Subject: Re: Why CAFEBABE?
Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 16:35:55 GMT
From: Lee Crocker <lee@Unify.com>
To: comp.lang.java

(BTW, of course they're far from the first to use hex digits to spell out meaningful words in their magic numbers. Twenty-something years ago the Burroughs B6700 initialized its "uninitialized" memory of 48-bit words to 0xBADBADBADBAD.)

And don't forget the old IBM machines that used 0xDEADBEEF for the same purpose. Using uninitialized memory is still called a "dead beef error" in some circles (at least among programmers old enough to remember that).  

A follow-up regarding the toms/493 routine I mentioned in my previous post
(http://www.netlib.org/toms/493).

Is anybody supporting TOMS algorithms?
Many routines posted on the NETLIB site include documentation within the comments (date written, author, etc.). However, this TOMS/493 routine does not. Who would a person contact with questions about this routine? The reason I ask is because I am trying to write my own version of this routine in C++. Most of the program looks pretty straightforward; however, the three lines declaring machine constants is throwing me off:

Code: Select all

C THE VALUES BELOW CORRESPOND TO THE BURROUGHS B6700
      BASE = 8.
      ETA = .5*BASE**(1-26)
      INFIN = 4.3E68
      SMALNO = 1.0E-45