[Shootout-list] Re: sumcol - when the correct answer is wrong :-)

[Brian Hurt]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2004, Isaac Gouy wrote:

> --- Brent Fulgham wrote:
> > Okay -- I'll fix it!
> 
> Maybe we should suspect that there may be similar problems with some of
> the other tests, where n was increased?
> 
> Maybe we should have a new test
> - where success was either providing the right answer, or failing at
> runtime (see what performance is like with runtime checks enabled); and
> failure was silently ignoring the error ;-)

Was that an error?  There are good reasons for a language to define that 
behavior.  Unless the test is "how well does the language handle big 
ints?"

Unless you're testing the performance of big ints, I'd recommend no test 
require an integer larger than +/- 2^30 to be represented.


-- 
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive,
difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of
mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it."
                                - Gene Spafford 
Brian