Q42943: Problem with Floats in While Loop

Article: Q42943
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 1.00 1.01 2.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | buglist1.00 buglist1.01 buglist2.00 | mspl13_c
Last Modified: 2-MAY-1989

The program below will execute the while loop once when it should not
execute it at all, when compiled in either the QuickC environment or
using the QCL command. The workaround is to replace the "while"
statement with the following:

   while (test < 1.0)

In C Version 5.00 or 5.10, the program works correctly without
modification.

The problematic program is as follows:

#include <stdio.h>

void main (void)
{
    static float test = 4276.0;

    while (test < (float) 1)
       printf("Should not have entered loop, but did\n");
}