Re: Debug optimized code; Now: How many compiler bugs have you seen?

Long ago, probably around 1978, I was doing some piece work for one of
the very early microcomputer vendors, Polymorphic Systems. Things were
*very* primitive back then. They loaned me a huge machine with 64K
bytes of RAM and 2 8" floppies to do development on. This machine ran
Polymorphic's own operating system and Basic interpreter. My job was
to write some application software. I'd only get paid when I delivered
working software.


Anyways, it seemed like whenever I was making progress on my project
I'd hit a bug in the Basic intrepreter. I then had to go over to the
office where the Basic developers worked, show them the bug, and get
them to fix it. I didn't have a car, and only a very old funky bike.


It got to the point where I was spending so much time finding bugs
that I was making no progress on my project, and I wasn't getting paid
for all the time I was spending. So I told them that I wanted to be
paid $50 for each bug I found. To my pleasure, they agreed.


I never finished that project, but I did end up with a very nice
mid-range bike, paid for with the money that I earned finding bugs in
their Basic interpreter.


Cordially,


--
Jon Forrest
Research Computing Support
College of Chemistry
173 Tan Hall
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
94720-1460
510-643-1032
jlforrest@berkeley.edu

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