Re: awka on Mac OS X 10.4.11 [Intel]

Robert Peirce wrote:
> Has anybody got this to pass all the tests on OS X?  I have one test 
> that fails.
> 
> BEGIN {
>   print b += b += 1
>   print b
>   b = 6
>   print b += b++
>   print b
>   print b += ++b
>   print b
> }

Just some more data points. All on the same machine under Solaris 10:

Solaris xpg4 awk:

1
1
12
12
25
25

Solaris old /usr/bin/awk:

2
2
13
13
28
28

Solaris nawk:

2
2
13
13
28
28

A very old GNU awk 3.0.3:

1
1
12
12
25
25

A very old GNU awk 3.0.6:

2
2
13
13
28
28


An old GNU awk 3.1.3:

2
2
13
13
28
28


I think the conclusion is obvious. Don't use such constructs. These are 
anyhow constructs a sane programmer wouldn't have used at all :-)

> awka.sourceforge.net says the package has been successfully installed on

> OS X, so somebody has it running.  However, one user posted the same 
> error on a MacBook Pro which suggests there is some difference between 
> the PPC and Intel machines.

It is up to the language and standards lawyer to argue which of the two 
results is right under which conditions. IMHO for practical purposes it 
doesn't matter. Both behavior can apparently be found "in the wild". So 
again, I would completely avoid such twisted constructs in real-world 
awk programs.

/Thomas