eyt*
Sep 17, 2008

Math.abs has an edge case...

Consider the following Java code:

  1.   int ai = Math.abs( i );
  2.   assert ai >= 0;

Will the assert ever fire?

Yes, it turns out that it can fire if i = Integer.MIN_VALUE, and you have been warned about this in the Math.abs javadoc, which states “Note that if the argument is equal to the value of Integer.MIN_VALUE, the most negative representable int value, the result is that same value, which is negative.

Keep this in mind when looking at such innocent looking code...

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