ram,
One more thing to be aware of.
The compiler's optimizer may cause problems where you wouldn't expect them - but in 99% of all cases, it has nothing to do with the optimzer, but with programmers not obeying the code rules:
As an example:
A program is built using a commandprocedure, where all modules were copiled the same way: with, or without /NOOPTIMIZE.
When run, it crashed when it was built without /NOOPTIMIZE, but succeeded when compiled with the qualifier set. It was quite a job to find out which module caused it, but finally we found out it was a completely different one then where the program crashed. The cause was some piece of data that was constructed in another module, from an array that was one of it's parameter.
This caused the problem due to the way it was coded; the syntax was valid in itself, according the langauge specifications, so the compiler did not raise a warning or error on this. But we used it in a non-standard (quick and dirty) way, where some basic coding-rules in Pascal were violated, and that mislead the optimizer. It assumes you adhere to these rules, but if you don't, be prepared for some great times troubleshooting. (Program dumps, LIS and MAP files are indispensible!)
Willem Grooters
OpenVMS Developer & System Manager
