CODEWITHSUNDEEP
divisiondivide-by-zero
Jack
Jack

Reputation: 9784

How different programming languages handle division by 0?

Perhaps this is the wrong sort of question to ask here but I am curious. I know that many languages will simply explode and fail when asked to divide by 0, but are there any programming languages that can intelligently handle this impossible sum - and if so, what do they do? Do they keep processing, treating 350/0 as 350, or stop execution, or what?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 8698

Answers (11)

meiser
meiser

Reputation: 31

In pony division by 0 is 0 but i have yet to find a language where 0/0 is 1

Upvotes: 0

Robert Hayes
Robert Hayes

Reputation: 1

I'm working with polyhedra and trying to choose a language that likes inf. The total edges for a polyhedron {a,b} where a is edges per polygon and b is edges per corner is E = 1/(1/a + 1/b - 1/2)

if E is negative it's a negative curvature, but if E is infinity (1/0) it tiles the plane. Examples: {3,6} {4,4}

Upvotes: -2

mP.
mP.

Reputation: 18266

Floating point numbers as per the IEEE define constants NaN etc. Any continued operation involving thst value will remain unchanged until the end. Integer or whole numbers are different with exceptions being thrown...In java...

Upvotes: 0

Eduardo
Eduardo

Reputation: 2341

Most SQL implementations raise a "division by zero" error, but MySQL just returns NULL

Upvotes: 0

GreenMatt
GreenMatt

Reputation: 18580

Python (at least version 2, I don't have 3) throws a ZeroDivisionError, which can be caught.

num = 42
try:
    for divisor in (1,0):
        ans = num / divisor
        print ans
except ZeroDivisionError:
    print "Trying to divide by 0!"

prints out:

42
Trying to divide by 0!

Upvotes: 0

AlexV
AlexV

Reputation: 23098

In Delphi, it either throw a compile-time error (if divided by a 0 value const) or a catchable runtime error if it happens at runtime.

It's the same for C and C++.

In PHP you will get a warning:

Warning: Division by zero in <file.php> on line X

So, in PHP, for something like:

$i = 123 / 0;

$i will be set to nothing. BUT $i is not === NULL and isset($i) returns true and is_string($i) returns false.

Upvotes: 0

Jonathan Feinberg
Jonathan Feinberg

Reputation: 45324

The little-known Java programming language gives the special constant Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY or Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY (depending on the numerator) when you divide by zero in an IEEE floating-point context. Integer division by zero is undefined, and results in an ArithmeticException being thrown, which is quite different from your scenario of "explosion and failure".

Upvotes: 4

Brendan Long
Brendan Long

Reputation: 54242

From Wikipedia:

The infinities of the extended real number line can be represented in IEEE floating point datatypes, just like ordinary floating point values like 1, 1.5 etc. They are not error values in any way, though they are often (but not always, as it depends on the rounding) used as replacement values when there is an overflow. Upon a divide by zero exception, a positive or negative infinity is returned as an exact result.

Upvotes: 1

msw
msw

Reputation: 43487

The INTERCAL standard library returns #0 on divide by zero

Upvotes: 3

mob
mob

Reputation: 118605

In Java, division by zero in a floating-point context produces the special value Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY or Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY.

Upvotes: 1

mlathe
mlathe

Reputation: 2385

i'd be surprised if any language returns 350 if you do 350/0. Just two examples, but Java throws an Exception that can be caught. C/C++ just crashes (i think it throws a Signal that can probably be caught).

Upvotes: 0

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