schwartz@groucho.cs.psu.edu (Scott Schwartz) (04/03/91)
In article <27F78021.1829@tct.com> chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
There are validation suites for ANSI C. Of course, no validation
suite -- not even the gummint's -- can guarantee that a compiler is
bug-free.
How do you know that the validation suit tests for the language that
ANSI specified? Some languages, like Turing, were formally specified
from the time of inception; you can run a program and mechanically
decide if it did what the language definition said it should do.chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg) (04/05/91)
According to schwartz@groucho.cs.psu.edu (Scott Schwartz): >How do you know that the validation suit tests for the language that >ANSI specified? I don't. I suppose that should worry me. *yawn* >Some languages, like Turing, were formally specified from the time >of inception; you can run a program and mechanically decide if it >did what the language definition said it should do. How do you know that the program that makes that decision doesn't have a bug in it? At some point, you have to stop assuring and start doing. -- Brand X Industries Custodial, Refurbishing and Containment Service: When You Never, Ever Want To See It Again [tm] Chip Salzenberg <chip@tct.com>, <uunet!pdn!tct!chip>