Re: unpredictable crash

From:
"mlimber" <mlimber@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
12 May 2006 08:47:00 -0700
Message-ID:
<1147448820.624045.23990@d71g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>
sami wrote:

btw, the program with the "cerr" line i.e.

har *temp;
temp = new char(100);
cerr << "1" << endl;

does not crash - I can see that I am not intitializing to a 100 char
length array but why does a cerr stop the program from crashing


First of all, please quote the message you are responding to. Not
everyone is using Google Groups, and it makes it easier for all to
follow the conversation. (To automatically quote in GG, click "show
options" and then "Reply" in the revealed header.)

By writing to memory that isn't allocated to you, you have invoked
dreaded undefined behavior (UB), which can be anything from erratic
program behavior to a crash to transubstantiating your lead into gold.
Adding the cerr line just made the program data and code different, and
so when you invoked the UB, it also did something different (for
instance, it might have overwritten the streambuffer underlying cerr
instead of writing to a protected area of memory). You could look at a
disassembly of the two programs and watch what happens to your code and
data after the UB if you really want to know.

Cheers! --M

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