[Info-vax] nice for VMS

[Richard B. Gilbert]

Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>> Michael Kraemer wrote:
>>> Arne Vajhøj schrieb:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> It happens - struct(ure)s that are written or read to or
>>>> from file/socket and have to be packed.
>>>>
>>>> Obviously not very funny when the code later has to be ported
>>>> to Solaris/SPARC.
>>>
>>> In this case it might be better to align the structure members
>>> manually on 4/8 byte boundaries by inserting appropriate
>>> padding members. Wastes space, but reduces headaches.
>>
>> A great deal depends on how often the structure is accessed!  If once 
>> a day, forget it.  If 10,000 times a day it's probably worth fixing.
> 
> If it is Solaris/SPARC it is a problem even once a day.
> 
> Because unaligned access crashes the program (segmentation fault).
> 

I never noticed that one!  I don't do much programming these days.  When 
I did, I learned to avoid access violations, segmentation faults, 0C0 
ABENDS  (IBM 360/91) etc.  We had some very nice software from Waterloo 
Univerity called WATFOR, and, later WATFIV.  It told you exactly where 
you had screwed up.  I learned a lot from it about the no-no's of 
programming.  It gave a screamingly fast compilation and excellent 
diagnostics.  You didn't want to use it for any serious number crunching 
however!