grd@ccrma.stanford.edu (glen diener) (06/23/91)
Ever wonder if the mach magic number, 0xfeedface, is coincidental, or was someone displaying their humor? On a similar note, when running gdb, I frequently find that stale pointers show up with the address 0xdeadbeef. Hmm. -glen diener grd@ccrma.stanford.edu
Gerhard.Moeller@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Gerhard Moeller) (06/25/91)
grd@ccrma.stanford.edu (glen diener) writes: >Ever wonder if the mach magic number, 0xfeedface, is coincidental, >or was someone displaying their humor? On a similar note, >when running gdb, I frequently find that stale pointers show >up with the address 0xdeadbeef. Hmm. >-glen diener >grd@ccrma.stanford.edu > as far as i know, magic numbers are put to the processor to give him a special state. and those numbers are just a choice of some people who hope that they do not appear by accident. therefor feedface, deadbeef, and many other more (as seen on suns, etc.) But im not that sure, Gerhard. -- +---------------------------< principiis obsta! >---------------------------+ | Gerhard Moeller, Teichstrasse 12, 2900 Oldenburg (FRG) [Geb. 02/21/68] | | inhouse: gimli!gemoe uucp: ...(unido!)uniol!gmoeller | |DOMAIN: gerhard.moeller@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de | |BITNET: gmoeller%arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de@DOLUNI1 (106495@DOLUNI1) | +-----------------------> the medium is the message <-----------------------+
lane@CAMIS.STANFORD.EDU (Christopher Lane) (06/25/91)
On Sat, 22 Jun 1991 19:25:42 GMT, grd@ccrma.stanford.edu wrote: > Ever wonder if the mach magic number, 0xfeedface, is coincidental, > or was someone displaying their humor? On a similar note, > when running gdb, I frequently find that stale pointers show > up with the address 0xdeadbeef. Hmm. Of course, using grep -e '^[a-f]*$' on the word files in /usr/dict you can come up with all sorts of possibilities for MAGIC pointers: 0xdadacafe (dada, a movement in art, & cafe) 0xbeadbabe (bead babe) 0xadeadace (a dead ace) 0xabacaaba (abaca, banana fiber, & aba, sleeveless outer garment) Using the 'x' as part of the phrase is even trickier: 0xebecface (xebec, 3-masted sailing ship, & face -- aka 'figurehead') With a little more work, and a lot more wasted time, you can probably even come up with one that's a palindrome too! (Or an anagram--or both! ;-) - Christopher