Thread

1. Panzerschrek · 1789756540 · focus · HN ↗

   I don't see how it can be useful. It's almost always an error to write such a loop. The only reason for it to exist is in very low-level code to do nothing, but for such cases using something like an external function written in assembly is perfectly fine, no C++ standard changes are necessary. It's even makes things harder by complicating the standard with little to no benefits in exchange.

   1. rcxdude · 1789778218 · focus · HN ↗

      You can write very low-level code without mucking around with assembly. For example, it's obvious that ARM's cortex-M cores were designed to be possible to code for entirely in C. For example, the interrupt mechanism follow the platform's calling convention so an interrupt vector can just be a plain C function. And something being usually an error doesn't make it a good idea to be undefined, nor does it explain the behavior that they have defined.
   2. deschutes · 1789782670 · focus · HN ↗

      On the other hand the idea that repeated iteration warrants a carve out is in itself curious.

      I'm sure there will be some bullshit example of how after inlining you can find repetition like this but clearly other languages get along fine without prohibiting infinite loops.

      Furthermore, if the goal was to allow for code motion between identical loops absent side effects they could have just said that and spared the ordinary infinite loop.

      In a world where C++ is a language unrelated to C another reasonable position would have been to prohibit spelling loops that cannot terminate and provide a fix it for the possible meanings (unreachable, spin).

      Injecting a side effect to solve this issue is just horrendous

   3. ahy1 · 1789854343 · focus · HN ↗

      It is certainly not almost always an error.

      It is a very normal thing to do when doing embedded programming. It normally means "I do not know how to handle this error. Let the watchdog reset me."

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.