Division in C++

Hello,


I have a short sample program that hangs on one of my
computer when I compile in debug mode. The program works
fine on my other computers or if I compile optimized.


The problematic computer and compiler are quite old (gcc2.95
on a Pentium PC running Linux), but I wonder if the problem
will occur with other compilers on other computers if I
change the numbers.


Here is the code:


int main ()
{
    double a = 96.03755458500125997;
    double b = 3.0;
    double c;


    while (1)
    {
        c = a/b;
        if (a/b<=c) break;
    }
}


Can anybody explain why this hangs?


What I want the program to do in the loop is the following:
1. compute a/b
2. compute a/b again
3. compare to previous result
4. see that it is the same and break the loop


However the program runs in an endless loop.


Regardless of any rounding errors, a/b should always return
the same value, shouldn't it?


Experiments:
- Storing the result of the second computation in another
    variable d and then comparing d to c works correctly.
- if (static_cast<double>(a/b)<=c)
    endless loop
- Finally, the program below prints "not yet" (and nothing
    else):
    while (1)
    {
        c = a/b;
        if ((d=a/b)<=c) break;
        std::cout << "not yet\n";
        if (d<=c) break;
        std::cout << "but now\n";
    }


Does the gnu compiler apply "optimizations" that cause the
behaviour? Which ones? (I compile without options.)


Or what else causes this strange behaviour?


Greetings,
Onno
[This is a small enough loop that I'd just look at the assembler code.
-John]

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