b)(a + b)/(a - b) = b(a - b)/(a - b) ^ Divide by 0, undefined behavior! Everything below is not necessarily true. a + b = b b + b = b 2b = b 2 = 1 2 - 1 = 1 - 1 1 = 0 The source of truth about what is/isn't allowed is the C standard, not your personal simplified model of it that may contain dangerous misconceptions. The fact that your mental model doesn't match the document is an education problem, not a problem with the compiler.