correctness and comprehensiveness of compilers [was: Re: C compile time]

[Karel Gardas]

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003, Scott Robert Ladd wrote:

> Finally, it's important to consider correctness and comprehensiveness;
> if a faster compiler does not support current standards, it is generally
> less valuable to me than a slower compiler with full compliance. This
> observation is, perhaps, less critical for those who work only with C89
> and earlier standards, but is very important to those of us interested
> in C99 and C++. Recent gcc compilers may be slower, but they provide
> support for current standards.

Just one example: all last three releases of Intel C++ compiler for Linux
(I mean 6.0, 7.0 and 7.1) miscompile MICO (http://www.mico.org) such that
its IDL compiler is either crashing (6.0 + 7.0) or loops infinitely (7.1).

So JFYI.

BTW: gcc 3.2.3 is our current 'reference' compiler.

Karel
--
Karel Gardas                  kgardas@objectsecurity.com
ObjectSecurity Ltd.           http://www.objectsecurity.com