  

<table class="width100" style="width:100%;" data-cellspacing="1">
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<tr class="odd">
<td colspan="6" class="form-title"><div class="center">
ETSI's Bug Tracker - Part 01: TTCN-3 Core Language
</div></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="6" class="form-title">View Issue Details</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td colspan="6" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print-category">
<td class="print" width="16%">ID</td>
<td class="print" width="16%">Project</td>
<td class="print" width="16%">Category</td>
<td class="print" width="16%">View Status</td>
<td class="print" width="16%">Date Submitted</td>
<td class="print" width="16%">Last Update</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">0006491</td>
<td class="print">Part 01: TTCN-3 Core Language</td>
<td class="print">Technical</td>
<td class="print">public</td>
<td class="print">27-03-2013 18:55</td>
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:56</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="6" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Reporter</td>
<td class="print">Wolfgang Seka</td>
<td colspan="4" class="print"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Ina Schieferdecker</td>
<td colspan="4" class="print"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Priority</td>
<td class="print">normal</td>
<td class="print-category">Severity</td>
<td class="print">major</td>
<td class="print-category">Reproducibility</td>
<td class="print">have not tried</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Status</td>
<td class="print">closed</td>
<td class="print-category">Resolution</td>
<td class="print">fixed</td>
<td colspan="2" class="print"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Platform</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td class="print-category">OS</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td class="print-category">OS Version</td>
<td class="print"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Product Version</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td colspan="4" class="print"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print-category">Target Version</td>
<td class="print">v4.6.1 (published 2014-06)</td>
<td class="print-category">Fixed in Version</td>
<td class="print">v4.6.1 (published 2014-06)</td>
<td colspan="2" class="print"> </td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Clause Reference(s)</td>
<td colspan="4" class="print">e.g. 11.1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Source (company - Author)</td>
<td colspan="4" class="print">MCC160 - Wolfgang</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="6" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Summary</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print">0006491: At least some compiler generate a
runtime error when a function returns an unititialised variable even in
cases when the result</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Description</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print">There are cases where e.g. due to
maintenance on existing TTCN-3 code a function is enhanced to return a
value just for special cases, i.e. a function which has not had a return
value before gets a return statement which is needed for some particular
case.<br />
Now it may happen that the function is just changed for the particular
case when the return value is expected but for the other cases it e.g.
returns an unitialised variable.<br />
From a user's point of view that would not harm as in these cases the
caller of the function does not evaluate the functions's result at
all.<br />
Nevertheless acc. to the restrictions in clause 11.1 of part 1 this is
not allowed.<br />
BUT - it seems that compilers cannot find that a compile time (or at
least not for all cases).<br />
But since some compilers are "improved" now to check this formal
correctness at runtime, errors occur at runtime even though from a
user's perspective there is no error.<br />
As there is no way to detect that kind of problems before it comes to
the runtime error and the code is even logically correct these errors
are very costly.<br />
<br />
=&gt; either the restrictions regarding the return statements shall be
reduced to allow returning uninitialised variables as long as they are
not used by the caller or other proposals are requested about how these
kind of problems can be avoided.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Steps To Reproduce</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Additional Information</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print">MCC160 would like to participate on any
discussions about this topic.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Tags</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print">No tags attached.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print-category">Relationships</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print-category">Attached Files</td>
<td colspan="5" class="print"><img
src="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/images/fileicons/doc.gif"
alt="doc" /> CR6491.doc (164,352) <span class="italic">28-08-2013
13:51</span><br />
http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/file_download.php?file_id=2869&amp;type=bug</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="6" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
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<tr class="odd">
<td class="form-title">Issue History</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print-category">
<td class="row-category-history">Date Modified</td>
<td class="row-category-history">Username</td>
<td class="row-category-history">Field</td>
<td class="row-category-history">Change</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">27-03-2013 18:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a></td>
<td class="print">New Issue</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">27-03-2013 18:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a></td>
<td class="print">Clause Reference(s)</td>
<td class="print">=&gt; e.g. 11.1</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">27-03-2013 18:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a></td>
<td class="print">Source (company - Author)</td>
<td class="print">=&gt; MCC160 - Wolfgang</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">05-04-2013 09:49</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011408</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">05-04-2013 10:57</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011409</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">08-07-2013 14:56</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=82">Jens
Grabowski</a></td>
<td class="print">Project</td>
<td class="print">TTCN-3 Change Requests =&gt; Part 01: TTCN-3 Core
Language</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">08-07-2013 14:56</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=82">Jens
Grabowski</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">new =&gt; assigned</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">08-07-2013 14:56</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=82">Jens
Grabowski</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">=&gt; Jacob Wieland - Spirent</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">08-07-2013 17:12</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=127">Gyorgy
Rethy</a></td>
<td class="print">Target Version</td>
<td class="print">=&gt; v4.6.1 (published 2014-06)</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">10-07-2013 19:33</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Jacob Wieland - Spirent =&gt; Gyorgy Rethy</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">11-07-2013 09:05</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Gyorgy Rethy =&gt; Jacob Wieland - Spirent</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">12-07-2013 08:58</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011566</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">12-07-2013 09:01</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Jacob Wieland - Spirent =&gt; Ina Schieferdecker</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">12-07-2013 09:01</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">assigned =&gt; confirmed</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">15-07-2013 10:43</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011580</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">27-08-2013 14:26</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">confirmed =&gt; assigned</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">27-08-2013 14:26</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Ina Schieferdecker =&gt; Jacob Wieland - Spirent</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">27-08-2013 14:33</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=127">Gyorgy
Rethy</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011609</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">27-08-2013 14:34</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=127">Gyorgy
Rethy</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Edited: 0011609</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">28-08-2013 13:51</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">File Added: CR6491.doc</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">28-08-2013 13:52</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011624</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">28-08-2013 13:52</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Assigned To</td>
<td class="print">Jacob Wieland - Spirent =&gt; Ina Schieferdecker</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">28-08-2013 13:52</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">assigned =&gt; confirmed</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Note Added: 0011630</td>
<td class="print"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">confirmed =&gt; resolved</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Resolution</td>
<td class="print">open =&gt; fixed</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd print">
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:55</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Fixed in Version</td>
<td class="print">=&gt; v4.6.1 (published 2014-06)</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even print">
<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:56</td>
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a></td>
<td class="print">Status</td>
<td class="print">resolved =&gt; closed</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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<td colspan="2" class="form-title">Notes</td>
</tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
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<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="20%"><table class="hide"
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<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">(0011408)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a>   </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">05-04-2013 09:49   </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="85%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">As I said in the meeting, I would opt for lifting the
restriction on return statements since the assignment of an
uninitialized value to a variable will catch such a behavior as well. It
should be clear, though that this can lead to the situation where the
result of a function is used directly as an actual parameter (where
uninitialized values are allowed) of another function which then could
lead to a runtime-error very far away from the error-cause. This makes
the error-cause hard to locate, which is very costly, as well. Thus,
there is no ideal solution for this problem, it has to be decided which
scenario is more probable and thus more costly.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
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</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="2" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
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<tr class="odd">
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="20%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">(0011409)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a>   </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">05-04-2013 10:57   </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="85%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 100%" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
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<td class="print">As already mentioned in the earlier discussions - it
is up to tools whether/how to provide the user with additional
information and warnings at runtime and how to configure that; it is up
to users whether to make use of this information and to configure the
runtime environment accordingly. But the core language as such shall be
independent of this and in particular it shall not mandate generation of
runtime errors where - from a user's point of view - there is no problem
at all.<br />
Furthermore in this context the argumentation "... This makes the
error-cause hard to locate ..." is not applicable as it is a tool issue
how to verify and debug the code.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="2" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="20%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">(0011566)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a>   </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">12-07-2013 08:58   </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="85%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 100%" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">After a lengthy discussion, the STF still thinks that
the dangers of lifting this restriction outweigh the benefits the STF160
would gain.<br />
<br />
In some cases it is possible to check statically, if a return value is
initialized or not (after a potentially very costly analysis), but in
lots of cases it can only be determined at runtime. Other languages
solve this problem by restricting the language even further, so that the
data-flow analysis becomes feasible; but then they forbid scenarios
statically (the maybe-cases) some of which would never be a problem at
runtime. Thus, they force the user - without specific necessity - to
write more complicated code. This requirement in TTCN-3 is more implicit
but still there.<br />
<br />
 <br />
<br />
Also, during the discussion, it was strongly opposed to make the
semantic rules of the return statement context-dependent, i.e. depending
on the place the given function is called. This would be a wrong
language design.<br />
<br />
The instruments to solve similar problems when a function is extended
are given by the language itself, for instance by the isbound()
predefined function. It can be used to check the to-be-returned variable
before returning it and then return a dummy value in the case it is not
initialized. Another way of preventing such errors is to use
unit-testing for functions or to impose a coding style that initializes
all variables at declaration.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="2" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="20%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">(0011580)</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=455">Wolfgang
Seka</a>   </td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td class="print">15-07-2013 10:43   </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
<td class="nopad" data-valign="top" width="85%"><table class="hide"
data-cellspacing="1">
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 100%" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
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<td class="print">Mail set to stf460 (12 July 2013 09:11):<br />
<br />
"I've seen the note added to 6491 in I don't think that it is the right
decision and I think from a user's point of view it is not
acceptable:<br />
<br />
You are shifting tool problems from the tooling side to the user's side:
There is no reason why cannot raise a warning at runtime (but that is a
tool issue) but by raising a runtime the problem is definitely at the
user's side.<br />
 <br />
Again please note that the issues causing problems are not visible for
the user when writing the code therefore the user will not use any
"instruments by the language itself" until there is a runtime
error.<br />
<br />
I hope that this is NOT a final decision."</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td colspan="2" class="print-spacer"><hr /></td>
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<td class="print">(0011609)</td>
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<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=127">Gyorgy
Rethy</a>   </td>
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<td class="print">27-08-2013 14:33   <br />
(edited on: 27-08-2013 14:34)</td>
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<td class="print">STF discussion 2013-08-27: we should allow returning
uninitialized value by a function, but this shall not be assigned to a
variable or used in expression, ( but can be passed as parameter where
uninitialized actual parameter is allowed)<br />
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<td class="print">(0011624)</td>
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<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=508">Jacob
Wieland - Spirent</a>   </td>
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<td class="print">28-08-2013 13:52   </td>
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<td class="print">added proposal, simply lessened the restriction for
use of uninitialized variables to allow return statements.</td>
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<td class="print">(0011630)</td>
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<td class="print"><a
href="http://oldforge.etsi.org/mantis/view_user_page.php?id=81">Ina
Schieferdecker</a>   </td>
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<td class="print">29-08-2013 07:55   </td>
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<td class="print">As proposed.</td>
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