Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs

Dennis Ritchie <dmr@bell-labs.com>
29 Sep 1998 22:30:13 -0400

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Related articles
[23 earlier articles]
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs toon@moene.indiv.nluug.nl (Toon Moene) (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs wclodius@aol.com (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs ralph@inputplus.demon.co.uk (Ralph Corderoy) (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs luddy@concmp.com (Luddy Harrison) (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs tim@wagner.princeton.edu (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs dmr@bell-labs.com (Dennis Ritchie) (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs dmr@bell-labs.com (Dennis Ritchie) (1998-09-29)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs zalman@netcom.com (1998-10-01)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs wclodius@aol.com (1998-10-01)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs qjackson@wave.home.com (Quinn Tyler Jackson) (1998-10-04)
Re: inlining + optimization = nuisance bugs luddy@concmp.com (Luddy Harrison) (1998-10-04)
| List of all articles for this month |
From: Dennis Ritchie <dmr@bell-labs.com>
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: 29 Sep 1998 22:30:13 -0400
Organization: Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
References: 98-09-149 98-09-163 98-09-171
Keywords: arithmetic, history

[Updated version; sorry I didn't wait for Brian to reply -- DMR ]


The "Floating point numbers are like sandpiles; every time
you move one you lose a little sand and pick up a little dirt"
quote does appear on p 92 of Kernighan and Plauger, The Elements
of Programming Style (1st edition). There it is attributed to
"a wise programmer."


Kernighan just assured me that it was indeed Vic Vyssotsky
from whom the quote was taken (my backup guess was Hamming).


Dennis Ritchie

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