Should integer divide by zero halt execution?
        Posted  
        
            by 
                Pyrolistical
            
        on Programmers
        
        See other posts from Programmers
        
            or by Pyrolistical
        
        
        
        Published on 2009-01-05T18:53:14Z
        Indexed on 
            2011/11/16
            2:07 UTC
        
        
        Read the original article
        Hit count: 417
        
programming-languages
|future
I know that modern languages handle integer divide by zero as an error just like the hardware does, but what if we could design a whole new language?
Ignoring existing hardware, what should a programming language does when an integer divide by zero occurs? Should it return a NaN of type integer? Or should it mirror IEEE 754 float and return +/- Infinity? Or is the existing design choice correct, and an error should be thrown?
Is there a language that handles integer divide by zero nicely?
EDIT When I said ignore existing hardware, I mean don't assume integer is represented as 32 bits, it can be represented in anyway you can to imagine.
© Programmers or respective owner