From: Daniel Berger <Daniel.Berger@...>
Date: 2006-04-07T03:01:33+09:00
Subject: Crashing Fixnum#** with 64 bit Ruby

Hi all,

I thought this was interesting.  Should Ruby handle this better?  Or is this a 
case of, "Don't do that."?

# 32 bit Ruby, Solaris 10

irb(main):001:0> (2**32).class
=> Bignum
irb(main):002:0> (2**32) ** (2**33)
(irb):2: warning: in a**b, b may be too big
=> Infinity

## DANGER! DANGER! WILL BRING SYSTEM TO A CRAWL!

# 64 bit Ruby, Solaris 10

irb(main):002:0> (2**32).class
=> Fixnum
irb(main):003:0> (2**32) ** (2**33)
(irb):3:in `**': failed to allocate memory (NoMemoryError)
         from (irb):3:in `irb_binding'
         from /opt/test/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/workspace.rb:52:in `irb_binding'
         from :0

The behavior is identical with or without Rational, btw.

Regards,

Dan