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From: Samuel Mize <smize@imagin.net>
Subject: Re: Ada and Java. different behaviour. casting long to int problem.
Date: 1999/06/15
Date: 1999-06-15T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <7k5kef$1ghi@news1.newsguy.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 7k57vb$1ipf@drn.newsguy.com

In comp.lang.ada mike@world.nospam.com wrote:
> In article <f92d7yyweva.fsf@eng.sun.com>, Mark says...
>>
>>I think the point is that the result of an overflow isn't necessarily the
>>wrong number.  
>>
>  
> I wonder if the above will be stand in court when a bank customer complains
> to the judge that they deposited $5,000 into their saving account
> in top of what allready they had in there, only to be told by the bank
> that now they have a negative balance.

No, it won't, because anyone who can overflow a bank's accounting
software can buy whatever verdict he wants.  :-)

More seriously, saying it "isn't necessarily" wrong doesn't mean that
it's always right.  It means you have to know what the numerical
model does, and handle that behavior appropriately.

The programmer is at fault, because he didn't know (or properly use)
the Java numerical model.

The bank is liable since he's their programmer.

The compiler vendor is not at fault -- the object code exactly matched
the program, since it's using the Java numerical model.

Nor is the Java model "wrong" -- it just doesn't match the mathematical
abstraction of "integer."  In fact, Ada doesn't either (I don't recall
"constraint error" from ANY math classes).

The two models map the mathematical abstraction to the real-world
limited representation in different ways.  For numerical computation
the Ada version is more useful.  For traditional, C-oriented system
programming, and for some other kinds of algorithms, the Java model
is more useful.

Models of anything are never true or false, only more or less useful.

Best,
Sam Mize

-- 
Samuel Mize -- smize@imagin.net (home email) -- Team Ada
Fight Spam: see http://www.cauce.org/ \\\ Smert Spamonam




  parent reply	other threads:[~1999-06-15  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 120+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
1999-06-12  0:00 Ada and Java. different behaviour. casting long to int problem nabbasi
1999-06-12  0:00 ` nabbasi
1999-06-12  0:00   ` jerry
1999-06-12  0:00     ` Robert Dewar
1999-06-14  0:00       ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-12  0:00 ` Tucker Taft
1999-06-12  0:00   ` PPAATT
1999-06-12  0:00   ` Keith Thompson
1999-06-12  0:00     ` kirck
1999-06-13  0:00       ` Robert Dewar
1999-06-12  0:00         ` Fred
1999-06-14  0:00           ` Mark Hood
1999-06-15  0:00             ` mike
1999-06-15  0:00               ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-15  0:00                 ` Mike Silva
1999-06-15  0:00                   ` rich
1999-06-15  0:00                     ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-15  0:00                       ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-15  0:00                         ` Keith Thompson
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` bill
1999-06-16  0:00                             ` George W. Bayles
1999-06-16  0:00                               ` Fraser Wilson
1999-06-17  0:00                               ` Chris Dollin
1999-06-17  0:00                               ` Aidan Skinner
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` David Botton
1999-06-18  0:00                                   ` Dale Stanbrough
1999-06-18  0:00                                     ` David Botton
1999-06-18  0:00                                       ` Pascal Obry
1999-06-18  0:00                                     ` Matthew Heaney
1999-07-20  0:00                             ` Geoff Bull
1999-06-16  0:00                         ` George W. Bayles
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` Tucker Taft
1999-06-17  0:00                             ` George W. Bayles
1999-06-17  0:00                               ` Tucker Taft
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` bob
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-17  0:00                           ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-06-16  0:00                         ` Mike Silva
1999-06-16  0:00                           ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-16  0:00                             ` kirk
1999-06-16  0:00                               ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` Markus Kuhn
1999-06-17  0:00                                   ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-17  0:00                                   ` john
1999-06-17  0:00                                     ` Ed Falis
1999-06-18  0:00                                     ` Aidan Skinner
1999-06-16  0:00                               ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-06-17  0:00                                   ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-17  0:00                                     ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-17  0:00                                     ` bob
1999-06-18  0:00                                       ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-18  0:00                                         ` mike
1999-06-18  0:00                                           ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-19  0:00                                             ` Dale Stanbrough
1999-06-21  0:00                                               ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-19  0:00                                             ` Samuel Mize
1999-06-21  0:00                                               ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-21  0:00                                             ` Mike Silva
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` Markus Kuhn
1999-06-17  0:00                                 ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-06-17  0:00                                   ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-17  0:00                                     ` Samuel Mize
1999-06-17  0:00                                       ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-22  0:00                                         ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-22  0:00                                           ` Keith Thompson
1999-06-23  0:00                                             ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-24  0:00                                               ` Robert A Duff
1999-06-24  0:00                                                 ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-23  0:00                                           ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-18  0:00                                       ` Aidan Skinner
1999-06-20  0:00                                 ` Sera Hirasuna
1999-06-19  0:00                                   ` Kio
1999-06-20  0:00                                   ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-06-21  0:00                                   ` Samuel T. Harris
1999-06-22  0:00                                     ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-06-23  0:00                                       ` Richard D Riehle
1999-06-23  0:00                                       ` Aidan Skinner
1999-06-22  0:00                                     ` Richard D Riehle
1999-06-21  0:00                                   ` Hyman Rosen
1999-06-17  0:00                           ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-06-16  0:00                         ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-22  0:00                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-06-23  0:00                         ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-23  0:00                           ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-06-23  0:00                             ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-23  0:00                             ` Roedy Green
1999-06-23  0:00                               ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-23  0:00                                 ` Keith Thompson
1999-06-24  0:00                                   ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-24  0:00                                   ` Mike Silva
1999-06-15  0:00                     ` tmoran
1999-06-15  0:00                       ` David Botton
1999-06-16  0:00                       ` Samuel Mize
1999-06-16  0:00                       ` Richard D Riehle
1999-06-15  0:00                     ` Samuel Mize
1999-06-16  0:00                 ` Mark Hood
1999-06-17  0:00                   ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-06-17  0:00                 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-06-17  0:00                   ` Marin David Condic
1999-06-15  0:00               ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-16  0:00                 ` George W. Bayles
1999-06-16  0:00                   ` D'Arcy Smith
1999-06-17  0:00                   ` Aidan Skinner
1999-06-17  0:00                   ` Matthew Heaney
1999-06-15  0:00               ` Samuel Mize [this message]
1999-06-15  0:00                 ` jerry
1999-06-16  0:00                   ` Richard D Riehle
1999-06-16  0:00                     ` jerry
1999-06-17  0:00             ` Markus Kuhn
1999-06-17  0:00               ` David Botton
1999-06-13  0:00   ` Robert Dewar
1999-06-14  0:00     ` tmoran
1999-06-30  0:00       ` John Merryweather Cooper
1999-07-01  0:00         ` Chad R. Meiners
1999-07-02  0:00           ` Robert Dewar
1999-07-02  0:00             ` John Merryweather Cooper
1999-07-03  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
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